Former Twitch executives launch new TikTok-like platform for gaming content

Former Twitch executives James Kuk, Ben Stueck, and Ernie Le have launched their own short-form video-sharing platform ‘FreshCut’ which focuses on gaming content.

Whether it be live streaming, short-form, or long-form content, it seems there are more and more platforms busting into the industry — and some have already begun rivaling the big dogs Twitch and YouTube.

Notably, we’ve seen the likes of Kick and Rumble see some huge success in recent times when it comes to streaming. Although, when it comes to short-form content, no platform has come close to TikTok — despite best efforts from YouTube with ‘Shorts’ and Meta’s ‘Reels’.

However, three former Twitch executives are aiming to shake things up, launching their own short-form video-sharing platform ‘FreshCut’ — focusing specifically on gaming content.

Raising $11.6 million in its Seed round and Series A, the platform launched earlier in 2023, and has already reached over two million visitors and over 130,000 content creators in under five months.

Taking a community-centric approach, and aiming to improve discoverability for gaming-specific creators, FreshCut is founded by former Twitch executives James Kuk, Ben Stueck, and Ernie Le, who have a combined 40+ years of experience in the gaming industry between them.

To date, FreshCut has invested over $1 million in creators via their Community Fund and has a long-term vision to create a fair, sustainable business model that shares advertising revenues with its creators.

“The cornerstone of any game is having a strong community to support it,” said Founder and CEO James Kuk. “Yet the key failure of major social media platforms for gamers is a lack of community focus, since they serve hundreds of verticals that go far beyond gaming.”

“Our goal is the opposite, which involves a laser focus on gaming content, developing close bonds with specific gaming circles for more authentic relationships, and bolstering discovery since it is one of the biggest struggles creators face. As a testament to our vision, our user base has soared month-over-month since we launched.”

What is FreshCut? New gaming-focused short-form platform

FreshCut is a new short-form video-sharing platform specifically for gaming. The platform’s content
recommendation engine ensures a high-quality content experience tailored to each community — which users select to join.

Making it easy for creators, FreshCut’s Studio product offers a suite of essential short-form editing tools for mobile and web and also enables creators to upload short videos to their desired community.

Users can also purchase FreshCut Diamonds, which they can then use to show support for their favorite creators directly as a form of tipping or to redeem rewards in the FreshCut merch store.