Amazon’s popular video game livestreaming platform, Twitch Interactive (Amazon.com, Inc.), has had its sights on switching to HTML5 for some time, and now it looks like the service is finally getting ready to make the transition.

“Starting today, the HTML5 Player Beta will open to Twitch Turbo subscribers so we can begin to collect feedback on the new player,” Twitch Product Marketing Manager Noreen McInnis said in a blog post. “We plan to steadily expand beta access to more users toward the end of the summer based on the data we gather in this initial test.”

Twitch said that an HTML5 player is the most highly requested feature for the site, and it noted that the new player will have a number of advantages over the old Flash-based system, including faster load times, more consistent video quality, and fewer service interruptions.

According to McInnis, the beta will initially be open to Twitch Turbo subscribers only so that the site can find and fix some bugs before rolling it out to more users.

“We mentioned in June that the focus of this release to Twitch Turbo subscribers is on identifying breaking points and areas for improvement,” McInnis explained. “Because this is a beta test, we know that there could still be some unresolved bugs that impact your viewing experience, so we’ve put together some details about what you can expect from this early version of HTML5 on Twitch.”

Twitch’s guide on the new HTML5 player can be found here.

McInnis said that a number of non-Turbo users will be randomly selected by the end of the summer to take part in the beta test for the HTML5 player. If you are one of the lucky few, you will see an alert on the video player letting you know that you can switch to HTML5 by clicking on the gear icon.

Image courtesy of Twitch Interactive Inc