Amazon is planning to remove the Prime Video Watch Party feature from Twitch on April 2, the company announced today.It quietly revealed the news with a notice on its Support page, with some Twitch users who’ve used the feature also reporting that they received a heads-up about its removal. Amazon points to a lack of usage as the reason for its removal.”While some streamers incorporated Watch Parties into their streams, usage of Watch Parties on Twitch has declined over the years, so we are removing it and investing these resources in other features,” it said.TWITCH TAKES AWAY EVERY GOOD THING WE HAVE. WHY!!!!!! WATCH PARTIES ARE AMAZING WTF!!!! pic.twitter.com/caymKdHA70— Macaiyla (@macaiyla) March 14, 2024 As Amazon notes, Watch Parties were first introduced in April 2020 to select streamers, then opened up the feature to all creators that same September. With the feature, users could watch and react to any movie available with their Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription along with their audience. The feature was also introduced as COVID-19 lockdowns spread across the world, and efforts to gather groups digitally became more and more popular. Disney+ introduced its own Group Watch feature in September 2020, which was quietly removed last September. Despite Amazon’s statement that usage of Watch Parties has declined, streamers were quick to mourn the impending removal of the feature. Popular streamer Will Neff was one of the most well-known users of Watch Parties, and said on X/Twitter that the end of them marks “the end of an unforgettable era.”Watch Parties are drawing to a close, marking the end of an unforgettable era. After three years of film class and approximately 200 movies, it’s heartening to believe we’ve nurtured genuine film enthusiasts.I want to take this opportunity to extend my deepest gratitude to the…— Will Neff (@TheWillNeff) March 14, 2024 Others have pointed out the potentially poor timing of the loss of Watch Parties, just a couple of weeks before Prime Video’s own highly anticipated Fallout series debuts on the streaming platform.WHAT?Twitch is removing Watch Parties TWO WEEKS before the Fallout show comes out on Prime?Twitch, y’all are real jerks sometimes. ? https://t.co/MslK9uEIy8— Cohh Carnage (@CohhCarnage) March 14, 2024 Still, we’ve still got a couple of weeks with the feature, so get your farewell Watch Parties scheduled sooner rather than later.Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
