Twitch in clear as Rambler drops €2.55 billion EPL lawsuit

Twitch no longer faces the threat of being banned in Russia.

According to the Amazon-owned company, Rambler has withdrawn its claim over alleged pirate broadcasting of English Premier League matches.

The company – Russia’s equivalent to Google – announced on Monday it was suing the streamer for RUB180 billion (€2.55 billion) and cited 36,000 cases in which users streamed matches. Rambler bought the exclusive rights to broadcast the league in Russia earlier this year in a deal worth a reported €7 million per season.

A Russian court then blocked Twitch’s access to EPL broadcasts. 

Now, following the removal of the offending content, Amazon has said that Rambler has dropped the suit, including the RUB180 billion demand. 

The BBC cited a source close to the matter who said that Twitch believes that will be the end of this case. 

Russia is the third-largest user of Twitch.

This should prove to be the end of a disruptive year for the streamer. In 2019, Twitch lost a handful of its top personalities as Microsoft’s Mixer and YouTube both ramped up their efforts to compete with what had long been established as the de facto platform for live game streaming. Ninja and Shroud both signed exclusive deals with Mixer, while CouRage jumped ship to YouTube.

Mixer also recently dropped its subscription cost to match Twitch.