World of Warcraft streamer Asmongold is calling for a Twitch boycott after the streaming platform revealed big changes to its ads policy.
Earlier today, on June 6, 2023, Twitch shared some new guidelines for branded streams set to be implemented on July 1, 2023. Branded content includes product placements, sponsored gameplay, brand logo stream overlays, and similar endorsements. The new guidelines include what type of branded content is allowed, how to run ads, and how to properly disclose branded content.
The new guidelines created quite a stir across social media, with the streaming community reacting quite negatively to a lot of the new changes. This includes the banning of political or adult-oriented branded streams and disallowing “burned-in video and audio ads.” Many big streamers have spoken out against Twitch, including Asmongold.
Asmongold tweeted that streamers should “consider boycotting Twitch” and moving to alternative platforms after seeing the changes.
“Making common and harmless forms of advertisement literally against ToS so Twitch can monopolize more of streamers’ income,” Asmongold ranted.
Asmongold later took to his livestream to discuss the issue further. He said that the upcoming changes are meant to “monetize, monopolize, and take advantage of smaller streamers” and big creators alike.
Due to Twitch’s alleged greediness and lack of care for streamers’ desires and concerns, Asmongold said that he will switch platforms if the changes go through in July. He said he would stream on Twitch here and there but planned to “move to another platform non-exclusively.”
Said Asmongold: “If this goes through, I will start actively pursuing a deal.”
Other streamers also started chiming in. Jack “CouRage” Dunlop tweeted that he was glad he joined YouTube Gaming before all this happened, adding that YouTube has a 70/30 split for creators and gifted members.
In response, a lot of people in the streaming community said that Twitch was sabotaging itself, blinded by greed. Nobody was surprised when Tyler “Trainwreck” Niknam agreed with Asmongold, stating “f— Twitch.”
If Asmongold actually leaves Twitch over the new ads policy, it will be interesting to see where he gets a deal, whether it will be YouTube, Rumble, or Kick.
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