Tyler1 admits his brutal Twitch streaming deal might lead to him retiring
Twitch: Tyler1Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp has opened up on the possibility he may call time on his immense Twitch streaming career soon, with his contracted hours — which often sees him stay live for more than 50 hours every week — beginning to take a toll on his life.
Star League of Legends streamer Tyler1 has built a reputation for extraordinarily long stream hours and his determination to always be grinding Riot’s biggest game.
That drive has certainly played a major role in his ever-rising warpath to the top of the Amazon-owned website. Steinkamp is in his 20s, but he’s already a self-made millionaire, boasts 4.7m streaming followers, and makes $200k in advertising revenue every single month. He reigns as one of Twitch’s biggest stars.
The lifestyle he lives to achieve it all is taking its toll though.
In a Twitch profile with the Washington Post, Steinkamp admitted he’s thinking — quite seriously — about calling time on his streaming career more every day.
Twitch: Tyler1The main reason Tyler1 is beginning to consider life after streaming is the lifestyle he forces himself to lead to hit his Twitch hours and rack up broadcasts.
Every stream, Steinkamp tries to hit 10 hours live.
On top of that, he goes live most days of the week. There’s no sick days, no chances to unwind from his job. On the weekend, the Twitch star admitted to the Post, he will totally avoid speaking just to rest his throat. Sometimes he can’t get out of bed. On planned streaming days, he sleeps for five hours.
Tyler adds he often doesn’t have the energy to stream 10 hours. In a bid to hit his contracted 200 a month, however, forces himself to. “If you take one day off, [the fans] are like “where are you bro, how could you?” So I don’t miss days. Ever.”
“How bad is it going to get?” Steinkamp asked. It’s already bad, he added, but admits could get worse. “Just f**k it, man. Maybe I just need to retire.”
Twitch: Tyler1Toying with the idea is very different to actually planning out retirement though, Tyler1 explains. He knows his Twitch lifestyle, and the 200 hours every single month, will “take their toll” eventually. It’s just that he’s beyond caring.
He’s even started sliding in the other direction. His rigorous schedule has turned into an obsession with staying live. On one day in November, he exploded on stream when his broadcast crashed, leaving him with a nine-hour VOD that he claimed looked “ugly” and “gross.”
It’s that mentality that means Tyler1 won’t quit yet; he’s considered it, but one thing is holding him back. He has nothing else, he says: “It’s been my whole life.”
