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I share the same reaction. I can think of many examples in which a company that made something I cared about got acquired and the product got ruined. Pretty muc

I share the same reaction. I can think of many examples in which a company that made something I cared about got acquired and the product got ruined. Pretty much the only counter example I can come up with right now are Disney's acquisitions of Marvel and Star Wars.

yurishimo 9y ago
I think Amazon has done a fairly good job with Twitch. Adding features and such. Maybe it’s because there really isn’t another big competitor to twitch right now so nobody jumped ship when it was acquired.
- baddox 9y ago
  That could be. Why has YouTube not showed up as a Twitch competitor?
  - Arcsech 9y ago
    They could be, but a) YouTube hasn't been doing much to market its live streaming services to Twitch's audience, and b) Twitch does a way, WAY better job of allowing streamers to make money than YT does. YT has been demonetizing videos at the drop of a hat, much to many creators' frustration, without providing any tools for creators to make alternative revenue, including locking down the ability to link to Patreon unless you already have a very established channel. Compare that to Twich, which has multiple ways to support streamers right in-app and available to even pretty low-viewership streamers.
    - baddox 9y ago
      Good points. I don’t have a good idea of how Twitch streamers make money now, but my impression is that it’s mostly through subscriptions (through Twitch) and donations (not through Twitch). Even back 5 years ago streamers talked about how most of their audience (being tech-savvy) used Adblock, and I suspect that situation hasn’t gotten any better. Is Twitch making most of its money from cuts of subscriptions?
      - stock_toaster 9y ago
        They take a bit of a cut when people buy “bits” too (twitch local donations).
    - ripdog 9y ago
      Youtube is rolling out a twitch-style subscription payment system to all channels, starting with gaming channels first. I don't know what's taking so long, but it's coming. Also, YT Red viewers still give money to demonetized but still partenered videos.
      - jhasse 9y ago
        YT Red still isn't available in most countrys.
- amyjess 9y ago
  On the other hand, Amazon's acquisition of Comixology has been awful, as the first thing they did was go out of their way to make it harder for you to buy comics on an Android device.
baddox 9y ago
That’s a decent counterexample, although in my opinion Disney didn’t look at all out of touch with consumers just before their 2009 acquisition of Marvel or their 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm (Star Wars and Indiana Jones). Oh, and don’t forget Disney’s 2006 acquisition of Pixar, who has continued to do quite well commercially, critically, and in my humble opinion. My gut reaction would have been far worse if a brand with very negative consumer connotations (like Comcast) had acquired Marvel or Lucasfilm or Pixar. Let’s be real, DreamWorks hasn’t made anything as wonderful as How to Train Your Dragon since their 2016 acquisition by NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast). ;)
- twright0 9y ago
  How to Train Your Dragon was released in 2010. They haven't made anything as good since then, but it feels unfair to blame that on a 2016 acquisition.
  - baddox 9y ago
    Of course, it hasn’t been long enough to conclude much about that one, given the long production time of major motion pictures.
- antnisp 9y ago
  To be honest DreamWorks had been stuck in the sequel mud for some time before it's aqcuisition.
  - lemoncucumber 9y ago
    IMO, Dreamworks always seemed like Burger King to Pixar's McDonalds. They made some good films, but they always seemed a little more "gimmicky" (not quite the word I'm looking for, but it'll have to do) compared to Pixar's best films.
    - DanBC 9y ago
      Pixar have made 18 films. Dreamworks Animation have made about 35 films, over roughly the same time. I like most of the films from both of them. There's a lot of just terrible content for children, and these companies generally avoid that.
anxman 9y ago
Lots of counter examples with products that greatly improved post acquisition: - Google / YouTube - Facebook / IG - Facebook / WhatsApp - Tencent / Riot Games - Tencent / Supercell - Amazon / Twitch
- FuckOffNeemo 9y ago
  I don't think the HN community would agree with the Facebook / Whatsapp acquisition. Going from a payable service at exceptional value, to what is now which is a free service at the cost of your meta data collection and Facebooks general business practice, have not been a positive benefit to WhatsApp viabilty or presence.
- humanrebar 9y ago
  Google / Android
- ekianjo 9y ago
  That's not a lot compared to the ones that did not go well.
  - SweetLlamaMyth 9y ago
    I think it's fair to assume it's "not a lot" because they weren't attempting to create an exhaustive list of mutually beneficial mergers and acquisitions.
- Gracana 9y ago
  Improved? In ways directly beneficial to their customers? I think those companies have been able to make a lot of money, but they haven't improved in any way that I care about.

yurishimo 9y ago

I think Amazon has done a fairly good job with Twitch. Adding features and such. Maybe it’s because there really isn’t another big competitor to twitch right now so nobody jumped ship when it was acquired.

baddox 9y ago
That could be. Why has YouTube not showed up as a Twitch competitor?
- Arcsech 9y ago
  They could be, but a) YouTube hasn't been doing much to market its live streaming services to Twitch's audience, and b) Twitch does a way, WAY better job of allowing streamers to make money than YT does. YT has been demonetizing videos at the drop of a hat, much to many creators' frustration, without providing any tools for creators to make alternative revenue, including locking down the ability to link to Patreon unless you already have a very established channel. Compare that to Twich, which has multiple ways to support streamers right in-app and available to even pretty low-viewership streamers.
  - baddox 9y ago
    Good points. I don’t have a good idea of how Twitch streamers make money now, but my impression is that it’s mostly through subscriptions (through Twitch) and donations (not through Twitch). Even back 5 years ago streamers talked about how most of their audience (being tech-savvy) used Adblock, and I suspect that situation hasn’t gotten any better. Is Twitch making most of its money from cuts of subscriptions?
    - stock_toaster 9y ago
      They take a bit of a cut when people buy “bits” too (twitch local donations).
  - ripdog 9y ago
    Youtube is rolling out a twitch-style subscription payment system to all channels, starting with gaming channels first. I don't know what's taking so long, but it's coming. Also, YT Red viewers still give money to demonetized but still partenered videos.
    - jhasse 9y ago
      YT Red still isn't available in most countrys.
amyjess 9y ago
On the other hand, Amazon's acquisition of Comixology has been awful, as the first thing they did was go out of their way to make it harder for you to buy comics on an Android device.

baddox 9y ago

That’s a decent counterexample, although in my opinion Disney didn’t look at all out of touch with consumers just before their 2009 acquisition of Marvel or their 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm (Star Wars and Indiana Jones). Oh, and don’t forget Disney’s 2006 acquisition of Pixar, who has continued to do quite well commercially, critically, and in my humble opinion. My gut reaction would have been far worse if a brand with very negative consumer connotations (like Comcast) had acquired Marvel or Lucasfilm or Pixar. Let’s be real, DreamWorks hasn’t made anything as wonderful as How to Train Your Dragon since their 2016 acquisition by NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast). ;)

twright0 9y ago
How to Train Your Dragon was released in 2010. They haven't made anything as good since then, but it feels unfair to blame that on a 2016 acquisition.
- baddox 9y ago
  Of course, it hasn’t been long enough to conclude much about that one, given the long production time of major motion pictures.
antnisp 9y ago
To be honest DreamWorks had been stuck in the sequel mud for some time before it's aqcuisition.
- lemoncucumber 9y ago
  IMO, Dreamworks always seemed like Burger King to Pixar's McDonalds. They made some good films, but they always seemed a little more "gimmicky" (not quite the word I'm looking for, but it'll have to do) compared to Pixar's best films.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    Pixar have made 18 films. Dreamworks Animation have made about 35 films, over roughly the same time. I like most of the films from both of them. There's a lot of just terrible content for children, and these companies generally avoid that.

anxman 9y ago

Lots of counter examples with products that greatly improved post acquisition: - Google / YouTube - Facebook / IG - Facebook / WhatsApp - Tencent / Riot Games - Tencent / Supercell - Amazon / Twitch

FuckOffNeemo 9y ago
I don't think the HN community would agree with the Facebook / Whatsapp acquisition. Going from a payable service at exceptional value, to what is now which is a free service at the cost of your meta data collection and Facebooks general business practice, have not been a positive benefit to WhatsApp viabilty or presence.
humanrebar 9y ago
Google / Android
ekianjo 9y ago
That's not a lot compared to the ones that did not go well.
- SweetLlamaMyth 9y ago
  I think it's fair to assume it's "not a lot" because they weren't attempting to create an exhaustive list of mutually beneficial mergers and acquisitions.
Gracana 9y ago
Improved? In ways directly beneficial to their customers? I think those companies have been able to make a lot of money, but they haven't improved in any way that I care about.