Embedded Files
by Julia Hopkins
Twitch is the leading livestream service on the Internet. They are older than other live streaming companies, are backed by company giant Amazon and have a fan base of millions. Although they are not known for their great PR moves, Twitch has succeeded in riding the wave of drama and scandal. However, amid some of their largest streamers being under scrutiny for sexual assault coverups, incredibly public breakups, scams for a gambling addictions and a huge paycut, will Twitch be able to continue the way they have without dying out? The internet is on fire again; here is your rundown of what is happening.
TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains discussions of sexual assault and disregard for the danger it poses. The quotes in this article do not represent the beliefs of The Chronicle
The drama kicked off with top streamer XQC declaring he would not be attending Sh*tCamp, a popular event hosted by QTCinderella. He claimed that it was because his friend SodaPoppin would also not be there and it ‘would not be fun without him.’ When an older clip of him having canceled on QT, he revealed that the real reason he would not be attending was because he was having a family issue.
During one of his streams, he would further elaborate saying, “I felt like I had to make a choice… between family and [Adept] … I …chose family.” This is far from their first breakup as the two are known for being on-again-off-again partners. However, this time the two engaged in an incredibly public breakup in front of 100,000 viewers. XQC and Adept received a lot of backlash for it with fans saying they should have kept the extremely private details to themselves. The two were recently seen together at Twitchcon San Diego 2022.
This is far from their first breakup as the two are known for being on-again-off-again partners. However, this time the two engaged in an incredibly public breakup in front of 100,000 viewers. XQC and Adept received a lot of backlash for it with fans saying they should have kept the extremely private details to themselves. The two were recently seen together at Twitchcon San Diego 2022.
ItsSlicker, a Just Chatting streamer, is also under backlash- though his actions are far more criminal. Streamer Lacari posted a tweet with screenshots of Discord direct messages. Slicker asks him for $1000 and Lacari sends him the money. A year later, Lacari attempted to be paid back but found that Slicker's payments would bounce. The post included a caption saying simply: “Seek help.”
This tweet had dozens of replies with streamers revealing that they had also loaned Slicker money and not been paid back. Streaker lukeafkfan admitted to loaning $27,000 and TrainwreckTV gave him around $45,000.
In a stream on September 17th, Slicker would tearfully reveal that he had a debilitating addiction to gambling that started with the shooter game CS:GO’s skin betting software before finding sports betting. He quickly overspent his income and attempted to pay people back by borrowing from others in a vicious cycle of debt. Streamers Ludwig and XQC have started a campaign to pay back anyone who loaned Slicker money saying, “This is about the victims. Only them.” Slicker was then banned on Twitch.
Although Slicker engaged in sports betting, the scandal was used as a stepping stone to something a lot of viewers have been calling for: the end of gambling on Twitch. A popular streamer Mizkif and TrainswreckTV got into a Twitter argument in which Train said, “Are you going to send Maya and Mitch to… blackmail me like you did those girls to coverup… sexual assaults.” He elaboared in a tweet an hour later saying that although Mizkif did not sexually assault the girls, he “...orchestrated the coverups for his friends…” The two other people he refers to in his tweet are streamer Mitch Jones and Mizkifs ex-girlfriend and wildlife activist Maya Higa.
During a 2020 party, streamer AdrianahLee was drunk and laid down in a guestroom. CrazySlick, Mizkifs roomate with no relation to ItsSlicker, went into the room and allegedly ‘checked her pulse’ to make sure she was alive by laying his hands on her chest.
In a followup stream from the tweet, Adrianah played a year old clip from one of MIzkifs streams in which he says around the 1:40:00 mark that “... it's sexual harassment, whatever… it's not really a big deal.”
Clips of Adriana's stream went viral on the reddit page r/LivestreamFails with fans responding in horror. CrazySlick tweeted that he did not sexually assault herand would be finding a lawyer with the intent to sue.
Mitch Jones went live for the first time in two months in a Q&A style stream where he addressed the accusations. He said that although he had little impact he was told to convince Adrianah to downplay the severity of the assault. Mizkif allegedly instructed Maya to speak to her because “... you are Maya Higa… You're a woman. She will listen to you.”
Think that is it? Not quite. Twitch released a statement on Twitter saying they would now prohibit content that “slots, roulette, or dice games that… [don’t] provide sufficient consumer protection.” This does not ban sports betting or poker. The ban took effect on October 18th.
This ban got fans excited for the future of Twitch. If the company listens to them it can become a more enjoyable experience.
The excitement was short lived when the next day, Twitch announced pay cuts for top streamers. Streamers that previously received a 70/30 cut of their earnings would now see it capped at $100,000, after which the cut would drop to the typical 50/50 cut.
This may sound like a good thing until you consider that it doesn’t help smaller streamers at all. The goal had been to have the 70/30 cut be the standard for all streamers. Taxing the bigger streamers does not help in this case because streamers with fewer viewers will still be getting paid the same.
These pay cuts mean that more and more streamers are looking to streaming on Youtube as an alternative. YouTube offers a 70/30 cut to all streamers. Although most of the bigger streamers are still under contract with Twitch, the future of Twitch is quickly dimming. Unless the company changes the way it’s operating and is able to adapt with the drama its top streamers bring to it, it would not be surprising for YouTube Gaming to surpass Twitch.
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