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Tag: twitch

  • Palworld vs. Nintendo, Holodeck Tech, And More Of The Week’s Biggest News

    Palworld vs. Nintendo, Holodeck Tech, And More Of The Week’s Biggest News

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    Image: Brandon James Greer / Netflix / Kotaku

    Pokémon Concierge, the stop-motion animated series that launched on Netflix in December, is a total vibe. After spending time watching a lovely series about a Pokémon resort, I almost don’t want to go back to battling and training. I just want to hang out with all these little guys and take a neverending vacation. Unfortunately, that’s not the core of most Pokémon games, but it is nice to picture what a Pokémon Concierge video game could look like. Thankfully, we don’t have to imagine it, as some artists have already created a mock-up of it for the original Game Boy, though it’s unfortunately not a playable game. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • How And When To Watch Xbox’s Developer Direct 2024

    How And When To Watch Xbox’s Developer Direct 2024

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    Image: Ninja Theory

    Xbox’s Developer_Direct stream returns this year, promising a close look at some of Microsoft’s upcoming titles, including actual gameplay and conversations with devs for various titles. If you’d like to get a sense of what to expect and when to tune in, we’ve got you covered.

    Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s Air Combos Make Me Feel Skilled AF

    Watch the Developer_Direct stream on January 18 at 3 p.m. EST

    The Developer_Direct livestream is expected to hit YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook at 3 p.m. EST, or 12 p.m. Pacific. You’ve got a plenty of channels to watch it on, including Xbox’s official YouTube channel, Bethesda’s YouTube channel, as well as both Xbox and Bethesda’s Twitch channels. For ASL, you can watch the stream on Twitch.tv/XboxASL. And if you’re on Facebook, you can watch the stream there too. If you can’t watch live, Xbox will upload a recap on the YouTube channels listed above.

    Indiana Jones, Hellblade II, and more

    Four games are expected to headline the stream: Obsidian Entertainment’s fantasy game Avowed, Ara: History Untold from Oxide Games (Ashes of the Singularity), Ninja Theory’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and Bethesda’s upcoming Indiana Jones game.

    Read More: Bethesda’s Indiana Jones Game May Finally Have A Name

    Though leaks have suggested Indiana Jones was expected to launch in 2022, not a whole lot more is known about Bethesda’s spin on cinema’s most memorable archaeologist (just don’t call him Junior).

    Diablo IV and Elder Scrolls Online streams

    Both Diablo IV and ESO will have dedicated streams on January 18 as well. Blizzard is expected to show off what’s to come for the next season of Diablo IV at 12 p.m. EST on its YouTube and Twitch channels, while Zenimax Online will show off what’s to come in 2024 for Elder Scrolls Online.

    What games are you looking forward to seeing during Xbox’s dev stream?

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    Claire Jackson

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  • 12 Days Into 2024 And 2700+ Video Game Layoffs Have Been Announced

    12 Days Into 2024 And 2700+ Video Game Layoffs Have Been Announced

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    Within the last few years, video game industry layoffs have unfortunately become more commonplace. In 2023, we saw near-weekly layoffs across the entire industry. When the dust had settled, at least 6,000 jobs across publishers, developers, and other video game-related companies had happened. Sadly, it appears 2024 will outpace that, if the first few weeks of the year are any indication.

    Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s Air Combos Make Me Feel Skilled AF

    Most folks didn’t expect 2024 to be much better, but I’m not sure anyone was ready for it to be possibly worse—yet this year has kicked off with a string of big and small layoffs signaling that the corporate bloodletting rituals aren’t ending anytime soon. So Kotaku is going to try and track all of 2024’s layoffs as they happen. Hopefully, we don’t have to update this post that much.

    Archiact – Unknown

    On January 4, 2024, the first round of video game layoffs (that we know of) happened at VR games developer Archiact. The company, known for its Doom 3 VR port, announced on social media that it had laid off an unspecified number of staff.

    “We are working with these individuals to offset this difficult transition as much as possible, including through reverse recruiting,” said the studio in its announcement post.

    Bossa Studios – 19 people

    This technically happened in late 2023, but was reported and confirmed on January 5, 2024. According to Gameindustry.biz, 19 people were cut from the studio. The layoffs were mostly QA and production roles as well as some non-UK employees.

    Unity Software – 1,800 people

    On January 8, 2024, Reuters reported the first truly massive round of layoffs for the year as Unity confirmed that it planned to cut nearly 25% of its staff as part of a continued “reset” at the company. This is reportedly the largest round of layoffs in the software company’s history and it will be completed by the end of March.

    Twitch – 500 people

    On January 9, 2024, Bloomberg reported that Twitch was preparing to lay off 500 employees by the end of January. This is about 35% of its total staff. The Amazon-owned video game streaming website previously laid off hundreds of employees last year in March and later in October.

    Playtika – 300-400 people

    As reported by CTech on January 11, 2024, mobile game publisher and developer Playtika plans to lay off up to 400 employees, or about 10% of the company’s total workforce. Playtika previously laid off 900 employees in 2022. In 2023, the company agreed to pay up to $300 million to acquire Innplay Labs, another mobile developer.

    Discord – 170 people

    The Verge reported on January 11, 2024 that popular video game chat software developer Discord was planning to lay off around 17% of the company’s total staff. The layoffs were announced in an all-hands meeting and an internal memo obtained by The Verge. CEO Jason Citron explained in the memo that the company had grown “quickly” since 2020 and took on too many projects.

    “Today, we are increasingly clear on the need to sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization,” Citron told employees in the memo. “This is what largely drove the decision to reduce the size of our workforce.”

    Lost Boys Interactive – Unknown

    On January 12, Aftermath reported that an unknown amount of employees at Gearbox-owned developer Lost Boys Interactive had been laid off.

    “It seems a sizable portion of Lost Boys Interactive was laid off today, including myself,” wrote Jared Pace, a producer at the studio, on Linkedin. Pace reportedly told Aftermath that layoffs “affected all disciplines at all levels.”

    Funselektor – 3 people

    The Canadian indie studio behind Art of Rally announced on January 12 that three developers had been laid off.

    “Unfortunately, we’ve had to make some positions redundant at Funselektor,” tweeted the studio’s founder Dune Casu. “We’d like to help them in their employment hunt in the video game sector, so we recommend these awesome Australians: @AdrianGenerator, @PezzleSp, @h4ypal.”

    As of January 11, 2024, at least 2,792 people have been (or will be) laid off this year.

    The video game industry is bigger and makes more money than movies and music combined, bringing in $180 billion in 2021 alone. It’s also an industry that becomes riskier and more expensive each year as AAA games take longer and cost more to make, leading to a situation where even a single flop can sink a studio or publisher. And the whole industry is also in desperate need of unions to help protect its millions of workers when things don’t work out as planned.

    Until then, corporate greed, industry consolidation, and poor leadership will likely continue to cost thousands of people their jobs as we’ve seen at Twitch and Unity.

    .

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Twitch Bans Implied Nakedness In Response To ‘Nudity Meta’

    Twitch Bans Implied Nakedness In Response To ‘Nudity Meta’

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    As December 2023 was underway, some streamers cleverly thought to play around with Twitch’s restrictions around nudity, broadcasting in such a fashion that implied they were completely naked on camera. Twitch, in response, began banning folks before shifting gears to allow various forms of “artistic nudity” to proliferate on the platform. However, after immediately rescinding the decision and expressing that being naked while livestreaming is a no-no, the company is now making it clear that implied nudity is also forbidden, and that anyone who tries to circumvent the rules will face disciplinary action.

    Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s Air Combos Make Me Feel Skilled AF

    Read More: Twitch Allows ‘Artistic Nudity,’ Immediately Regrets It

    In a January 3 blog post, the company laid out the new guidelines regarding implied nudity on the platform, which is now prohibited effective immediately. Anyone who shows skin that the rules deem should be covered—think genitals, nipples “for those who present as women,” and the like—will face “an enforcement action,” though Twitch didn’t specify what that means. So, if you’re wearing sheer or partially see-through clothing, or use black bars to cover your private parts, then you’re more than likely to get hit with some sort of discipline.

    “We don’t permit streamers to be fully or partially nude, including exposing genitals or buttocks. Nor do we permit streamers to imply or suggest that they are fully or partially nude, including, but not limited to, covering breasts or genitals with objects or censor bars,” the company said in the blog post. “We do not permit the visible outline of genitals, even when covered. Broadcasting nude or partially nude minors is always prohibited, regardless of context. For those who present as women, we ask that you cover your nipples and do not expose underbust. Cleavage is unrestricted as long as these coverage requirements are met and it is clear that the streamer is wearing clothing. For all streamers, you must cover the area extending from your hips to the bottom of your pelvis and buttocks.”

    The company said that livestreamers must continue to appropriately categorize their broadcasts in response to this policy change. There is one exception, though. Content creators who classify their streams under the “Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches” category are allowed to wear things like bathing suits “as long as [the attire] completely covers the genitals,” the company outlined in its community guidelines. Still, streamers must follow the rules of not exposing themselves. Or else. As Twitch made it clear in the January 3 blog post, this adjustment to clothing rules on the platform comes hot on the heels of the nudity meta that dominated livestreams throughout December 2023.

    Wait, Nudity Was Twitch’s New Meta?

    At the beginning of December, some streamers, including Morgpie and LivStixs, began broadcasting in what appeared to be the complete nude. In actuality, these content creators were implying nudity by positioning their cameras at the right angle so as to show plenty of unobscured cleavage but keep nipples out of sight. “Artistic nudity” is what it was called and, as the meta took over the platform, Twitch conceded, allowing such nakedness to proliferate all over livestreams.

    Unfortunately, as things heated up and content creators took it to the extreme by going fully naked on camera—save for black censor bars or carefully placed objects blocking out their private parts—the platform said enough is enough and immediately rescinded the policy change. Now, in this new update, the company is explicitly banning implied nudity and preparing to discipline any streamer who falls out of line.

    Kotaku reached out to Twitch for comment.

    Read More: Twitch Abandons Bad Ad Changes After Streamer Freak Out

    Company CEO Dan Clancy said on December 15 that “depictions of real or fictional nudity won’t be allowed on Twitch, regardless of the medium.” He also apologized for the confusion this whole situation has caused, saying that part of Twitch’s job is “to make adjustments that serve the community.” So be careful, streamers. If you show up nude on the platform, Twitch will come for you.

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    Levi Winslow

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  • The first annual VTuber Awards was a win for VR | TechCrunch

    The first annual VTuber Awards was a win for VR | TechCrunch

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    On stream, Filian took the stage at the center of a colossal arena, lit with violet spotlights and surrounded by crowds of fans holding lightsticks. The streamer opened the show dressed in a vivid purple skirt, magenta bow tie and high white boots that matched her jacket — a ritzy version of her avatar’s usual sailor-style school uniform.

    “Please be patient with us. This show has a lot of tech … it’s as live as it comes,” Filian said during her opening remarks. “It’s not rocket science, but it could be.”

    Filian, a streamer with over 766,000 Twitch followers, hosted the first annual VTuber Awards last weekend. Like many VTubers — a portmanteau of “virtual YouTuber” — Filian keeps her identity secret, and instead of showing her real face, streams using a digital model.

    Filian was physically hosting the ceremony from an enclosed green box in WePlay’s Los Angeles studio, a space typically used for esports events. The virtual reality awards show is one of the first of its kind — both for WePlay, a production company that has mainly focused on hosting and producing in-person gaming tournaments in its Los Angeles and Kyiv studios over the last decade, and for VTubing, which has grown from a niche streaming genre to a billion-dollar industry in recent years. 

    The show was a first for VTubers and WePlay, the company that produced the live VR event. Image Credits: The VTuber Awards

    The event blended WePlay’s physical production space with a VR stadium. Image Credits: The VTuber Awards

    VTubers have been broadly recognized in other shows; the Streamer Awards includes a category for “Best VTuber,” and at this year’s Game Awards, VTuber Ironmouse made history by being the first animated streamer to win Content Creator of the Year. But neither award show accounts for the skills unique to VTubing, like avatar design, technological innovation and hosting virtual events. 

    The award for best tech VTuber, for example, went to Vedal987, a streamer and programmer who developed the chatbot VTuber Neuro-sama, which uses text-to-speech and AI to play games and communicate with Twitch viewers. 

    “In every awards show, VTubers are often a footnote or sometimes treated as a unique, strange thing, and so the idea for these awards is like, ‘Why not have a show for ourselves?’” Filian told TechCrunch in an interview in the days leading up the show. 

    VTubers, who typically present with animal ears, exaggerated features or raunchy outfits, are often written off as lewd anime streamers. The genre started in Japan in the early 2010s as an offshoot of idol culture, and took off outside of Asia when VTuber production company Hololive debuted its first English-speaking streamers. Filian noted that the awards show also acknowledges VTuber viewers as much as individual content creators, since fans drove the genre’s breakthrough to mainstream recognition. In addition to the category for most dedicated fanbase, the VTuber Awards also includes a category for VTuber clippers, who clip, curate and post VTuber content online.

    “And so what these people would do is post to YouTube, and in many ways, they created a massive demand for VTubers,” Filian continued. “When VTubers finally came to the west, it was primed to explode. It can’t be overstated how important VTuber clippers are and were to VTubers being where they are today … In many ways, VTubers are typically a lot more involved with their fans than a lot of other creators are.” 

    The show was a technical feat as well. The five-hour event married WePlay’s physical production space with countless hours of engineering and design. Though WePlay has used augmented reality elements in previous live productions, the awards show was the first fully virtual event that the company has produced. WePlay’s Chief Marketing Officer Iryna Chuhai pointed out that for the film and video game industry, using this scale of mocap technology is an “ordinary event.” Incorporating it into a live production, however, is more challenging.

    Planned in partnership with Mythic Talent, a management company that represents VTubers including Filian, the event was initially going to take place on a physical stage with “screens and graphics” to accommodate VTubers, WePlay’s Chief Visionary Officer Maksym Bilonogov told TechCrunch before the show. 

    “But then we realized it’s not the way, it’s not the right philosophy,” Bilonogov said. “Because it’s VTubers, it should be a fully virtual space. So we started building the technology to make it real, so the real cameraman using the real camera can shoot the virtual world.” 

    Each physical camera could capture multiple angles in VR. Image Credits: WePlay Studios

    The stream depicted a vast arena, but Filian’s avatar was essentially confined to a smaller circular stage surrounded by screens, which was a virtually constructed version of WePlay’s physical production stage. In real life, camera operators controlled three cameras linked to virtual angles, so that each physical pan, tilt and focus pull was reflected in the virtual broadcast. The physical operators could switch between multiple different angles in the stadium using iPads connected to the cameras, so that the production appeared to use at least a dozen cameras instead of just three. The physical lights on the stage were connected to corresponding virtual lights, so that WePlay could control the stadium’s spotlights by activating the real ones. WePlay also connected Resolume, a software for live event visuals, to the virtual venue to control the graphics that played on the VR stage’s screens. 

    “From a visual perspective, from the technology, it’s fully new for us,” Bilonogov continued. “We’re learning a lot. I can say that it’s the hardest technological project for WePlay. It’s fully virtual reality with virtual cues.”

    Motion capture technology is not new to the film and video game industries, but incorporating it into a live streamed event was a challenge. Image Credits: WePlay Studios

    In the control room several feet away, crew members juggled dozens of screens, which depicted Filian’s avatar on the virtual stage, IRL Filian in her mocap suit and visuals of other VTubers, who called in throughout the stream to host the pre-show and present or accept awards. 

    VTubers who appeared in the pre-show or presented awards appeared to be at the venue on the stream. They pulled it off by co-streaming Filian’s broadcast and giving WePlay access to their streams so that their commentary could be seamlessly integrated into the show. VTubers who appeared on the stream to accept their awards appeared on screens above the virtual stage. WePlay organized behind-the-scenes logistics with other streamers using Discord — not for any unique platform feature, Chuhai said during a walkthrough of the studio, but because it’s already a “familiar tool for all these gamers.” 

    Like many VTubers, Filian is fiercely protective of her privacy. A crew member stood in for photos. Image Credits: WePlay Studios

    Filian, meanwhile, hosted from a separate green screen room containing only a teleprompter. Markers on Filian’s motion capture suit dotted her limbs and fingers, capturing her body movements, while an iPhone rigged to a headband strapped around her forehead tracked her facial expressions.

    There is no industry standard for VTuber software, but many VTubers including Filian use models designed in Unity. WePlay’s virtual stadium was built using Unreal Engine, which isn’t as commonly used by VTubers. The company ended up rebuilding Filian’s avatar from scratch. Small details that would take place during a physical awards broadcast, like a mid-show outfit change, were “hard lifts,” Filian said. Switching from one outfit to another, like Filian did during the stream, involved a whole new set of animations. A more voluminous skirt, like the one Filian wore at the start of the show, wouldn’t move the same way as a form-fitting gown. 

    A crew member standing in for Filian tests the mocap suit and helmet. Image Credits: WePlay Studios

    Like many VTubers, Filian is fiercely protective of her anonymity and did not want to be photographed, so a crew member stood in for behind-the-scenes photos of the motion capture getup. Although everyone involved in the production promised to maintain her anonymity, Filian said it was “really unusual” for her to perform as her VTuber persona in front of actual people. 

    “There’s a phrase from Elden Ring that’s called, ‘Touch grass,’ and I don’t do a lot of that. And I do even fewer interactions like, outside in general. And I especially don’t do interactions where I’m making content while there are people around me,” Filian said in a call a few days after the event. “When you’re an actual human acting like an anime character, it’s very awkward.” 

    Filian added that the crew kept their distance out of respect for her privacy, which assuaged the awkwardness. It also helped that the people who saw her real face and body were people that she trusted, because she spent the last week rehearsing with them. 

    Full-body streams aren’t new to Filian, who started out making content in VRChat. Granted, WePlay setup is significantly more sophisticated than the one Filian uses for her streams, which involves a few inexpensive Vive trackers and cameras in the corners of her room. Unlike her home streams, hosting the VTuber Awards was particularly grueling because she couldn’t take many breaks. 

    Image Credits: The VTuber Awards

    To host the event, she stayed in the mocap suit for more than seven hours (including day-of rehearsals) and was afforded two bathroom breaks total, which each took at least 20 minutes of getting in and out of the suit. She stretched between hosting, and at one point during a short segment about the history of VTubing, housed a sandwich and shake to “keep the energy up.” Filian was exhausted when the show wrapped, and she said that she nearly fell asleep on camera when she tried to stream the day after. 

    “It felt a lot less intimidating to be in that box than it would have been to stand in front of thousands of people,” Filian said. “So if anything it was a bit uncomfortable, I guess, but it was just me, a teleprompter and a screen showing the actual stream, and it made it a lot easier because of that. 

    The first VTuber Awards was a major success, much to the relief of Bilonogov, who described the project as a “huge experiment” for WePlay days before the event. As Filian welcomed viewers to the surreal virtual stadium on Saturday, Bilonogov marveled at the TV streaming the show in WePlay’s lobby. He wasn’t sure how else the technology could be used, he said, but he was sure that it’s the future of live events. WePlay plans to continue experimenting with live VR events; Chuhai said that next year, the company is opening another studio across the street from its Los Angeles space specifically for VR productions. 

    “VTtubing, it’s like rock and roll or jazz. It’s an entire industry. It has a significant community. It’s a future of entertainment,” Bilonogov said. “I think the awards show is just the beginning.”

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    Morgan Sung

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  • Twitch Is Not Upholding Its CS Skin Gambling Ban

    Twitch Is Not Upholding Its CS Skin Gambling Ban

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    Counter-Strike skin gambling continues on Twitch despite the platform’s efforts to ban it, the video gaming news outlet Dexerto reported. As it turns out, CS skin gambling still happens without prompting action from the Amazon-owned streaming platform.

    For reference, Twitch banned CS skin gambling sites, also known as CS case opening sites, from being featured on its site back in August. The platform announced that any promotion of such sites, even of free social versions of such sites, is prohibited under the new policy.

    The ban was prompted by the intense scrutiny of such gambling sites’ prevalence across the content sharing platform. Many believe that CS skin gambling can serve as a gateway product that leads to youth gambling.

    Twitch heard the calls and introduced the aforementioned ban, just as many fans wanted. When the ban was officially introduced, Twitch officials told Dexerto that this new measure would make it clear what type of promotion is allowed on the streaming service.

    However, the Amazon-owned platform does not seem to be very diligent in upholding its own rules.

    Dexerto said that Twitch’s ban on CS skin gambling sites has changed virtually nothing on the platform. According to the news outlet, streamers continue to feature and promote such websites regularly without anyone getting banned for it.

    Dexerto noted that not a single major channel promoting CS gambling content has been suspended yet. On the contrary, both CS2 streamers and tournament organizers continue to promote case opening sites and stream themselves interacting with such websites. Some even use Twitch extensions like Magic Wheel to win prizes, Dexerto pointed out.

    This shows that Twitch’s crackdown on CS case opening sites is not proceeding as planned. The measure was originally expected to impact a multitude of content creators sporting partnerships with CS gambling websites. Such streamers would often provide affiliate codes and feature sponsored segments across their streams.

    As of the time of this writing, Twitch has yet to address the situation.

    Twitch’s relationship with gambling has always been troubled. The company has been trying to minimize the impact of such content with mixed results. Months ago, it introduced a ban on unlicensed websites that prompted a mass exodus from the platform and sparked the creation of Kick, one of its biggest rivals yet.

    However, while many enjoy gambling content, a lot of other viewers have been getting tired of it and are demanding tougher measures.

    Speaking of Twitch and its troubled relationship with gambling, the site was just fined by the AGCOM over gambling-related issues.

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    Fiona Simmons

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  • Twitch's new nudity policy allows illustrated nipples, but not human underboob | TechCrunch

    Twitch's new nudity policy allows illustrated nipples, but not human underboob | TechCrunch

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    Twitch announced sweeping updates to its sexual content policy and content classification system, which now allows previously prohibited content like illustrated nipples and “erotic dances,” in addition to clarifying what nudity is and isn’t allowed on the platform.

    The update follows the widespread “topless meta” backlash, after streamer and OnlyFans model Morgpie went viral for appearing naked in recent streams. Morgpie’s “topless” streams were framed to show her bare shoulders, upper chest, and cleavage. The framing implied nudity, but never actually showed content that explicitly violated Twitch’s sexual content policies. Other streamers, who were predominantly male, were enraged by Morgpie’s content and called for Twitch to crack down on the apparent nudity. She was banned on Dec. 11, two days before Twitch’s content guideline overhaul. Jessica Ly, a streamer who also goes by asianbunnyx, has made similar content without being banned.

    The new policy is meticulously detailed and accounts for various situations, but also appears to contradict itself. Cartoon boobs, for example, are only allowed in certain contexts.

    “Fictionalized” — drawings, animations or sculpted renderings — of fully-exposed breasts and any butts or genitals regardless of gender are fine, but “augmented reality avatars that translate real-life movement into digital characters” (read: VTubers) must abide by the same attire requirements as regular streamers. Actual female-presenting human nipples must be covered. Cleavage is still “unrestricted.” Showing “underbust” is still forbidden.

    Twitch’s stance on sideboob remains unclear.

    A spokesperson for Twitch told TechCrunch that the platform has been overhauling its content moderation for the past year, and has focused on updating its community guidelines in response to feedback from streamers. By clarifying what is and isn’t allowed, Twitch believes that it’ll be easier for streamers to comply with its policies. The spokesperson also noted that the platform is still experimenting with nuance and context, and rather than lean on punitive content moderation, Twitch wants users to be informed.

    The update is supposed to streamline the platform’s approach to sexual content and modernize its previous policies, which disproportionately penalized female streamers. Twitch previously enforced separate policies for “sexually suggestive” and “sexually explicit” content, adding to the confusion. Those will now be consolidated into a single “Sexual Content Policy.” The company’s Content Classification Guidelines (CCLs), which rolled out in June, also now detail when streamers should label their content for “Sexual Themes.”

    “We believe that accurate content labeling is key to helping viewers get the experience they expect, and now that we can enable appropriate labeling of sexual content using CCLS we believe that some of the restrictions in our former policies are no longer required,” Twitch said in its blog post about the update. “In addition to providing clarity, these updates will also reduce the risk of inconsistent enforcement and bring our policy more in line with other social media services.”

    Under the new policy, streams tagged for “drugs, intoxication or excessive tobacco use,” “violent and graphic depictions,” “gambling” and “sexual themes” won’t be promoted on Twitch’s homepage recommendations, but will allow for more raunchy content that previously wasn’t allowed on the platform. This approach, Twitch said in its blog post, will prevent viewers from seeing content that they haven’t consented to seeing. Viewers will still be able to navigate directly to the channels streaming such content, though. Streams tagged for mature games and profanity can still be included in homepage recommendations.

    Twitch did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment about whether labeling their streams as containing such content will affect streamers’ ad revenue.

    If properly labeled, content that was previously banned on the platform is now allowed, like artistic depictions of breast, butts and genitals. The puritanical restrictions on suggestive illustrations became a point of contention for Twitch’s art community, which Twitch acknowledged in its blog post. “Erotic dances,” like strip teases, twerking, grinding and pole dancing are also fine to stream, as long as it’s labeled. Streaming from a strip club or other “adult entertainment establishment” is still prohibited.

    The updates appear to respond to longstanding community complaints over the disproportionate moderation that female streamers faced on Twitch. The company attempted to crack down on lewd and sexually explicit streams by enacting a dress code in 2018, which stated that streamer attire should be “appropriate for a public street, mall, or restaurant.” The platform updated its attire policy in 2020 with specific guidelines clarifying that streamers could show cleavage, but not nipples or underboob.

    Although wildly popular hot tub streams were allowed under the guidelines, as long as streamers wore swimsuits, the attire policy still targeted women for wearing anything that could be interpreted as suggestive. Countless female streamers have been subjected to suspensions and outright bans over viewers mass-reporting them for inappropriate attire, and many have complained that the platform’s policy was wielded as a form of misogynistic, targeted harassment.

    Twitch previously prohibited streams that “deliberately highlighted breasts, buttocks or pelvic region,” even if streamers were fully clothed. The parameters for such content were vague and inconsistently enforced. It’s now allowed — as long as it’

    “Streamers found it difficult to determine what was prohibited and what was allowed and often evaluating whether or not a stream violated this portion of the policy was subjective,” Twitch said in its announcement. “In addition, the former Sexually Suggestive Content policy was out of line with industry standards and resulted in female-presenting streamers being disproportionately penalized.”

    In its Sexual Content Policy, Twitch notes that the attire allowed on the platform depends on the context of individual streams. An outfit that’s permitted for a beach or gym stream, Twitch said in its Community Guidelines, may “not be acceptable for a cooking or gameplay broadcast.” The company also said that attired “intended to be sexually suggestive” is still prohibited, which seems like it could still disproportionately affect female streamers who can be sexualized by viewers no matter what they wear.

    Morgpie, who is still banned, praised Twitch’s update in a statement to Dexerto.

    “With the updated terms of service, content on Twitch containing mature themes will be allowed but no longer pushed on the homepage of the site,” she said. “I think this is the best possible outcome, because it gives creators much more freedom, while also keeping this content from reaching the wrong audience. Bravo, Twitch!”

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    Morgan Sung

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  • The animated VTuber Ironmouse won Content Creator of the Year at the Game Awards | TechCrunch

    The animated VTuber Ironmouse won Content Creator of the Year at the Game Awards | TechCrunch

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    This year at the Game Awards, the coveted Content Creator of the Year award went to Ironmouse, a fan-favorite VTuber. It marks the first time that an animated character has won the award, showing how expansive the streaming world can be.

    A movement originating in Japan, “VTuber” means “virtual YouTuber,” though the genre has spread to other streaming sites like Twitch, where Ironmouse has 1.8 million followers and is the most-subscribed female streamer. VTubers often resemble anime characters, and the creators build their virtual personas by using motion-capture or AR face-tracking technology to embody their avatar. Though VTubers have been around for about a decade, they gained a boost in popularity at the onset of the pandemic, when the VTuber agency HoloLive launched its English-language division, catering to an expanded audience in the West. As the technology to make a VTuber becomes more accessible, the streaming genre only continues to grow.

    Though the VTuber phenomenon is already widespread and beloved, the “fun loving demon” Ironmouse’s win at the Game Awards lends the genre even more legitimacy.

    “Ironmouse couldn’t be here tonight, because Ironmouse is animated, and sadly, we’re not in the Matrix yet,” the host of the show said upon announcing Ironmouse’s victory.

    Ironmouse’s intrigue doesn’t end with her innovative persona. Though we don’t know the identity of the creator behind Ironmouse, she has revealed that she is from Puerto Rico, and she is chronically ill with common variable immune deficiency (CVID) and a lung condition. At times, her chronic illness has left her bedridden, she told the Washington Post, but being a VTuber allows her to access a rich online world where she can be anyone who she wants to be — even a pastel pink-clad gamer escaped from hell. Last year, she streamed for 31 days straight as part of an annual “subathon” event, where viewers could pledge money to keep her online; she took on the streaming equivalent of an ultramarathon again this year, raising money for the Immune Deficiency Foundation.

     

     

    “I have no words to describe how I am feeling right now,” Ironmouse wrote on X after her victory was announced. “I am in utter shock. Thank you all so much for changing my life.”

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    Amanda Silberling

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  • Retro game streamer AshSaidHi built a lively community out of nostalgia

    Retro game streamer AshSaidHi built a lively community out of nostalgia

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    Surrounded by a sizable, colorful cascade of plushies — largely Nintendo-themed — and an impressive retro game collection, Ash goes live on Twitch five days a week. She’s played everything from Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion to Sierra Entertainment’s Quest for Glory, focusing on games that evoke a sense of nostalgia. The one thing that stays the same each stream is the way Ash ends them, with a message to her viewers: “Don’t forget to tell your friends Ash said hi!”

    When Ash, who goes by AshSaidHi online, first envisioned her Twitch channel, she started with the name. “I knew I had to have a tagline or a call to action,” she told Polygon. “That’s where the name AshSaidHi comes from, because I wanted it to be like, Oh, that friend, they told me to tell you hi. It sticks in your brain a little bit.”

    Over the years since Ash started her Twitch channel in 2019, she’s worked to build a community and a business that matches her values — a place where she could have a work-life balance that her previous career didn’t allow for, and a community of support Twitch can provide.

    “People go to Twitch to connect about the things they love and find other people that are into the things they love,” Ash said. “That’s how I built an engaging community.”

    Ahead of TwitchCon 2023 in Las Vegas, Polygon spoke to Ash about how she’s carved out her own space on Twitch.

    [Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]

    Polygon: First, I just want to let you know I love the collection in the background.

    AshSaidHi: Thank you! That’s years and years of work. My parents got me into video gaming when I was really young. Even my mom, she still plays video games. I texted her the other day and was like, “Did you download Lies of P?” and she was like, “Yeah, but I really like Lords of the Fallen.” And I was like, “What?”

    She’s a big Soulsborne, like Elden Ring, player. She just bought a PS5 and was like, “When are you getting a PS5?” I was like, “Mom, I play retro games on Twitch. OK?”

    I know you started your Twitch channel in 2019. What prompted you to start streaming?

    I was working in an industry where I didn’t have a work-life balance. And after I left it, I was like, Oh, I want to get into content creation. And I got into a different industry. It allowed me time to create content. So I was like, I think I’m gonna start on Twitch. I have a degree in advertising. The first thing I wanted to do was create a concept for my channel. And I knew I had to have like a tagline or a call to action. So that’s where the name AshSaidHi comes from, because I wanted it to be like, Oh, that friend, they told me to tell you hi. It sticks in your brain a little bit. And so it’s like, “Oh, don’t forget to tell your friends Ash said hi.” That’s how I always wanted to end my videos.

    I started on Tetris 99 and Breath of the Wild. Those were the first games I broadcast on Twitch. But I have this big backlog of video games. Why don’t I start getting into retro games? And that’s how it it really snowballed. I got into a retro games, and the community was wonderful. They taught me the ropes, I met a lot of friends — friends that I still have to this day. It changed my life for the better in so many different ways.

    I really, really love being a creator on Twitch. The magic is in the sense of community that you get when you meet people and they share the love of the same things. I met like people who were into Amiga 500 gaming, and Commodore and NES and Super Nintendo and all that kind of stuff. I knew I found my people.

    Do you stream full time?

    It’s what I mainly spend my time doing. It’s always a funny question because when people say “stream full time on Twitch,” they imagine it means eight hours a day, five days a week. But I think it means that I put all my focus on it. I do a lot of sponsorship work and a lot of offline work for my channel. So technically, yes.

    How long did it take to get to the point where you could spend that time on Twitch and the business behind it?

    I started in 2019 and then I got Twitch Partner in November 2020. And I was like, OK, wait a minute, people really like what I’m doing here. I have an engaging community, I try to never miss a message in chat — I literally have chat up on like three or four screens.

    Once I hit Partner, I found out about the Twitch Ambassador program, because I saw somebody with a check and I clicked it. I applied and talked about all the skills that I had learned. And I talked about why I was passionate for what I do. They called me back a few months later and were like, “We want to invite you into the program.”

    I was announced March 2021, and at the time, they also had a billboard in Times Square. I’m originally from New York, but I no longer live there. They put my picture up on that billboard. And at that point, it kind of gave me a kind of sense that there’s credibility to what I’m doing, which is really important for me. I flew up from where I live back up to New York, and I told my mom and she was freaking out. It was such a surreal moment. For me, in my hometown — the crossroads of the world — here is a picture of me. Then it snowballed from there. I knew I wanted to take it seriously.

    One of the things that I do that helps me sustain my business is sponsored broadcast. Because of my professional background, and the way that I communicate — I work on trying to build good bonds with developers or marketing people. I make sure that I do my due diligence, to be on time and to be mindful in the moment and be professional. Whenever I’m called upon for a job, I put a lot of pride into what I’m doing. I knew things were getting serious when people started paying me to play video games.

    I love that it allows me freedom to be able to travel to things like TwitchCon. And it allows me to go spend time with my mom, or to just take time to relax, like I can have that work-life balance and not have to request this time off or things like that. And my mom is really proud of me. When I talk about it to my family members, they’re always so happy for the things that I’m doing.

    It’s cool to hear you talk about that work-life balance, because I think sometimes when you hear about people doing Twitch, it can be grinding out streams for 12 hours straight. It’s nice that you’re able to have a balance.

    That’s key, right? I can’t do my best work if I’m not taking care of myself. I understand why that’s the mindset of constantly streaming, like you’re not discoverable if you’re not live sometimes. That’s the conundrum. But I do feel like if you put your time and effort into things like, I’m going to start writing a little bit, or I’m going to start making short video that I can post on social media so people can get a sense of who I am. Even when I’m not broadcasting, people can find AshSaidHi. When I’m not live, those things helped me bridge the gaps.

    What have you learned since you started streaming about carving out that engaging community you mentioned earlier?

    I learned to be authentically myself — be present in the moment. I always tell people this when they meet me in person, that you’re meeting the Ash that you see on camera. I’m always talking about my mom and my dad and how they got me into video games. I feel like I’m sharing the best parts of myself — what I grew up with.

    I talk about food all the time on my channel. If you meet me, I know all the places in New York where you could get some good food, you know what I’m saying? Like, that is like a big part of who I am. I love Star Trek, I love Nintendo, I love drawing, I love all of those things. And I love sharing those things with people. Being excited about the things that we love… I think that’s key — being able to share the things about you would that you could connect with people.

    I think that that’s also the magic of Twitch — connecting with people. It’s a people platform first to me. We go on there, we play video games — whether it’s playing video games or cooking, exercising, ASMR, chatting or whatever it is on Twitch. People go there to connect with people. People go to Twitch to connect about the things they love and find other people that are into the things they love. That’s how I built an engaging community.

    What should people know about your career as a streamer, or about Twitch itself?

    I would love to share the power of community on Twitch. There is the Twitch Women’s Guild, which is incredible, because not only does it connect women and empower women to be who they are on Twitch, but it’s a place where we cheer each other on. It is a safe space for us to kind of talk about the things that impact us in our daily lives as broadcasters.

    I did a Creator Camp with some of the women that are in that group and it was incredible. And I also did a show called Streamer Strategies. I try to do a show once a month where we talk about different strategies that you might be thinking about for streaming. The first one I did was creative monetization. But the next one I did was collaboration. I feel like a lot of really wonderful opportunities come from being able to connect with other people like that. And it’s such a great program. It’s one of the best things that Twitch created because it gives us a space to learn. And it gives us a space to speak about our experiences. They also give a lot of tools to us to help us extend our skills.

    Especially for women, Black people, people of color, things like that solidify the fact that we belong in this space. And I think that it is so important to inspire people who feel like they don’t know if they belong, right? Because we see so much of that. I’m really grateful for all of those opportunities that I’ve been given. I just want to make sure that people know how awesome those kinds of tools and resources are, because without things like that, you question whether or not you can do it.

    How many times have you worked on something and people are like, “Oh, can you really do it?” They’re questioning your intelligence, or they’re saying, “You just got by on, like, certain qualities.” But no — there’s so many hardworking individuals that get a space because of things like that. I just love that space for us.

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    Nicole Carpenter

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  • Twitch’s CMO says competition from rival platforms is good for creators | TechCrunch

    Twitch’s CMO says competition from rival platforms is good for creators | TechCrunch

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    Though attendees grumbled about Las Vegas as a city, the community sentiment at this year’s TwitchCon was notably more optimistic than it was at last year’s convention.

    TwitchCon 2023 closed out a tense year for the platform, which was punctuated by rounds of layoffs, unpopular policy decisions and the sting of competitors poaching major streamers with glitzy non-exclusive deals and more favorable revenue splits. Twitch managed to mend its fraught relationship with its community by walking back several controversial policy decisions in the months leading up to TwitchCon. 

    During the event’s opening ceremony, the company offered an olive branch to its streamers by announcing that it would allow simulcasting to any other livestreaming service. 

    Simulcasting, or streaming on Twitch and any of its rival platforms at the same time, was banned for much of the platform’s history. Partners were forbidden from streaming to any rival platform, like YouTube or Facebook, until Twitch lifted its exclusivity clause last year. The platform also lifted restrictions on simulcasting for mobile short-form video platforms, like Instagram and TikTok, last year. 

    Allowing simulcasting is the latest in Twitch’s apparent pivot away from exclusivity — a move that streamers have been pushing for as the creator industry evolves to demand a diversified online presence. In an interview with TechCrunch, Twitch’s Chief Marketing Officer Rachel Delphin discussed how creator feedback shapes the platform’s policy decisions, and why investing in the Twitch community is so vital as livestreaming competitors gain popularity. 

    This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

    Image Credits: Courtesy of Twitch

    TechCrunch: There’s been a lot of chatter about other streaming platforms like YouTube or Kick, but Twitch still dominates livestreaming. Why do you think that is? 

    Delphin: Part of it, I think, is our history and expertise. We’ve been doing this for a long time, 16 years. Who’s been in the game for 16 years? I think the other thing is focus. It isn’t something that’s part of our business and company, it is our business and company. This is what we do. We’ve been able to build something that transcends technology, which is the community. And that is the thing that’s really hard to build. 

    I also mean the behavior of being in a community. So if you’re a streamer, you’ve got an engaged chat, because of the norms and culture that’s been set. You’ve got people who are going to subscribe to you channel, share with bits, donations or whatever means of support that they can give, who want to moderate your channel, who show up to your meetups. I think that culture that was established really early and obviously it’s grown in 15 years, is a huge part of why we’ve been able to lead for so long. 

    You’ve always stressed that the core of Twitch will always be livestreaming, but in the last year, Twitch has really put out a lot of features that other platforms have, like Stories and discoverability feeds. 

    They’re still about, ultimately, how to serve a live content creator. How do you support their needs? Discovery and growth are interconnected, and the reality is, a lot of Twitch is a really meaningful experience. You’re not flipping it open so you can have a quick 10-second, two-minute sort of session. You’re really engaged, right? You’re sitting down there for a while. 

    However, that’s how some people do that. If you’re standing in line at Starbucks, and you want to do a quick dive into the content, right? And so giving people a way where they can either discover new creators, they can do that relatively quickly and much simpler than trying to navigate your way through Twitch. But also, providing content creators a way to nurture, build and update their community even when they’re not live, is really important. At the end of the day, we’re trying to support our live content creators — for stories, it’s a great way to connect with community when you’re not live, and feed, for when folks are looking for a sort of quick check in. It’s much easier to discover new content creators. 

    It seems like a lot of that is designed to keep viewers on Twitch as a platform instead of having to check other platforms. But with that in mind, I’d love to know what went into the decision to allow simulcasting now? 

    My perspective on it is, at the end of the day, we’re here to support content creators. A lot of folks have been utilizing the policy around mobile livestreaming services, so they’re able to do simulcasting there as of last August. Now, in talking with streamers, they’re like, “Look, I want a way to try to bring other people in, and simulcasting is a really great tool that either I feel very strongly or I’ve experienced myself using these mobile services, where I’m seeing more people actually come to my channel because I’m able to reach them through these other services.” 

    And so the decision is just that they should have the freedom to explore. Yeah, it’s pretty simple. 

    So I just talked to Mike about monetization and the sense of discontent that a lot of people have had over Twitch in the last year or so. Aside from the money aspect of it, how has Twitch responded to feedback from its creators in terms of features for the community? 

    I hope TwitchCon makes clear, certainly to the folks who are here, that their feedback is really important. We seek it out. So a lot of the content here [at TwitchCon] is designed to share and solicit feedback. Product Q&As, safety Q&As, sessions about specific products or monetization — all so that we are able to have that nuanced back-and-forth with the community. 

    Community feedback, whether it’s broadcast to us, or whether it’s in UserVoice, whether it’s in research forums or casual forums, is something we’re collecting all the time. 

    Definitely. I also want to talk about how Twitch views the supposed loss of streamers who are prioritizing different platforms in their discontent. If someone with like, 15 million followers decides to stay on Twitch, but mostly prioritizes streaming on another platform, how does Twitch view that? What processes does Twitch have to make sure they stay? 

    Look, we think we’re the best home. We’re building the right products, having events, engaging regularly. And the community obviously tells a huge story, right? We are the best at this. We’ve been doing it a long time, are highly invested in it, and we plan on doing it a super long time. We’ve got that stability, and opportunity that exists here. 

    But ultimately, some folks have been getting really great opportunities, and our perspective has been that it’s great for them. And it’s good for livestreaming. And our experience has also been, I think, when there are more livestreams, there’s more people who are exposed to livestreaming, and that kind of content, that community’s interest in content — that’s good for us. And it’s good for streamers. It tends to expand the universe of livestreaming. 

    I think Twitch as a platform is very uniquely responsive to community feedback, at least from what I’ve seen in other platforms I’ve covered. 

    Yeah, and like I said, sometimes it’s a problem identification. We are really ingrained into the community. There’s a lot of people at Twitch who are from the community, [they] are streamers themselves, affiliates, partners. So it’s a pretty fluid boundary between Twitch staff and people who are Twitch community. 

    Most of the people who work here are missionaries, not mercenaries, and they love Twitch. It’s how they spend their time even when they’re not at work. So we get exposed to that perspective in every single one. 

    Thinking about that response to the community — for the longest time, Twitch was the only real livestreaming platform. Livestreaming content doesn’t really compare to the static content on Instagram or TikTok. But there have been a few competitors popping up very recently. How is Twitch staying on top of that? 

    I don’t mean to be dismissive or anything, but there’s always been times in the history of Twitch when there are competitors. And the way that we lead through that is the same thing, which is, if we are the best place to be a live content creator, then folks will continue to choose us. Communities will continue to show up for them. And that’s the best way for us to maintain our position. 

    It also seems like other platforms are really pushing the fact that you can get higher revenue splits from them, but it seems like Twitch leans on the pull of investing in its community. 

    We’re really intentional about it. I mean, TwitchCon is a huge investment in the community. And we do it twice a year. But we also support community meetups. We support them financially, provide software, we got to those meetups. 

    We have guild groups that started this year, where we built groups for Black women and Latin streamers. They’re run and overseen by streamers who applied and were hired into these positions. They’re paid roles to help cultivate community, provide support and safe spaces. 

    Access to Twitch community is a key part of my job for marketing. It’s a huge pillar of our work. Let’s make sure we are where streamers are, whether that’s online, IRL, let’s try to facilitate collaborations for them. And give them as many opportunities to connect with one another and their fans as humanly possible. Just like community happens on Twitch, it’s also a huge part of our marketing strategy. 

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    Morgan Sung

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  • Struggling to Become a Twitch Partner? Even the CEO Faces Rejection!

    Struggling to Become a Twitch Partner? Even the CEO Faces Rejection!

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    Difficult to become a Twitch Partner, for everyone…even the big boss!

    The world of streaming on Twitch is more competitive than ever and even the CEO of the platform, Daniel Clancy, experienced it first hand. The CEO of Twitch, who streams on the platform in his spare time, revealed on Twitter/X that he had submitted a secret application to the Twitch Partner Program, but it was rejected. To be admitted to the Twitch Partner Program, streamers must meet several strict criteria, including an average of around 75 viewers per broadcast, excluding views from hosting, raids, first page or integrations. Clancy’s candidacy was rightly rejected because the attendance of his streams was too fluctuating.

    A Partner Program too difficult to reach?

    This rejection recalls the challenges many streamers face when aspiring to become Partners on Twitch. Streamers who are not CEO of a multinational, and often have more need of the income that could result from it. Even though we can regularly hear criticism on this subject, the Partner Program is still quite strict. And for good reason, it offers Streamer-exclusive benefits, such as monetization opportunities, channel customization, expanded VOD storage, and priority support. The requirement for a constant and high attendance makes accessing the Partner Program difficult, even for established streamers. This is, among other things, what pushes a very large number of them to stream every day of the year or almost.

    It’s not humans who decide?

    The rejection of the CEO’s candidacy sparked amused reactions from many Internet users, because it is funny to say the least. We also saw some encouraging reactions to push Dan Clancy to persevere, because one day, he will have his partnership! Above all, for some, it may have proven one thing. One thing Twitch – like most social platforms – wouldn’t easily admit: that many things, and in particular the Partner Program, are not managed by humans, but robots. Indeed, a robot does not differentiate between Dan Clancy or another streamer, but judges them all the same way. A human on the other hand… One wonders if a Twitch employee had had to evaluate Dan Clancy’s Partner Program application, would he have validated it? even if it did not completely meet the required criteria?

    Find our guide to choosing the best streaming hardware if you want to get started on Twitch or another platform.

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    Alice Zampa

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  • Video gamers face a poorer reality as YouTube and Twitch reconsider multi-million dollar streaming deals: ‘I don’t think that’s a sustainable business’

    Video gamers face a poorer reality as YouTube and Twitch reconsider multi-million dollar streaming deals: ‘I don’t think that’s a sustainable business’

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    Amazon.com’s Twitch and Alphabet’s YouTube are phasing out big-money content deals with top livestreaming gamers after years of making seven- and eight-figure offers.

    Twitch Chief Executive Officer Dan Clancy said in an interview with Bloomberg News at the TwitchCon conference in Las Vegas that the strategy had “created this bidding war, and I don’t think that’s a sustainable business.”

    YouTube is also backing away from such deals, according to two people with knowledge of the company’s strategy who asked not to be identified. The video site is decreasing the size of deals with top gaming livestreamers and trimming the length of contracts it offers. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    For more than three years, YouTube and Twitch have competed for top gaming talent to bolster their livestreaming services. The platforms calculated that paying up to stream live play by popular video-game personalities, or influencers, would bring in hundreds of thousands or millions of fans, increasing advertising revenue. In 2019, Microsoft Corp. briefly waded in to sign gaming celebrity Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and others to its now-defunct Mixer site. He later returned to Twitch.

    Now the platforms are changing.

    Twitch stopped requiring exclusivity in its contracts with top, or “partnered,” streamers in 2022, Bloomberg reported at the time. At TwitchCon, the company announced that streamers can now simultaneously broadcast on any other platform, including YouTube, ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok or Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram. 

    Previously, Twitch sought to match other platforms, Clancy said. While there are still streamers with custom deals at the company, Clancy said he is “reducing that significantly.” The company is moving toward standard terms with the exception of a very small contingent of talent.

    Several streamers saw their live audiences shrink after switching to YouTube from Twitch. Some have returned to Twitch from other platforms. Although YouTube is bigger, Twitch is widely viewed as the leader in live streaming of gamers, having pioneered the culture starting with its predecessor, Justin.tv, which launched in 2007.

    In 2018, Twitch paid a reported $90 million to Activision Blizzard Inc. to stream its Overwatch League esports exclusively for two years. Viewership dwindled after YouTube took over those rights when Twitch’s contract ended.

    Kick, a niche streaming service owned by the operator of a crypto gambling firm, has reportedly offered large deals for nonexclusive streaming rights. In June, the New York Times reported that Twitch celebrity Felix “xQc” Lengyel signed a $100 million deal with Kick, where he streams gaming and gambling content. 

    While “big signings make for splashy headlines,” Kick said it also has signed 133 “small to midsize” creators.

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    Cecilia D’Anastasio, Bloomberg

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  • Former Call Of Duty Champion Apologizes For Homophobic Slur [Update: Now He’s Said The N-Word]

    Former Call Of Duty Champion Apologizes For Homophobic Slur [Update: Now He’s Said The N-Word]

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    Doug “Censor” Martin got heated and started flaming his teammate during a recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Twitch stream. Things got so bad that he eventually called the other player a “f*****.” The former two-time national Call of Duty champion immediately took to social media to apologize.

    Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

    Censor was streaming Modern Warfare 2 on his 283k-follower Twitch channel on October 16 when a particularly bad match saw him begin to berate one of his teammates on the open mic chat. “I don’t respect you period you suck dick at the game bitch fuck off p****,” Censor said during a clip of the stream shared online.” “Unfollow me on social media too you little fucking f*****.”

    The current Boston Breach Call of Duty League team captain took to Twitter later that night to apologize. “I have to be honest with myself and say this now,” he wrote in a tweet sent at around 1:00 a.m. “If I was to wait, this wouldn’t feel right. If you understand I appreciate you, but if you don’t I understand too. Either way, I know this is the only way I want to move forward.”

    The Call of Duty content creator, who first made a name for himself by winning the 2011 MLG National Championship for Black Ops, tried to explain himself further in a short video attached to the tweet. “I slipped up and I said a word I shouldn’t have said,” Censor said. “I let someone get under my skin and I said the F-word. I’m not proud about it. I’m not happy about it. I’m definitely disappointed in myself about it because regardless of what anyone is gonna think it’s absolutely not something I stand for or something I say in my private life ever.”

    Online gaming chats are a well-known bastion of toxicity where the tenor can range from heated trash talk to explicit slurs and hate speech. Call of Duty is no different, and live chat in its online matches can often be one of the worst examples, in part due to the sheer breadth and depth of people who buy and play it every year. Censor, a long-time pro who recently suggested Modern Warfare III could be the best Call of Duty ever and is currently aiming to be the oldest Call of Duty world champion ever, said he hopes none of his fans think it’s okay to use homophobic slurs just because they saw him do it.

    “That’s not okay, it’s not right, it’s just wrong,” he said. “If you feel some type of way about it I am sorry because it’s the truth.”

    Update 10/23/2024 3:04 p.m. ET: Last week, Censor also said the n-word while arguing with a random player online. He didn’t release another apology, but his channel was temporarily banned from Twitch today. It’s unclear if the ban is for one of these incidents or a seperate one, or how long it will last.

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    Ethan Gach

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  • Twitch is bleeding talent — is the new simulcasting policy the answer?

    Twitch is bleeding talent — is the new simulcasting policy the answer?

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    Twitch is further broadening its simulcast rules, the livestream platform announced on Friday. As shared during TwitchCon in Las Vegas, streamers can now live broadcast streams onto even more platforms — YouTube and Kick, for example. That said, streamers with an “agreement with Twitch that requires exclusivity” won’t be able to do so.

    “We truly believe that Twitch is the best service to be a live, interactive creator, and we want to give streamers more freedom in just how they want to build their communities,” said Twitch VP of community product Jeremy Forrester during an interview with Polygon at TwitchCon.

    This news comes on the heels of Twitch bleeding big-name talent. On Oct. 19, Kick signed massively popular streamer and co-owner of FaZe Clan Nickmercs in a one-year contract worth roughly $10 million, according to a Forbes report. This summer, the upstart company also signed Amouranth, Twitch’s most popular female streamer, and former pro-Overwatch player xQc (the latter of whom, Kick offered a $100 million deal). This is not to mention talent that moved to YouTube: In the last three years, YouTube signed Valkyrae, Ludwig, Sykkuno, LilyPichu, and more. Some of these streamers left in the wake of Twitch changing its revenue share split from 70/30 (in favor of streamers) to 50/50.

    Forrester said this talent departure was not the motivator for the expanded simulcast policy, instead calling it “community driven” and saying that it was an example for Twitch developers to demonstrate that they “listen” to creator’s “concerns, and react to them when we can.”

    The most interesting part of the new guidelines might just be all the way at the bottom of the FAQ. Streamers who left Twitch now have a chance to become Twitch Partners again. Per the guidelines, Twitch Partners whose previous agreements were “terminated” because they left for another service — and they notified Twitch beforehand, thus not violating the agreement — will be “eligible to reinstate their Partnership status.”

    Twitch also seems to finally be acknowledging the value of cross-platform discovery. In August, Twitch updated its simulcast guidelines to include TikTok and Instagram. During TwitchCon, streamers told Polygon that TikTok had become a vital way to draw in new fans — TikTok’s short video format basically functions like a highlight reel for Twitch streamers to post their funniest moments. “Being able to curate the highlights from your stream and feeding that into the TikTok algorithm is your chance for an entirely new audience to see you,” streamer Alex Labat told Polygon in anticipation of TwitchCon. And earlier this month, Twitch introduced its own short video feature, “stories.”

    Even as simulcasting options broaden, there are still rules to follow that more or less ensure streamers won’t use Twitch to direct traffic to their other platforms, or attempt to interact with their fan communities on various platforms at the same time. Streamers must “ensure” the quality of a Twitch users’ experience is “no less than the experience on other platform services” — and this includes engaging with the Twitch community via chat. Nor can streamers use a third-party app to for “merging chat features,” for example. Streamers also can’t provide links during a Twitch stream, encouraging followers to leave Twitch for a simulcast on another platform.

    “We believe that creators will do it with the intent to help bring people to Twitch,” Forrester said, optimistically.

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    Nicole Clark

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  • If you want to be a Twitch streamer, you probably need to be a TikToker too

    If you want to be a Twitch streamer, you probably need to be a TikToker too

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    You may have felt it: Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are all competing for an increasingly overlapping user base as social media platforms all introduce similar features.

    But for streamers and influencers, these platforms have symbiotic relationships — one platform can be important for growth in another. Twitch and TikTok may seem antithetical, as one targets long-form, hourslong broadcasts over the other’s bite-sized clips, but Twitch streamers have realized that both platforms can be crucial for audience growth.

    TikTok is an attention behemoth — Twitch’s user-base numbers don’t even come close — that can be essential to broader success on Twitch as a livestreaming platform. Twitch seems to recognize this relationship, having released new tools this year to make it easier to reuse Twitch content on TikTok. Twitch’s Clip Editor is a web-based application that lets streamers edit clips, including the ability to convert them into portrait mode. Twitch also has CapCut, a more in-depth editor, that makes editing more accessible. TikTok recently added a feature that lets users post to TikTok directly from Twitch and CapCut, closing the loop on the ease of creating short-form content. And earlier in October, Twitch itself introduced a new short-form “stories” feature.

    Alex Labat, a Twitch streamer and TikTok creator, has seen exponential growth to his Twitch streams after using TikTok to promote “highlights” of his content, like his infamous Twitch Plays streams, where he gets Twitch Chat to use text commands to play games like World of Warcraft.

    “Twitch is where you want to be to see those [unscripted] moments happen in real time,” Labat said. “The ‘you had to be there’ moments. TikTok, on the other hand, is where you go to highlight and/or showcase those moments. Being able to curate the highlights from your stream and feeding that into the TikTok algorithm is your chance for an entirely new audience to see you, for them to say, ‘OK. I have to see what this is about.’”

    Some of Labat’s most popular TikToks only required editing Twitch clips into short-form videos; the effort, he says, feels low risk with the potential for high reward. TikTok videos can get tons of views on the platform itself, but the other crucial element that Labat says is often ignored is how often TikToks are reused and reposted on other social media platforms. “Instagram Reels, tweets… sometimes when things take off you aren’t even the arbiter of that growth because something you’ve produced has been shared/remixed on a platform you haven’t even touched,” he said.

    Short-form content is also more likely to be viewed by other content creators doing reaction videos and the like; Labat credits a massive Twitch traffic spike to popular World of Warcraft streamer Asmongold viewing his Twitch Plays video on stream. “Very rarely will you ever see a streamer watching someone else’s stream while they’re live,” Labat added.

    It’s hard to track whether TikTok audiences are sticking around for longer Twitch streams, but Labat said he does see TikTok users getting involved in the community. Some of his TikTok viewers even signed up for Twitch, after which he helped “onboard” new viewers.

    “TikTok people will make it known,” Labat said. “‘Hey. I’m here from TikTok, sort of unsure how things work here.’ And I commend my community for this greatly, they welcome them with open arms.”

    He said he even gets people regularly coming into his Twitch stream to ask about a shiny Pokémon stream — a conquest that included four Nintendo Switch consoles — that he did on TikTok in 2022.

    Bringing another platform into the equation, Labat said Discord is the other crucial part of making all these different content avenues work. It bridges the gap between TikTok and Twitch, ultimately bringing his community together. “Discord provides that space so that people can find me and where I’ll be providing that content, regardless of said platform,” he added.

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    Nicole Carpenter

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  • Big Oil’s Using Fortnite, TikTok, And Twitch In Effort To Convince Kids Fossil Fuels Are Cool

    Big Oil’s Using Fortnite, TikTok, And Twitch In Effort To Convince Kids Fossil Fuels Are Cool

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    Kids today only care about online free-to-play shooter Fortnite. They don’t even talk about how great gasoline is! Luckily for us, one large oil company wants to change that using Fortnite, TikTok stars, and Twitch streamers. Welcome to Hell.

    Dead By Daylight Devs’ New Game Is Fortnite Meets Doom

    Climate change is bad. I think we can all agree on that. But for kids, who have long lives and futures ahead of them, the prospect of the planet turning into a nightmare sphere of extreme weather and chaos is particularly scary. But don’t worry about all that, kids. Instead, Shell—a massive oil company and one of the many entities directly responsible for destroying our planet—wants you all to know just how rad its fossil fuel products are, and even made a whole Fortnite world for you to enjoy! But to truly enjoy it, you’ll need to use Shell’s V-Power® NiTRO+ Premium Gasoline, of course.

    As reported by Media Matters earlier this week, Shell has partnered with map creators to develop “Shell Ultimate Road Trips”, a Fortnite world featuring six different areas to explore in the car of your choice. In the middle of these worlds, players will find a lonely, sad-looking Shell gas station acting as the map’s hub.

    The campaign—part of Shell’s pivot back to focusing on gasoline over cleaner energy sources— is designed to promote the company’s “new and improved” premium gasoline. The idea is that in the map, players will need to occasionally fill up at the central Shell gas station and use its new V-Power NiTRO+ fuel to successfully navigate obstacles and courses.

    Content creators are being enlisted to create big oil propaganda

    To help promote this terrible collaboration, Shell has enlisted various TikTok creators and Twitch streamers in an effort to connect with their large audiences made up of mostly younger individuals.

    Media Matters reportedly identified at least a half dozen streamers—including folks like Punisher, NateHill, Chica, and brookeab—with a combined Twitch following of over 5.5 million subscribers—who helped promote Shell’s Fortnite map and fossil fuel products during sponsored streams that racked up over a million views. Some of these creators also promoted the sponsored streams on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to their millions of followers. Media Matters also identified three content creators who advertised the ShellxFortnite map in several videos posted on the gas company’s official YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram accounts.

    The creators directly promoting Shell’s gasoline propaganda have a combined audience of 8.5 million TikTok followers, 1.5 million Instagram followers, and over 11 million YouTube subscribers.

    In August, Shell even paid out for a sponsored post on IGN as well as a three-part series featuring IGN staff playing Fortnite and exploring the Shell-sponsored map. The videos are covered in Shell logos and featured on a fancy IGN-hosted website dedicated to the oil company’s Fortnite map.

    Kids aren’t buying this crap

    So how’s all this money and effort paying off? As far as I can tell, not great. For example, looking at that IGN article, it’s got only two comments and both are negative. On YouTube, the IGN videos have mostly received negative comments from viewers, with many calling out the outlet for sponsoring an oil company. Elsewhere, the official trailers put out by Shell for their Fortnite creation are similarly receiving negative comments.

    “Drop in this season and complete the objective: ‘Do irreparable damage to the environment with Shell!” is the top-rated comment on this trailer for the map.

    This is all part of an ongoing campaign by big oil companies, like Shell, to connect with younger people via online influencers and content creators. In 2021, Earther reported that Shell and Phillips 66 had started campaigns with Instagram influencers. These sponsored deals and ads aren’t just about promoting oil companies and their products. These large corporations know that as climate change gets worse, it’s getting harder to convince young people to keep buying gas-powered cars and supporting the fossil fuel industry.

    As Media Matters pointed out, in a 2021 survey of young people between the ages of 16-25, about 75% said the future is frightening because of climate change. It’s hard to sell gasoline and diesel to teens who know it’s destroying the planet and their futures. And it doesn’t look like some Instagram models and Fortnite videos on IGN promoting Shell are going to be enough to change their minds.

      .

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Chaos: Twitch Star Kai Cenat Pulls Thousands Of Fans Into NYC Streets [Update: Cenat To Be Charged]

    Chaos: Twitch Star Kai Cenat Pulls Thousands Of Fans Into NYC Streets [Update: Cenat To Be Charged]

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    Twitch star Kai Cenat, who recently became the most subscribed creator on the streaming platform, asked his fans and followers to show up for a real-life giveaway in New York City. And they did, with reportedly 2,000 people arriving, leading to chaos and arrests.

    Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s Air Combos Make Me Feel Skilled AF

    On August 4, Cenat held a giveaway event in Union Square in New York City. Beforehand, the popular streamer promised that he would be handing out $100 gift cards, PCs, and PlayStation 5 consoles. In a short stream from Cenat before going out into the massive crowd the Twitch streamer pointed out the huge amount of people gathered and commented that the NYPD was out in full force, claiming the cops had already used tear gas on some. Before departing for the meet, Cenat asked his fans to be “safe.”

    “It’s a lot of y’all out there right now,” said Cenat on stream. “Everybody whos out there make sure y’all safe.”

    Once he left his bus with his entourage and bodyguards, he was immediately swarmed by fans. His security team surrounded him and helped him press through.

    CBS

    CBS reports an estimated 2,000 people showed up. The news org also reports some were arrested after a few people began destroying barricades. At one point a CBS helicopter recorded someone using a fire extinguisher on a crowd of people. No injuries have been reported yet.

    Cenat reportedly didn’t have a permit for the event, which grew so large and out of control that NYPD called for a “Level 4 Mobilization” and nearly 1,000 police officers were sent to the area. Cenat was later seen in numerous videos being escorted away from the chaotic scene by several police officers.

    At one point a vehicle was seen driving away from the chaos but was mobbed by the crowd. CBS reports that it moved slowly through a large number of fans before it sped off with people hanging onto the car. CBS noted that at least three people were seen falling off the speeding vehicle as it escaped the area.

    Eyewitness News ABC7NY

    Cenat is a popular content creator who started out with a YouTube channel in 2012 before transitioning to Twitch in 2021. Primarily known for comedic videos, pranks, and his wild personality, he became a star on Twitch while playing games like GTA and NBA. The streamer also spends a lot of time in the “Just Chatting” section of Twitch, reacting to content and hanging out with rappers like Ice Spice. The streamer recently broke a historic milestone, reaching over 300k active subscribers on Twitch, beating out other big names like Ludwig and Ninja.

    Update 08/04/2023 6:19 p.m. ET: During a press conference held a few hours after the massive giveaway, NYPD confirmed that Cenat was being held in police custody after he was removed from the scene for “safety reasons.”

    NYPD chief of police Jeffrey Maddrey spoke to the gathered press for about 10 minutes, answering questions and giving an update. Maddrey said multiple officers and citizens were injured during the chaotic giveaway. He said that when the crowd grew too big and dangerous, the NYPD declared it an “unlawful assembly” and cleared the area of Cenat fans.

    Police are still deciding on possible charges to file against Cenat, though Maddrey suggested “inciting a riot” could be one possible crime levied against the streamer. According to the NYPD and city officials, the large event wasn’t pre-approved by the city’s government or police. Cenat is currently still in custody and being questioned.

    When asked how many people had been arrested, Maddrey was unable to provide a specific number but did claim that an entire city bus was filled with people in police custody.

    Kotaku has contacted Twitch about Cenat’s giveaway and the chaos that followed.

    Update 08/04/2023 9:09 p.m. ET: The NYC ABC and CBS affiliates report that Cenat will be charged with “at least two” counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly, and likely other offenses.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Twitch Bans Promotion Of Counter-Strike Gambling

    Twitch Bans Promotion Of Counter-Strike Gambling

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    Streaming megasite Twitch has updated its community guidelines, and now prohibits streamers from promoting or being sponsored by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skin gambling sites. This new ban could impact many CS:GO streamers who have lucrative deals with these controversial websites.

    Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s Air Combos Make Me Feel Skilled AF

    In CS:GO, trading and gambling of skins and other cosmetics has long been big business, with some rare, sought-after skins selling for hundreds or even thousands of dollars online. This has led to many players spending money on CS:GO skin gambling sites, effectively turning the in-game cosmetics and Steam’s trading system into a slot machine they can pull over and over again for a fee, rewarding players with items that can (sometimes) be very valuable. These skin gambling sites—which some players condemn due to accusations they prey on minors—often pay or sponsor streamers to promote their sites, with some players even streaming themselves spinning for rare cosmetics on Twitch itself. But now, it seems that might be coming to an end.

    On August 2, Twitch quietly updated its community guidelines, adding a new section that directly prohibits Twitch users who feature or promote CS:GO skin gambling sites. Here’s the new guideline after today’s update:

    Is sponsorship of skins gambling, such as for CS:GO skins, allowed on Twitch?

    No, promotion or sponsorship of skins gambling is prohibited under our policy.

    This is bad news for streamers who have deals with any of these cosmetic gambling sites. One big-name example that might be impacted by this new ban is G2 Esports, a large-scale organization that employs numerous players and content creators.

    In May, the group announced a big partnership with CSGORoll, a site that calls itself a “CS:GO skins trading market” but also lets players win skins and other in-game items by placing bets and making rolls. It’s likely CSGORoll would be considered a skin gambling site by Twitch, which would—if the Amazon-owned service enforces this new rule—likely mean G2 Esports won’t be able to promote CSGORoll during its streams. Awkward, as the site’s logo is on G2 Esports’ jerseys, and its players appear on the CSGORoll homepage.

    Unanswered questions about Twitch’s new rule

    Beyond G2, many other streamers might be affected by the new ban, as pointed out in a popular video condemning skin gambling published in July 2023 by YouTuber HOUNGOUNGAGNE. In their video they report that an estimated 75 percent of the top 300 CS:GO Twitch streamers have skin-gambling sponsors. If this new guideline is enforced, all of these players would have to quickly cut ties with these sites and the lucrative sponsorship deals they offer or face a possible Twitch ban.

    Of course, there are still some questions. Does this new rule ban streamers from streaming themselves using CS:GO skin gambling and trading sites? The wording is a bit vague and only specifies promotions and sponsorship deals. Another question some have is if this new rule takes effect immediately, and what that means for folks who might have signed deals with sites and have certain obligations to uphold.

    Kotaku has reached out to Twitch for more information about the ban. But for now, between Valve cracking down on skin traders over the last few years and Twitch’s new rules, it seems the era of CS:GO streamers hawking skin-gambling sites to thousands of viewers is coming to an end.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Gollum Players Fight For Word Records In 2023’s Worst Game

    Gollum Players Fight For Word Records In 2023’s Worst Game

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    While The Lord of the Rings: Gollum may be one of the worst games of 2023 so far, even bad games can be fun to speedrun. In fact, sometimes the very things that make a game so frustrating for normal players—things like bugs and busted controls—can create exciting opportunities for glitches, level skips, and other ways for runners to shave time off a run. And in any case, Gollum’s horrible reputation hasn’t stopped two speedrunners from setting world records for Daedalic Entertainment’s stealth-action platformer.

    The Week In Games: Protecting The Precious And Time-Twisting Platformers

    Read More: Review: 2023’s Worst Game, Gollum, Has Entered The Chat

    Gollum has been making headlines ever since its May 25 launch. It’s been dragged online by critics and gamers alike for everything from its atrocious controls to its bland user interface. This is not a good game, y’all, as I state in my review. Despite its shittiness, streamers EZScape and WrldWideWasteland have recently set world-record speedruns for the game.

    A casual’s approach to speedrunning

    Ian “WrldWideWasteland” Slater is a member of YouTuber Ethan Klein’s comedy podcast The H3 Podcast and a Twitch streamer with nearly 20,000 followers. He’s primarily known for his reaction content in the Just Chatting category, but he occasionally streams himself playing video games, as was the case with his June 10 Gollum livestream. This broadcast also happened to be a world record for the game, since WrldWideWasteland was the first person on record to beat it in a little under eight hours. (For comparison, How Long To Beat says it takes about 13-15.5 hours to finish the game. I completed Gollum in 24 hours.)

    WrldWideWasteland VODs

    The run itself wasn’t all that remarkable. WrldWideWasteland was just trying to get through the game as quickly as possible, not using advanced speedrunning techniques, so he didn’t perform any wild level skips or anything like that, instead just following the designated path the game telegraphs with white and yellow markings. He skipped most of the cutscenes, which shaved off a few seconds here and there, and spent much of the run jumping and sprinting to increase Gollum’s dismal movement speed. But between the long periods of waiting for things to happen—enemy pathing, loading screens, environmental puzzle movement, etc.—and repeatedly dying due to its cumbersome controls, it’s a miracle he finished the game at all.

    “Fun game?” WrldWideWasteland said, repeating a question from chat. “I am not having a bad time playing this [game]. Surprisingly, I am enjoying myself.”

    Hilariously, he died not long after saying this. At any rate, after suffering through the rest of Gollum, he rolled credits at 7 hours and 55 minutes, putting him at the top of Speedrun.com’s leaderboard. This was only temporary, though, as he tweeted on June 29 that the site sent him an email stating his sub-8-hour speedrun was toppled by Twitch streamer EZScape. “The worst email I’ve ever received,” he deadpanned, above Speedrun.com’s notification that his record had been bested by no less than 4 hours and 39 minutes.

    The speedrunning pro has stepped up

    EZScape is a full-time speedrunning YouTuber who mostly focuses on PS2-era console games such as The Simpsons: Hit & Run and Spyro the Dragon. He’s set world records in various categories for a number of games, including Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, Full Metal Alchemist 3: The Girl Who Succeeds God, and Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, with Gollum being his latest first-place feat as he set a new world record for the game with a completion time of just under three hours.

    No tea, no shade, as again, WrldWideWasteland didn’t set out to pull off a particularly high-level speedrun of Gollum, but EZScape’s run was much more skillful. While doing many of the same things as WrldWideWasteland—like jumping and sprinting to get around faster—EZScape also employed a handful of full-level skips by glitching through walls and performing tricky platforming to bypass some of the designated pathways to set a much faster speedrun time. He died quite a bit, either through incorrect button presses or unfortunate bug occurrences, but it was still an entertaining accomplishment, particularly considering how miserable Gollum is to play.

    “This is such a shit game, bro,” EZScape said about halfway through his speedrun, immediately after falling to his death. “Like, I don’t know how else to approach that [wall run]. Jesus. The fuck else am I supposed to do?”

    While WrldWideWasteland was sitting pretty at the top of Speedrun.com’s Gollum leaderboard for a hot minute, EZScape came through with a record time of 2 hours and 53 minutes, shattering the existing record. The best part here is this time was EZScape’s second attempt at speedrunning Gollum, in which he shaved off nearly 25 minutes from his original 3-hour and 16-minute run.

    Even ‘bad’ games deserve speedrunning love

    In Twitter DMs with Kotaku, WrldWideWasteland, who described himself as a professional time-waster, said he thought speedrunning Gollum was a good idea because the game seemed like “possibly the biggest waste of time yet.” As such, he didn’t expect anyone else to finish Gollum, let alone beat his world record.

    “I was blissfully unaware of EZScape, basking in my world record glory until he appeared out of the shadows haunting me like the wolf from Puss In Boots,” he said. “I can’t say his name three times or else he will climb out of my PC monitor like Candyman and I’ll be speedrunning to my doom. The guy is no joke. I don’t want any Sméagol smoke from [EZScape].”

    While Gollum is arguably 2023’s worst game so far, WrldWideWasteland felt otherwise by the time he beat it. Sure, he said it seemed miserable at first, but after a while, he found a “relaxing quality” to Gollum’s gameplay loop. He even went so far as to call it a “work of art,” applauding the developers for the “visual magic” of making Gollum climb and jump for hours without showing any dick.

    “The way he scuttles on the ground in a low frame rate with his little bulging grapefruit eyes and Bosley Hair Restoration greased-up skull is mesmerizing,” he said. “[You] grab some useless object, get stomped out by an orc, grab another thing, get smacked, jump somewhere, glitch out, get stomped out again—it’s a soothing hypnotic experience. Like listening to a meditation playlist of calming ocean sounds, except instead of ocean sounds it’s the screams of lost souls trapped in Hellfire and eternal damnation.”

    WrldWideWasteland may be done with Gollum, though he jokingly suggested he “can’t wait for Gollum 2: Sméagol Strikes Back.” Although a sequel is probably not in the cards for this emo take on J.R.R. Tolkien’s hobbit, he certainly has no intention of speedrunning the game again or attempting to dethrone EZScape.

    “Defeating EzScape’s Gollum speedrun would be like challenging the devil to a fiddle duel,” he said. “With every new playthrough, a piece of you dies. The game file becomes a horcrux. I don’t think I can go back to it.”

    Screenshot: Daedalic Entertainment / Kotaku

    EZScape told Kotaku over email that because his forte is PS2-era games, particularly licensed ones, speedrunning Gollum seemed appropriate. When researching the game to prepare for the speedrun, he said he stumbled upon WrldWideWasteland’s sub-8-hour run and had to rectify the record real quick.

    “I wasn’t trolling WrldWideWasteland,” EZScape said. “I spent weeks routing and glitch-hunting Gollum before doing the speedrun (about 125 hours spent researching and practicing). I have a lot of experience in speedrunning games and have a general standard and vision for what I want a run to be before I ever begin a run. Usually, I don’t even submit my runs, but I saw his run on the leaderboard and didn’t want people who were thinking about speedrunning the game to think it was 8 hours long. So, I submitted for that reason and to maybe inspire some other speedrunners to pick it up and find new stuff.”

    While EZScape has already crushed his previous Gollum world record of 3 hours and 16 minutes, his next goal with the game is to finish it in 2 hours and 40 minutes. But that’s difficult, EZScape said, because you can’t reliably “gauge [the distance] between where you’re standing and the destination and make an educated jump that will probably work out fine” in this game. And by his estimation, Gollum has “bad gameplay, a bad story, and bad performance.”

    But when asked what makes Gollum a difficult speedrun, he said that, more than anything else, it’s “just due to the janky nature of the controls.” EZScape said. In terms of more specific challenges a runner tackling the game will have to contend with, he offered that “Gollum can get glitched just by swinging off a pole or he can randomly stumble when jumping up cliffs and if you mash jump (which you do very often in the run) when that occurs he can just let go. There are so many edge cases and nuances with the mechanics, it just takes a while to get a feeling for them.”

    The game may be bad, but that’s no reason it doesn’t deserve a solid speedrun in his eyes. Just another day at the office, as EZScape put it. Speedrunning is not just a challenge for him, but a means to showcase his skills. It’s like solving a puzzle in an unorthodox way, which he finds both gratifying and satisfying. He’s got his eyes set on Pokémon Emerald after finishing up Gollum once and for all.

    Read More: Gollum Studio Will Stop Developing Games After Its Dismal Release

    The Lord of the Rings: Gollum just ain’t the one in my eyes. For me, the game’s shittiness—in its enemy AI, controls, and puzzle design—would strip away any enjoyment there is in breaking it apart to look for exciting glitches and impressive level skips. But I appreciate the efforts of folks like EZScape, who dedicate hundreds of hours to even the worst games to find beauty and fascination in their awfulness.

     

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    Levi Winslow

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  • Only Up! Pulled From Steam After Becoming A Twitch Sensation

    Only Up! Pulled From Steam After Becoming A Twitch Sensation

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    Gif: SC-KR Games / Kotaku

    Only Up!, a not-so-endless runner that recently took off on Twitch, has been inexplicably removed from Steam with no warning, but there’s reason to believe it might’ve been removed due to a copyright dispute with an artist claiming the game uses one of their assets.

    Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s Air Combos Make Me Feel Skilled AF

    Developer SC-KR Games posted to its Twitter (thanks PC Gamer) that the game would be available for purchase again on Steam “soon” after it was taken down earlier today. For those not in the know, Only Up! basically has you running through an obstacle course and parkouring through it gradually escalates. The goal seems to be to reach space, which means you’re making a constant ascent from the ground to the endless void. So in short, you’re going…only up.

    SC-KR Games

    As of this writing, Only Up! has very quickly amassed a strong Twitch following, with over 90,000 viewers and 55,000 users following the game on the streaming platform. While it’s having a successful run on Twitch, a 3D artist is claiming the game uses one of their 3D models, which was listed for free use as long as it wasn’t for commercial purposes.

    The model in question is listed on Sketchfab, which explicitly states its for non-commercial use. Only Up! is a $10 game, andit’s being used to make money, which goes directly against the guidelines set out. It’s unclear at this point if this is the reason Only Up! was delisted, but we’ve reached out to Valve and SC-KR Games for clarification.

    As PC Gamer points out, Only Up! has dealt with some controversy prior to this because it has NFT promotion, but Steam only has rules against NFTs if you’re buying and selling them in-game, rather than simply promoting them.

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    Kenneth Shepard

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