TwitchCon, the annual convention dedicated to its namesake's popular game-streaming service, kicked off on Thursday evening with an event hosted by Amazon Game Studios. There, the game publisher announced that Twitch will begin doling out a form of currency called "Stream+," which will debut in the upcoming sports-brawling multiplayer game Breakaway.

An Amazon Game Studios rep mentioned the currency while describing various ways the new game will "integrate directly" with Twitch (which makes a certain level of sense, since Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014). The reveal included a brief snippet of Breakaway action that confirmed viewers' ability to wager on matches and "earn Stream+ Coins by watching."

The reveal was otherwise scant on Stream+ details. Amazon didn't confirm exactly how the coins could be spent and what they would unlock, either within Breakaway or throughout the Twitch ecosystem, not to mention whether Stream+ currency could be bought, sold, or traded. Gambling watchdog groups will surely keep a careful eye on this implementation, especially in light of a major gambling scandal that dogged the Steam gaming marketplace. In that instance, enterprising users found workarounds to trade and monetize in-game currencies and items—and built significant wagering sites as a result.

Breakaway was revealed with a live match and some basic descriptions of its battle-sports systems, and at first glance, the developers at Double Helix Games (whom Amazon acquired in 2014 following their work on the Killer Instinct reboot) appear to have a relatively unique spin on the incredibly crowded hero-battle genre. Instead of controlling creeps and lanes, players will spend their time building augments on their side of the "court," including catapults and barrier walls, then running around exchanging fireballs and fisticuffs and trying to get a ball into one of the various point-scoring nets. Its other major Twitch integrations include the ability to easily promote games and invite players via a Twitch stream and offering broadcasters deep access to creating live stat windows on the screen (so that hosts can highlight specific stats, much like on major-league sports broadcasts on TV). The latter implementation, in particular, looked quite slick in the demonstration.

Amazon Game Studios said that we could expect similar Twitch integration in other games revealed in very, very brief teases: Crucible, a six-on-six MOBA with betrayal and deception elements (meaning, players can switch teams whenever they want), and New World, a multiplayer, open-world soapbox adventure. We didn't get release dates or estimates for any of the revealed games, though Breakaway's open alpha will start "soon," company reps said on the TwitchCon stage, and the game will be playable on the TwitchCon show floor all weekend.