With the streaming war between Twitch and YouTube raging on as both platforms vie to outdo one another, recent years have seen a mass exodus of many of Twitch's top talents leaving for the Amazon-owned platform's Google-owned rival. Twitch has seen many of its biggest stars leaving the site from the widely-publicized ban of popular streamer Dr. Disrespect in 2020 to the site's highest-subscribed creator, Ludwig, leaving the site after signing a massive deal with YouTube. Recently, Twitch saw its newest major loss as Sykkuno announced he would be leaving the platform for YouTube.
After first becoming popular for his League of Legends streams early in his streaming career, Sykkuno grew as a variety streamer into one of the most popular creators on the website. His massive popularity has seen the creator featured alongside TV personality Jimmy Fallon in the late-night host's Twitch debut and sitting among the top 50 channels of all time on Twitch for subscriber count. Earlier this week, Sykkuno announced his surprising departure from Twitch and signing on with YouTube Gaming, and the popular streamer clarified his reasoning for the move during a recent stream.
During Sykkuno's debut stream on YouTube, the streamer shared an e-mail he had recently received from Twitch with regards to signing a new contract with the website where the platform misspelled his name in an official e-mail. While he felt he may have "too big of an ego," Sykkuno expressed frustration at not feeling "appreciated" by the website after being within the top 50 talents on Twitch. Sykkuno would also cite further issues with Twitch's management at different points in the stream including his exclusion from Twitch Rivals. He expressed that the monetary offers from YouTube and Twitch offers were similar, but YouTube's offer ultimately edged out Twitch's.
In the wake of another major departure from Twitch, the platform is still rumored to see many more of its most popular creators leaving the platform in the near future. Rumors from popular streamer Disguised Toast have pointed towards several similar streamers who may be looking to make the jump to YouTube, disclosing at least five other streamers are planning to make the move without directly mentioning names. Toast also mentioned many of these contracts with YouTube are likely already planned or signed, implying Twitch is set to see even more big names leaving for Google's platform.
While Twitch has seen plenty of high-profile streamers leaving in recent months, the void being left has seen many other streamers climbing up the rankings in recent months. Popular VTuber Ironmouse became the most-subscribed female streamer earlier this year, and creators like xQc and NICKMERCS have secured their place among the platform's upper echelons. With more changes set to come to Twitch's monetization policy and more streamers likely to leave in the near future, the platform should see plenty more new creators rising through the ranks in the near future.
Source: Polygon