One of the top Twitch streamers, Tyler "Trainwreck" Niknam, announced he is leaving the platform to stream on Kick. As of late, Trainwreck has been vocal about his disinterest in Twitch and gave an update to his Twitter followers about the situation.While Trainwreck's tweet displays many issues he has with Twitch as a streamer, the most recent complaint he seemed to have is with the Twitch gambling ban. Before the ban, much of Trainwreck's content was gambling related. On November 28, he began hinting at a partnership with a new company on his Twitter, with the full announcement posted on December 5.He first addresses the financial decisions Twitch makes with creators saying, "Twitch takes the highest percentage split of any platform in the live streaming world. At 50%, every streamer on Twitch will only receive $2.50 of each subscription, and less if they’re not in a first world country." Trainwreck also calls the company out for previously announcing plans for a 70/30 divide that they went back on, claiming they couldn't afford it. After explaining the problems he has with Twitch's latest actions, Trainwreck then announces his partnership with Kick as "a non-owner advisor and non-exclusive broadcaster."
On this new platform, Trainwreck reveals Kick is doing a "95%-5% subscriber split with 95% of all subscriber income going to the streamer." That comes alongside 100% of tips available for same-day withdrawal, while on Twitch streamers must wait for a monthly payout. Trainwreck claims that Kick can make this happen by relying more on advertisers for company income. As for the issues behind Trainwreck gambling on stream, Kick will also have rules in its Terms of Service around gambling to ensure the streams are ethical and straightforward to viewers.
While Trainwreck isn't completely leaving Twitch yet, waiting for Kick to work out the bugs and further develop, he is advocating for a better streamer experience for creators of all audience levels. "We'll bring livestreaming back to what it was before Twitch lost its way. An authentic experience between viewers and streamers." With a big name in the streaming community speaking out about the Twitch and creator relationship while advocating for a new platform, Twitch may see some competition once Kick is up and running. Trainwreck isn't the only one who has been vocal about disagreeing with the platform as fellow creator Amouranth recently shared her thoughts on the Twitch ban policies.
Although it seems Twitch saw a drop in viewership in November and is now getting some backlash on its choices, it is still the largest platform featuring live-streaming for now. Other services are available for streamers to use, but Twitch has held its place at the top for the last several years. While it may help Kick to have a top streamer as an advisor, it will have to deliver to dethrone the streaming content giant.