Twitch
Twitch
Dr Disrespect calls Apex Legends the “hardest shooter” he’s ever played
Olivia Richman
YouTube’s biggest streamer Herschel “Dr Disrespect” Beahm is known for having strong opinions on the games he plays — and his opinions are often respected. This time around, the Doc has revealed that he believes Apex Legends is the hardest shooter. Shooters are games that have first-person shooting, like Call of Duty and Halo. But the genre has become a lot more dynamic and diverse in recent years, including battle …
Twitch
Amouranth reveals upcoming projects, explains lack of content change
Olivia Richman
Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa has been under heavy scrutiny ever since she left her husband late last year, with many fans wondering why she is still doing adult content. Now, Amouranth has offered an explanation. Amouranth said late last year that she was planning to step away from adult content, but viewers noticed that she was still doing adult content well after the deadline she’d previously set for herself. But people …
Twitch
Who is Amouranth? All about the controversial streamer in 2023
Fariha Bhatti
Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Michelle Siragusa’s adult ASMR content on Twitch has wagged many tongues, earning her multiple bans and warnings, but that didn’t stop her from becoming Twitch’s most-watched female streamer. Here’s all we know about the cosplayer-turned-streamer in 2023. Twitch is a live streaming service, but most of its hit content revolves around video games and esports. However, the Just Chatting category skyrocketed in viewership in the last few years …
Twitch
Andrew Tate tweets claims of innocence on human trafficking
Olivia Richman
Controversial red pill influencer Andrew Tate has spoken out on Twitter about the human trafficking allegations against him. Tate and his brother, along with two other suspects, were arrested at the end of December of 2022 when Romanian police raided his home as part of a human trafficking ring investigation. He is now in custody as the investigation continues, and his assets have been seized. Through it all, Tate has …
Twitch
Is Andrew Tate innocent? Tate requesting release due to children, health concerns
Olivia Richman
It’s been a pretty rough few days for Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan. After getting into an internet beef with activist Greta Thunberg, Tate accidentally revealed his location and was arrested as part of a human trafficking investigation. But is Andrew Tate guilty? Tate was arrested along with three other men that were accused of being part of a human trafficking ring, with accusations claiming that Tate brought women …
Twitch
Were xQc and Adept married? xQc explains his relationship
Olivia Richman
Felix “xQc” Lengyel has been in an off-and-on again relationship with streamer Samantha “Adept” Lopez, leading to a lot of drama over the past year. In the fall of 2022, xQc announced that he was no longer dating his long-time girlfriend, Adept, due to conflict between her and his family. The public announcement caused a heated argument between xQc and Adept, some of which happened during a livestream. The situation …
Twitch
xQc abruptly ends stream after Adept accuses him of “violating a court law”
Olivia Richman
It looks like the drama between Felix “xQc” Lengyel and his ex-girlfriend Adept is ongoing. On January 7, xQc cut a stream short when Adept showed up at his house to tell him he was “violating a court law.” After playing video games for a few hours, xQc’s stream was interrupted when there was a knock at the door. xQc got up and opened the door. Viewers could then hear …
Twitch
Kai Cenat responds after his friend was accused of sexual assault at a party
Olivia Richman
Being the publicist for Kai Cenat is a full-time job. Just moments after a few other controversies, Cenat is back in the spotlight. This time, a woman claims she was raped at a party she was at with the young Twitch streamer. Jovi Pena, a TikTok influencer with 120,000 followers, claimed she was raped at a party that Cenat invited her to. Pena claimed that a man named Djigui Seck …
Macaiyla shares reason for getting extensive jaw surgery
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Controversial Twitch streamer Macaiyla has shared updates on her extensive jaw surgery. Macaiyla has over 320K followers on Twitch. She may be Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp’s girlfriend, but she’s also popular for her own talent and likeable personality. Fans noticed when she took a break from the platform, but Macaiyla is sharing some updates on the surgery that kept her from broadcasting. Earlier this week, Macaiyla tweeted about her jaw surgery …
Multiple rape accusations leveled against Andrew Tate
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Controversial red pill podcaster Andrew Tate was recently arrested due to alleged human trafficking, but he is now being accused of rape by multiple women. Tate was arrested in Romania in December of 2022 following a police raid. The four arrests, including Tate, were part of an ongoing investigation into the abduction of women being used as cam girls against their will. Tate ended up getting arrested due to a …
Hot tub streamer JubileeBlais permanently banned, here’s why
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Hot tub streamer Jubilee “JubileeBlais” Blaisdell has been banned from Twitch twice in 2023. It’s only January 3, but JubileeBlais had already been suspended from the streaming platform twice. Both times it was for suggestive content. This time, JubileeBlais is appealing her ban, claiming on Twitter that she doesn’t understand the rules. “This is actually very depressing and I’m sad about it. It’s not clear. I can’t be myself,” she …
Mizkif finally speaks out on “embarrassing” comeback stream
Olivia Richman
Twitch
After facing backlash over his return to streaming, Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo has offered an apology. Mizkif was accused of covering up his friend’s sexual assault earlier in 2022, causing his organization OTK to investigate the claims. The investigation recently came back without finding him guilty, but many in the streaming community have still been frustrated with his behavior surrounding the sensitive topic. In response, Mizkif has offered an apology to …
MoistCr1TiKaL calls out OTK for keeping Mizkif investigation report private
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Popular streamer Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo was accused of covering up sexual assaults within OTK along with his girlfriend Maya Higa in September of 2022. Now, Charles “MoistCr1TiKaL” White is questioning the validity of the investigation by OTK. After Mizkif was accused of covering up his friend’s sexual assaults, OTK announced that it was doing an investigation into the matter. On January 1, 2023, OTK publicly stated that the investigation had …
Andrew Tate arrested after a salty Tweet gave clues to his location
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Controversial red pill podcaster Andrew Tate has been arrested. On December 29, Tate and his brother Tristan’s home was raided by the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism, according to Romanian media. The raid resulted in the two brothers getting taken into custody. Tate was accused of kidnapping multiple women earlier in 2022 and he was accused of sex trafficking in the form of forcing women to …
Will Amazon Prime Gaming rewards for LoL end in 2023?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The Amazon Prime Gaming rewards for League of Legends have been great for LoL players to get free rewards with their Prime membership, but are they going away in 2023? Amazon Prime Gaming offers monthly rewards to players of a variety of games who have connected their accounts to their Amazon Prime membership. The monthly League of Legends rewards offered by the company were part of this program, giving a …
“Insane levels of greed”: Ludwig on Logan Paul CryptoZoo scam
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Logan Paul has been trying to redeem himself after a lot of controversies over the years. But Ludwig Ahgren feels that the progress is ruined thanks to the reveal of Paul’s connections to CryptoZoo. Famous investigative YouTuber Stephen “Coffeezilla” Findeisen recently made a video exposing Logan Paul’s involvement with CryptoZoo. CryptoZoo is a blockchain game where players invest cryptocurrency into purchasing animal NFTs. Paul has been promoting this game, leading …
xQc, HasanAbi, H3H3 named in Bored Ape Yacht Club lawsuit
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Artist Ryder Ripps and Not Larva Labs founder Jeremy Cahen have been hit with a lawsuit by Yuga Labs, the developer behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, claiming trademark infringement. But Pauly has stated that the real reason is to “silence” anyone who criticizes Bored Ape or calls the brand racist. And this apparently includes some well-known streamers as well. Cahen and Ripps have been speaking out against Bored Ape for …
“I don’t know when I’ll be the same”: QTCinderella talks mental health and Twitch
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Streamer QTCinderella is known for creating massive content creator events, but she may not be on Twitch for much longer. QTCinderella is a full-time streamer who has shaken up the scene with the Streamer Awards. But her fame has, unfortunately, come with a lot of frustrating downsides, some of which have caused QTCinderella to consider quitting for good. She recently discussed her feelings with Anthony Padilla, admitting that streaming led …
Trainwreck claims 90% of top Twitch streamers are view botting
Olivia Richman
Twitch
Twitch streamer Tyler “Trainwreck” Niknam is not impressed by the top streamers on the platform, claiming that most of them are using view botting to boost their viewership. While streaming over the holiday break, Trainwreck said that he was confident that “90 out of 100” top Twitch streamers are “blatantly view botting.” But not only that, he felt they were “massively view-botting.” View botting is when streamers artificially inflate their …
Pokimane has a plan to make online harassment illegal
Olivia Richman
Twitch
As one of the most popular female streamers on Twitch, Imane “Pokimane” Anys has been the target of a lot of hate, harassment, and trolling. Now, Pokimane has announced that she is looking to make this behavior punishable by law. Pokimane recently dealt with a hate raid and massive harassment at the hands of another streamer’s community. The streamer was permanently banned from Twitch for encouraging the harassment, but Pokimane …
Twitch is the largest of all the major livestreaming platforms in and around the gaming world, but it wasn’t always that way. Th platform’s history dates back over many years and to a form of the service that had little to do with gaming. So how did it arrive to the top of the gaming marketplace from those humble beginnings?
Twitch transcends justin.tv, is acquired by Amazon
Twitch was originally born out of justin.tv, an early livestreaming website that focus more on general lifestyle streaming than on any one particular niche, gaming included. justin.tv, named after co-founder Justin Kan, was launched in 2007 and went on to feature multiple categories of streaming options. Among these was gaming, a category which quickly outpaced the growth of platform’s other categories.
Responding to this growth, justin.tv spun out its gaming section in 2011 into a new service called Twitch.tv, and that is the true starting point of Twitch as it exists today.
It would still be some time before Twitch would resemble its modern-day operation. The biggest move towards that progression came in 2014, when the streaming platform was purchased for just shy of $1 billion in cash by services and technology giant Amazon. That move transitioned the company being a private operation largely funded by private investment and internal revenues to one of many arms of one of the world’s largest and richest companies.
Twitch dominates gaming livestreaming
The growth of Twitch largely coincided with the growth of livestreaming the world over, and gaming was a key driver of that growth as audiences flocked in droves to watch charismatic personalities play through their favorite games both new and old. Some of those personalities would become so popular that they would rival mainstream celebrities in notoriety with younger audiences, from Tyler “Ninja” Blevins to Imane “Pokimane” Anys.
Some of those personalities would be poached by rival streaming platforms that cropped up in response to the runaway popularity of Twitch. Microsoft’s Mixer and YouTube’s YouTube Gaming both signed streamers with massive audiences to exclusive streaming deals via big-money contracts. But Twitch proved resilient; no matter how popular the streamers were when they were signed away, someone else seemed prime to fill their spot. Twitch had become more than just a vehicle through which popular personalities could stream. It was itself a destination for its audience.
Twitch does still continue to compete with rival platforms. Kick is perhaps its biggest competition today, offering generous
subscription revenue splits
in an effort to sway streamers away from Twitch. But Amazon’s platform remains the most popular.
Twitch finds controversy over moderation, censorship
Given the nature of the Twitch platform, one that is entirely reliant on user-generated content, it should come as no surprise that moderation and censorship have long been hot topics of conversation. Consistency, or lack thereof, is often cited as Twitch’s biggest issue as its moderation team struggles to pass judgments across a litany of streamers producing a great variety of content.
Those content types have only grown over time. While Twitch found massive popularity by moving away from the greater variety of justin.tv and focusing specifically on gaming, the platform has ironically pushed back into other categories in more recent years, attempting to find additional growth by emphasizing the streaming of art, music, and its popular “just chatting” content that sees streamers talking directly to their audience without any particular activity driving their engagement.
But while Twitch is now a lightning rod for controversy and discussion given its great size and breadth, that controversy has shown no real risk to lessening its grip on the livestreaming industry. Twitch has become the dominant name in its category, and with its biggest streamers continuing to
set new records, all signs point to that dominance continuing for the foreseeable future.
