Competing with game streaming pioneer Twitch has proven difficult for other platforms.
Twitch stars have long been tried to be lured to other platforms with contracts worth millions Silas Stein
Gaming influencers are making a comeback on Amazon’s streaming platform Twitch after exclusivity deals worth millions with other platforms ended.
Almost ten well-known streamers have returned to Twitch in the past year. Gaming celebrities have a total of 25 million followers on the platform. Several others have partially returned to Twitch, but continue to stream on multiple platforms.
Twitch was the first player in the game streaming market in 2011. Microsoft, YouTube and Meta tried for a long time to attract Twitch’s most popular stars to their platforms with multi-million contracts. For example, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins signed a massive $30 million exclusive deal with Microsoft Mixer in 2019.
However, the competition for streamers began to slow down in 2023. In that year, the relatively new platform Kick offered, among other things, $10 million for a one-year contract To Nick “Nickmercs” Kolcheff. Founder of Kick Bijan Tehrani however, has ensured that it no longer chases big names either.
– Based on history, such agreements have always been temporary. No platform wants to lose money and these contracts don’t pay for themselves, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy states.
Fans did not always follow streamers to new platforms, which is why the number of viewers decreased in many cases. Twitch has also allowed other platforms to stream at the same time, attracting many influencers to the Amazon-owned platform.