-
CultureTwitchAmong Us‘ Improbable Rise To The Top Of Twitch
When Among Us, a game of deception set in deep space, was first conceived a few years ago, online multiplayer wasn’t in the cards. It wasn’t even going to be on PC. Streamers were the last thing on its developers’ minds. And yet, over the weekend, the game solidified its status as a Twitch phenomenon,…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 8, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Sings Is Shutting Down On January 1
Today Twitch announced that its online karaoke game, Twitch Sings, will be shutting down on January 1, 2021. Many in the community were caught off guard by the announcement and its details, which seems to be part of a larger problem Twitch has with music licensing. Twitch Sings was co-developed by Twitch and Rock Band…
By Zack Zwiezen Published September 4, 2020 -
CultureTwitchStreamers Upset At Twitch For Fixing Bug That Actually Gave Fans A Good Deal
For the past handful of years, Twitch has run an annual “Subtember” promotion that lets viewers subscribe to streamers’ channels at a discounted rate. The longer they opt to subscribe for, the bigger the discount on the first month of a new subscription. This year, it seemed like Twitch had sweetened the deal in a…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 4, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Employee Accused Of Sexual Assault No Longer With Company
Back in June, Hassan Bokhari, accounts director of strategic partnerships at Twitch, was accused of sexual abuse and assault by a Twitch streamer named Vio. Now, after an investigation that began months ago, Twitch has banned Bokhari from the platform, and he is no longer an employee at the company. This evening, Twitch banned Bokhari’s channel,…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 1, 2020 -
CultureTwitchThe Twitch Viewers Who Dedicate Their Days To Trolling The Army And Navy
Sam is a 20 year-old college student who says he felt deceived by military recruitment efforts at his own high school. Recently, he found a way to push back. He and dozens of others, spread across a couple of Discords, spend chunks of their day trolling the military on Twitch. They harbor no delusions. They…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 1, 2020 -
CultureTwitchAfter Crucible‘s Flop, Amazon’s New MMO Is Actually Doing Well On Twitch
Up until this week, Amazon Games wasn’t exactly batting a thousand. Its most notable achievement of the year was releasing Crucible, a team-based shooter that flopped so hard it had to be un-released. Its upcoming MMO, New World, is off to a much stronger start, in part because Twitch streamers are involved in a bigger…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 27, 2020 -
CultureTwitchStreamer Drums His Way To Improbable Call Of Duty Headshot
Imagine being the person who got headshotted by a guy controlling Call of Duty with a drum set. What would you do? How would you react? Who would you become? This improbable kill, complete with a perfectly timed cymbal crash that caused several drummers who played for stand-up comedians back when that was a thing…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 24, 2020 -
CultureTwitchStreamers Furious After Ad Company Uses Twitch Donations To Advertise Burger King
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Twitch is that you can never entirely predict what sort of alchemical chain reaction a streamer and their audience will create together. Recently, an ad agency representing Burger King decided to cash in on this inherent unpredictability, seemingly without asking anybody. Streamers are, to put it lightly, not…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 20, 2020 -
CultureTwitchPokimane’s Apology Video Splits Twitch Streamers And YouTubers
Late last month, drama-baiting YouTuber LeafyIsHere stirred up an internet-wide fuss over the idea that Imane “Pokimane” Anys, the most popular female streamer on Twitch, might have a boyfriend. It was the most recent evolution of a long-running line of thought: women on the internet keep their dating lives secret to fool gullible men into…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 19, 2020 -
CultureTwitchAfter Eight Days Of Trying, Popular Streamer TimTheTatman Finally Wins A Single Fall Guys Match
We live in divided times, but for the past few days, nearly every person living has been united by a single shared goal: giving Twitch super star Timothy “TimTheTatman” Betar shit for constantly eating shit in Fall Guys. Today, he finally won his first match ever. Until the big moment, which over 250,000 concurrent viewers…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 19, 2020 -
CultureTwitchThe U.S. Army’s Return To Twitch Is Off To A Bizarre Start
Today, after recently unbanning viewers who had asked about war crimes (among other things), the U.S. Army is back on Twitch. Now a whole, whole lot of people are asking about war crimes. The Army’s return to Twitch after a month-long hiatus began with a different sort of stream than the channel’s standard, game-centric fare.…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 14, 2020 -
CultureTwitchShroud’s Twitch Return Pulls More Than 500,000 Concurrent Viewers, Despite Technical Troubles
Aim god Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek returned to Twitch today, after a saga that included an exclusive deal with Microsoft-owned streaming platform Mixer last year, Mixer’s sudden demise in June of this year, and a months-long period of uncertainty about where he’d land. He was greeted by hundreds of thousands of viewers. And technical problems. Grzesiek…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 12, 2020 -
CultureTwitchPost-Mixer, Popular Streamer Shroud Is Returning To Twitch
Last year, noted man with godlike aiming skills Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek was among a handful of top Twitch stars who shocked viewers by departing the Amazon-owned platform for Microsoft’s Mixer. In June of this year, Mixer suddenly died. Now, after a couple months of silence, Grzesiek is returning to Twitch. Grzesiek spent the past couple…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 11, 2020 -
CultureTwitchDr Disrespect Resumes Streaming To Over 500,000 Viewers And Plenty Of Questions
In June, Twitch permanently banned one of its biggest stars, Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, with no public indication as to why. Today, Beahm streamed for the first time since getting the big, purple boot from Twitch—now on YouTube. He was met by hundreds of thousands of concurrent viewers. And questions. Beahm announced his return yesterday,…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 7, 2020 -
CultureTwitchThe U.S. Army Is Returning To Twitch And Unbanning Users, For Now
The U.S. Army’s Twitch channel has not streamed in almost a month. After finding itself in the crosshairs of Twitch users and Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for banning viewers who asked about war crimes and hosting sketchy giveaways, the channel went radio silent. Soon, however, it will return, and previously banned users will have their…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 5, 2020 -
CultureTwitchNinja’s Streaming Fortnite On Twitch Right Now
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is streaming Fortnite’s latest update on Twitch right now, on a stream that’s hovering at over 95k viewers. It’s the popular streamer’s first stream on Twitch since Mixer shut down last month. Ninja is playing with streamer DrLupo. He teased this last night on Twitter, though he didn’t offer any details about…
By Riley MacLeod Published August 5, 2020 -
CultureTwitchStreamers Are Misusing Twitch’s ‘Just Chatting’ Section, But It’s A Symptom Of A Larger Problem
Of all of Twitch’s non-gaming categories, “Just Chatting” seems to have the most clearly defined purpose. It’s for chatting. That’s it. And yet, after the platform dissolved its ill-defined “IRL” section into 13 different non-gaming categories in 2018, Just Chatting became its catch-all successor. Now it’s a juggernaut—Twitch’s top category. But it’s also clear evidence…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 30, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTeacher Raises $16,000 On Twitch To Wipe Out School’s Lunch Debt
It is, to still somehow understate things, an incredibly difficult time to be a teacher. Around the country, many schools are set to reopen this fall, but with covid-19 case numbers continuing to soar, danger will inevitably lurk in familiar halls. What will happen once class is in session? Will things even get that far?…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 28, 2020 -
CultureTwitchAn Unreleased Indie Game Took Over Twitch, But It Didn’t Come Out Of Nowhere
You might have had a good weekend—maybe played a video game and then moved to a different part of your home and played another game, because that’s quarantine, baby—but you probably didn’t have as good of a weekend as the developers of Fall Guys. The battle royale party game, which isn’t even out yet, shot…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 27, 2020
