Crazy to be typing this right now, but I think it's safe to say we are officially at the end of an era. Twitch has been the king of livestreaming since I can remember. There were always bumps in the road here or there, but for the most part, Twitch has been borderline indestructible. Mixer came and went, YouTube continues to improve their interface, but Twitch remained king at all times.
Then, the unexpected happened - enter Kick. At first, I thought Kick was gonna be a fad like many other streaming platforms that came before it. However, it felt different off the get go. They had a massive streamer in Trainwrecks - who not only streamed/promoted the platform, but also took an ownership role and really wanted to give the power back to creators.
They had great financial backing being owned by Stake - an online gambling company. Then, slowly but surely they started taking some market share away from Twitch. It was a slow burn at first, but lately it's felt like there's been massive hits to Twitch.
Even Ninja expressed his frustrations with the Amazon-owned streaming platform:
Then on June 16th, Twitch suffered it's largest blow to date...
It started when xQc signed a streaming deal worth $100 MILLION for 2 years....absolutely ridiculous numbers.
Then, Kick signed Amouranth to a streaming deal.
In the latest news, we're seeing Cloakzy hopping on the green bandwagon once his Twitch deal expired.
Not only can Clock play with Dr Disrespect, but he'll also be earning 95% on every sub on Kick...that's a significant increase even if Cloakzy's deal was a 70/30 split with Twitch. To add even more fuel to the fire, Doc has given his price to Kick...
50 MILLION!!! The craziest part is...I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Doc and Kick ended up signing this deal. Everyone who has watched Doc knows he's undoubtedly the most entertaining streamer out there. Once you enter the Champion's Club, you leave a different person...
On a completely separate note, TFue decided to retire from streaming.
I know this decision wasn't easy for him, but my guy has been GRINDING for so long up to this point. As much as you love streaming, at a certain point you realize just how demanding it is. Being online and entertaining for 10-12 hours a day can really make you feel like your missing out on a lot of different parts of life. Like seeing family, friends, or simply just hanging out and watching sports at night. Couple that feeling with the fact that there's absolutely nothing fun out to grind/play for 10 hours a day and you'll start to see a few more streamers follow suit.
TFue was an absolute legend and even if you weren't the biggest fan of his content, you know you've laughed to at least a few of his outrageous clips. I mean the dude looks exactly like Fortnite Jonesy for crying out loud...
Given the current landscape of gaming, I wouldn't be surprised if more streamers began to follow suit. We went from such an inflated time of gaming during covid, to a time where it feels like there really isn't anything to play. The only games on my radar for the rest of the year are Starfield and CSGO:2.
I have extremely high faith in Starfield and I really think it can bring back the gaming passion. But for right now, we stay patiently waiting...
As it relates back to Kick vs Twitch, we're starting to see real progress being made by Kick to start taking some of Twitch's market share. They still have an extremely long way to go, but they continually appear to make every right move, while Twitch can't get out of its own way.
Alright, I'm gonna go back to raging at my teammates on Valorant - see you guys in a bit. Feel free to answer the poll below!
Where do you prefer to watch streams?
Twitch
Kick
PS - Shoutout to "Pichael Meters" for being the first person on the Kick wave. GGs.
Comments