Twitch is continuing its downward spiral as it has just issued a third wave of layoffs in twelve months. This time, according to a Bloomberg report, 35% of the workforce is set to be affected, which amounts to 500 people.
This comes after a difficult year for the once-lucrative creator platform. Last December, 400 staff at Twitch were laid off due to general cuts at Amazon, which was soon followed by long-time CEO Emmett Shear resigning in March.
More recently, Twitch also announced that they plan to cease operations in Korea and, somewhat embarrassingly, rolled back on their new nudity policy mere days after implementing it.
Twitch, which pulls in an average of 2.5 million viewers a week, helped launch the careers of countless creators like Pokimane, Dream, Amouranth, xQc, and TommyInnit, to name a few.
Many of them are still active on the platform today, but with its ever-changing policies and rapidly dwindling workforce, it’s far from the powerhouse it was when some of these careers were launched.
Are new creators still trying to make a name for themselves on Twitch? Absolutely, but rival platform Kick poached several Twitch stars over the past year due to its generous 95-5 revenue split with creators, following Twitch’s decision to reduce its once-lucrative 70-30 revenue split deal with top creators (and, of course, Twitch’s decision to ban gambling in October 2022 funneled a few top stars over to Kick).
Twitch has made several efforts to court creators, like allowing simulcasting and having its new CEO drive across the country in a van to charm disgruntled streamers, but it’s likely other creators will try to make a name for themselves not only on Kick but on other more established platforms like YouTube.
All in all, it’s been a tough year in the esports world, and if Twitch continues down this path, it may well end up another casualty of this largely broken industry.
Are you a Twitch worker affected by these layoffs? Email [email protected] to share your story.
