Twitch game cover art to be powered by IGDB

Announcements
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Update (2021-11-24)
The migration to power Twitch categories with IGDB cover art and migrating existing IGDB cover art to Twitch has been completed. To update a game’s image on Twitch, find it’s page on IGDB and click the “Edit” button next to the title. Then follow the IGDB Contribution Guidelines to upload a new image for review.

Update (2021-11-18)
The migration to power Twitch categories with IGDB cover art contributions will take place next week. This post will be updated to confirm its completion. In the meantime, please feel free to update your game cover art on IGDB in preparation for the migration. If your cover art should be updated on Twitch before the update next week, manual upload requests via email as noted below will continue to be available until that time.

In September of 2019, Twitch joined forces with IGDB, a public database that specializes in games and gaming knowledge. We leverage IGDB community contributions to augment many of our creator discovery mechanisms, such as search and recommendations. However, there was one piece of game metadata that so far has been managed separately – cover art.

Currently, to update the cover art displayed on Twitch, the game’s developer or publisher needs to register as a Twitch Developer Organization and claim the game via the Twitch developer console. Once approved, they can upload the cover art (sometimes referred to as box art) from the “Games” section of the console.

On or soon after November 17, 2021, we are migrating to an automatic ingestion of cover art from IGDB. This introduces a number of benefits to developers and publishers:

  • A single source of truth for game cover art
  • Ability to rely on community cover art contributions
  • Improved user experience for games that are no longer actively managed

Frequently Asked Questions

What will happen to my game’s cover art on November 17?

The cover art found on IGDB will now be displayed on Twitch. You may submit a cover art contribution to IGDB in preparation for this change.

How should I update my cover art in preparation for this change and after November 17?

Sign into IGDB using any Twitch user account to update the cover art. Typically, a contribution will be reviewed within 24 hours (not including weekends and holidays) and will go live on IGDB as soon as it has been accepted. After November 17, an IGDB contribution will appear on Twitch within 10 minutes. Visit the IGDB Contribution Guidelines to learn more about contributing to IGDB.

What are the technical image requirements for IGDB submissions?

  • 3:4 format ratio, with a minimum resolution of 600x800px
  • No larger than 3MB
  • JPEG or PNG format

See IGDB for additional guidelines.

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Can game Developers override the box art ingested from IGDB?

Examples being “Apex” or “Path Of Exile” having a “timed” box art for each season for example?

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A self-serve option to override IGDB cover art is not available at this time. Since IGDB does support the concept of seasons, the team is investigating the use of this functionality for Twitch cover art in the future. For now, game developers and publishers who have a Solutions Architecture representative can request manual cover art overrides for use cases such as seasons.

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To answer another frequently asked question, the self-service functionality in the developer console that has been the process until this point in time will remain unavailable leading up to the transition to IGDB on November 17.

If you are a game developer or publisher who wishes to change the cover art for a game you own, please review these requirements, then contact developers@twitch.tv or your designated Solutions Architecture representative with a qualifying image asset. We will be taking cover art update requests via email until November 17.

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Hello! I work for atypical studio. We have created our game page with a valid cover on IGDB Noara: The Conspiracy (2021). However the cover has not been added to our game on twitch. We are going to organize a common stream with several well-known french streamers on the day of the release of the game on November 15th. Because of the non-working console developer we cannot add it manually, players will not able to see the game image during this event.

Couldn’t someone at twitch integrate it for us before that date? the whole team will thank you for this…

I have already contacted developers@twitch.tv with no response yet.

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Yes. As mentioned above, we are supporting cover art update requests via email until November 17. This will be completed during business hours on Monday. :+1:

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From the IGDB Discord Announcements channel!

So it’s all up and running now!