How to Use the Free Prime Gaming (Twitch Prime) Subscription

All Amazon Prime members get Twitch perks for free

By

Updated on September 30, 2020

Reviewed by

Prime Gaming (formerly known as Twitch Prime) is a premium experience included with Amazon Prime and Prime Video memberships. It offers a number of perks to people who use Twitch, the company's video game content streaming service. Here's everything you need to know about Prime Gaming and how to use it.

Prime Gaming isn't to be confused with Twitch Turbo, a premium subscription that offers ad-free viewing, extended broadcast storage, additional emotes, and more. It costs $8.99/month.

How to Access Prime Gaming (Formerly Twitch Prime)

Prime Gaming is automatically included with your Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription. Obviously, you need to sign up if you haven't already. Then, you need to link your Twitch account with your Amazon Prime account to access Prime Gaming's features. Here's how to do it.

Go to Prime Gaming.
If you don't already have Amazon Prime, select Try Prime and follow the prompts to complete the membership sign-up process.
If you already have Amazon Prime, follow the prompts to connect your Twitch account to your Amazon account.
Select Confirm when prompted to finish the account linking process.

Twitch and Amazon only need to be linked once. As soon as it's done, the connection works across other devices where you use Twitch such as on the Xbox One or iPhone.

How to Use Your Free Prime Gaming Channel Subscription

As a Prime Gaming member, you can subscribe every month to a Twitch Partner or Affiliate channel and get the channel-specific perks that come with it, such as chat privileges, emoticons, badges, and more. Here's how:

Open Twitch and navigate to the channel you wish to subscribe to.
Select the purple Subscribe button on the channel's home page. It's typically in the top-right corner of the screen or below the video to the right.
You should now see a popup window with a variety of subscription options. Choose Subscribe Free under the Free Subscription with Prime section.

Unlike paid Twitch subscriptions, the free one doesn't automatically renew each month. Free subscriptions must be renewed manually using the same method described above.

How to Cancel A Free Prime Gaming Channel Subscription

To cancel your free Prime Gaming channel subscription, simply wait for the end of the current 30-day subscription period. After that, it expires and you're free to sub to another Affiliate or Partner channel.

How to Switch From a Paid Subscription to Free

You can switch from a paid channel subscription to the free Prime Gaming option without breaking your streak on a channel. It requires you to cancel your current paid sub before making the change. Here's how to do it:

Go to the Subscriptions page on the Twitch website.
Find the subscription you want to cancel and select the cog icon next to it.
Select Don’t Renew. This sets your subscription to expire at the end of the currently billed period and ensures you're not billed in the next payment cycle.
After your paid subscription expires, subscribe to the same channel with your free Prime Gaming option. The free subscription takes over from the paid subscription if it's activated within 30 days of the previous subscription's last active day.

What Is a Twitch Subscription?

A Twitch subscription is a recurring payment made to individual channels on the streaming service. Beyond donations, they're one of the most popular ways viewers support their favorite broadcasters. They give streamers a recurring source of income and they give subscribers a variety of digital rewards such as new emotes, badges, an ad-free viewing experience on the subscribed channel, and access to exclusive Twitch chatrooms.

What Is Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime is a premium paid subscription service that gives subscribers access to the company's large library of TV shows, movies, books, and songs via their Prime Video, Prime Music, and Prime Reading programs, respectively. In addition to streaming media, Amazon Prime subscribers also gain unlimited cloud storage, free or discounted shipping on Amazon purchases, limited access to Audible, and a Prime Gaming membership.

Are Amazon Prime and Prime Gaming Different?

Prime Gaming and Amazon Prime are technically different programs, however, subscribing to one automatically unlocks a subscription to the other. One can also interpret Prime Gaming as being a part of Amazon Prime in much the same way Prime Video is. Amazon Prime is the umbrella under which all of the company's other Prime programs operate.

How Much Money Does the Twitch Streamer Get?

The free Twitch subscription provided by Prime Gaming is only valued at $4.99, the lowest subscription tier. This subscription functions exactly the same way as it would if you paid for it out of your own pocket so the streamer receives 50 percent of the total donation fee, around $2.50, and Twitch keeps the rest.

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for letting us know!

Tell us why!