Twitch suffers outage

Amazon-owned game streaming platform Twitch suffered an outage on March 30.

The streamer confirmed on Twitter that it was investigating issues, only to say they were fixed an hour or so later.

Downdetector, which monitors the status of websites, showed that users were having problems with the website, the ability to log in and poor quality video streams.

As the world becomes increasingly housebound, the platform – along with esports in general – has seen a surge in popularity.

What also likely contributed to this overloading of Twitch was the surprise release of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, an eagerly anticipated game that had been in development for eight years. Developer TaleWorlds Entertainment announced that it would release the game a day early, causing hundreds of thousands of viewers to tune in to a number of streams on Twitch.

Twitch has seen an increased focus in recent weeks. Professional sports organisations like Formula One and La Liga have taken to the streamer to host digital tournaments in lieu of physical sports, while a wide range of musicians such as Skrillex and Garth Brooks have performed concerts on the site with their tours being on hiatus.