What happened to vtubers and their gifts at TwitchCon, explained
TwitchCon has been in the news for a variety of negative happenings this year, and now its vtubers and their fans who are angry at Twitch for how the event, and gifts meant for those vtubers, were handled.
The event is quickly becoming notorious in the streaming community, and it’s not hard to understand why. Emily “Emiru” Beth Schunk made headlines after being harassed by a fan at the event despite the presence of security, and vtubers also faced multiple issues at this year’s Twitch-branded streaming convention.
Why are vtuber fans mad at Twitch?
Vtubers and their fans are mad at Twitch because staff members working at TwitchCon apparently threw away many gifts that were meant for the vtubers from their fans.
Henya the Genius was one of the first vtubers to reveal that all the gifts her fans had given her were thrown away by TwitchCon staff. The vtuber stated that it may have been a miscommunication or misunderstanding, but regardless of the reason why, she didn’t receive any of the gifts intended for her and she apologized to her fans as a result. Henya wasn’t the only one to face this issue, as multiple other vtubers revealed they hadn’t received the gifts fans gave them. Kuro tweeted his own thanks to fans for their gifts, but stated that he didn’t receive any himself. Those gifts were also apparently mishandled by Twitch staff..
TwitchCon 2025. Image credit: Twitch
Fans and fellow content creators were quick to show their support to the affected vtubers, with some even claiming that throwing away the gifts was malicious and that TwitchCon needs to answer for it. At least one attendee reported alleged that they’d seen a staff member accept a gift intended for a vtuber, assure the fan that it would be passed on, and the immediately throw the gift into the garbage.
Some have even speculated that some gifts may not have been thrown away at all, but instead may have been swiped by staff. There hasn’t been any evidence offered to support this accusation, however.
Regardless, the gifts incident isn’t the only one that vtubers and their fans are calling out Twitch for.
Many vtubers hide their real lives and faces from fans while streaming online as part of their online personas, which makes it harder for them to openly appear in public the same way that traditional streamers might. Some vtubers have alleged that TwitchCon staff forced them to show their faces in public. While this may have been done as a security measure to protect attendees, vtubers and fans have claimed it could have been done more privately to protect the identities of the content creators. Many vtubers try their best to keep their identities private for both fan immersion and safety reasons.
Vtuber Chibidoki faced yet another issue when her meet and greet was canceled, and she was blamed for it. The vtuber took to social media to clarify that while staff told fans the streamer was no longer being made available because she wasn’t feeling well, she was in fact perfectly fine, and the event staff acted without her knowledge. Popular vtuber Ironmouse has even apologized for how things were handled at TwitchCon on behalf of the event.
Between these issues and the ongoing matter of Emiru’s harrassment, TwitchCon is now under more scrutiny than ever before.
Feature image credits: Kuro, Henya, Ironmouse
Khizar Mundia has been playing video games for as long as he can recall. Things have come a long way since the many days he spent playing the original NES, though. He now covers a variety of competitive games and esports, as well as the world of streaming, ranging from Twitch to Kick. If it’s of interest to gamers, it’s of interest to Khizar.
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