After losing his Twitch partnership, streamer Philip “DarksydePhil” Burnell threatened to leave the platform completely. That is, unless he got extra support from his community in the form of donations.
DarksydePhil lost his partnership at the beginning of May, causing the veteran streamer to complain to his followers that he had no subscription option anymore. To continue earning money on Twitch, DarksydePhil stated that he needed viewers to use PayPal to make donations and support his continuing to stream.
Some viewers expressed concern about the use of PayPal, and DarksydePhil took the opportunity to tell them to “seek help” over their paranoia. Another viewer donated 25,000 bits but was banned since it wasn’t a PayPal donation. Fans started to become disgruntled with DarksydePhil’s attitude, but he still warned viewers that this was the “last chance” to support his content creation.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last chance. I have to appeal to you one more time,” DarksydePhil said after raising his donation goal to $200 per stream. “Less than 20 minutes left on the stream, we didn’t even hit the vest goal tonight, this is not good.”
In the stream, which has since been shared on YouTube for the purpose of being mocked, DarksydePhil continued to beg his viewers to use PayPal. He said he’s “not joking about it” when he claimed that he would leave Twitch if his followers didn’t reach the tip goal.
“I need people to buy in and say, ‘Ok, I used to cheer, I used to sub, I’m not going to do that anymore, I’m going to come tip instead.’ Or pledge to my Patreon,” DarksydePhil explained.
For DarksydePhil, the situation was “dire” because Twitch removed his partnership. He stated that streaming is his “livelihood” and that he needs to hit his tip goals most days.
In response, the streaming community has largely turned against the gameplay commentator for his blaming his own followers for the future of his streaming career. They also lashed out at DarksydePhil for calling fans “paranoid” for not wanting to use PayPal.
“$200 a stream. $400 a day. Streams six days a week all year. I dare any of you to try and live on less than the $125,200 a year he needs!” one YouTuber sarcastically responded..
Streamer DarksydePhil continues begging for donations on Twitter
On May 10, DarksydePhil declared that he desperately needed donations once again. This time he moved his request from the streaming realm to reach out to his followers on Twitter, stating that his mortgage payment is due on May 15. For this reason, his upcoming stream was an attempt to “raise funds” to get him through this “tough time.”
Here is the audio-only schedule for Monday May 10 and the coming week! Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/tFnUPO3oQC
— Phil (@TheyCallMeDSP) May 10, 2021
At the moment, it’s unclear why DarksydePhil’s partnership was revoked. He claims he also is unsure himself. But DarksydePhil has been banned on Twitch multiple times before. This includes his most recent suspension in October 2020 due to a “false DMCA claim.”
Aside from being on Twitch’s bad side, DarksydePhil has upset the streaming community at large a few times as well. Earlier this year, he accidentally “doxxed” a fan on Discord by showing their driver’s license. He has also said that racist jokes are “okay” to use if they are not targeting a specific person.
