One of the most popular Twitch streamers to grace the Amazon video game streaming platform created headlines this week when she announced her departure bringing an end to a 10-year run.
Imane Anys, better known as ‘Pokimane’, announced this week that she would be leaving Twitch:
“twitch has been my home for a decade,” Pokimane said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “but it’s time to say thank you for all the memories and love during my League, Fortnite, & Among us days.”
the end of an era
twitch has been my home for a decade..
but it’s time to say thank you for all the memories and love during my League, Fortnite, & Among us days 💜 pic.twitter.com/S8FMp6G3I8
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) January 30, 2024
Pokimane had been one of the platform’s most consistent stars, staying with the platform during the rise of Mixer, YouTube, Facebook Gaming, and more recently Kick, most of which lured Twitch’s top streamers away from the platform, at some point or another, with massive contracts.
Pokimane stayed. Until now.
According to TechCrunch, Pokimane will now be heading to YouTube, but time will tell whether or not that will be her permanent home.
The article points out the hurdles the rival Kick platform presents, pointing out that while “Kick gives creators a better revenue share, the grass isn’t necessarily greener. Kick is notoriously lax when it comes to content moderation, and has become the new home for some streamers who were banned from Twitch.”
Additionally, in 2023 Pokimane hinted the joining Kick wouldn’t likely be an option as she viewed profiting off of the platform would compromise her “morals and ethics” (h/t TechCrunch).
With a lot of creators attempting to do something different, it may be likely that Pokimane’s video game streams days are done, or at the least going to be dramatically scaled back. Given the industry’s struggles to profit and stay afloat, video game streaming platforms are not longer considered to be the next big thing that they may have seemed to be a few years ago.
With major companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta (Facebook Gaming) and even Tencent (who owns the Trovo streaming platform) either folding up shop or struggling, the live streaming industry will be an interesting one to watch over the course of the next few years.