In a slightly unexpected move, Valve and Twitch TV have combined forces to let you link your accounts together.

The reasoning behind this is simple: it’s called Dota 2. With tournament matches letting spectators win prizes for watching through the game client, but Twitch being the preferred method of spectating for a number of players, this meant that prizes were unavailable for a subset of players. No longer, though! Link your accounts, and you can watch matches on Twitch while remaining eligible for free goodies.

Not necessarily the most exciting news, but the potential is a bit more interesting. I’m curious to see whether Dota 2 gets proper Twitch integration in the form of in-client livestreaming, whether other current (and future) Valve titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive get similar integration, whether we’ll see some sort of Twitch app hit the Steam store…

To link your accounts, you just need to hop on over to the Connections page on Twitch and follow the instructions there. Simple.