Pokimane hits back at claims Twitch “doesn’t care” about streamers like YouTube
Twitch: PokimanePokimane looks confused on Twitch stream.
Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys has taken a swipe at claims Twitch “doesn’t care” about all its biggest streaming stars, which have bubbled to the surface in the wake of Ludwig’s huge defection to YouTube earlier this week.
After a period of quiet in the exclusivity wars, Ludwig rocked the boat again with his shock defection to YouTube, which he claims was because Twitch “didn’t care.”
Ludwig — who was ironically banned on YouTube after just 48 hours — admitted he “never felt particularly loved by Twitch,” and when they failed to counter YouTube’s offer, he decided to jump ship. Valkyrae chimed in too, suggesting the red website is the “only real choice” for top stars for the same reason.
The sentiment was soon backed up by Tim ‘TimTheTatman’ Betar, who revealed his exclusivity negotiations took a similar turn when, despite streaming with Twitch for nine years, felt like he was being let go for nothing.
Pokimane has since come out swinging against those Twitch claims.
Twitch: PokimaneTwitch’s stream-queen says the claims YouTube “cares more” are totally wrong, and while she understands why stars on the move like Ludwig, TimTheTatman, or Valkyrae would suggest otherwise, she can’t agree.
Pokimane began: “Twitch has so many f**king stars.”
“Do they care about you? Sure,” the star continued. “Are they going to care about you to the same level as YouTube, who are trying to get their fifth big streamer over to their platform? Of course not. Twitch has less to lose. You really have to be incredible value for Twitch to fight for you.
“Twitch has so many b*tches! It just does. That’s why they differentiate between the ones they’re giving sh*t tons of money to, those they care about so much, and the ones they’re not going to fight to keep [over Youtube].
“I realized a while ago whether it’s Twitch or YouTube, they don’t care about you, equally. They care about investments. That’s the only reason you’ll get preference.”
The 25-year-old also suggested YouTube isn’t as loving as Ludwig and others are painting them to be, claiming after she knocked them back in 2020 to stay on Twitch, she’s been unable to get any help for her uploads channels.
“Look, I hate to stay this, this might be anecdotal, [but] I was getting like 900k views a day, and then [my videos] totally collapsed, to like 100k. They just died. Dead! All on the same day, November 14. It plummeted, and we were freaking out. They just fell off the deep end, totally flat.
“I tried to contact higher-ups at YouTube. The same ones that negotiate these deals with me. And they just didn’t do anything. It doesn’t make sense.”
When Pokimane was on the open market back in mid-2020, the Moroccan-Canadian was very vocal about wanting one thing — somewhere she can “have fun” while continuing her career.
Twitch’s stream queen has stuck to her guns on that since too.
“Two years ago, when I had to first choose between Twitch and YouTube, you know what I decided off of? Not which platform would give me more money, and it is a lot of life-changing money they’re offering. Not which platform was nicer to me. But which platform I would have more f**king fun on!”
“There’s just not much recognition on other platforms,” Pokimane added. “You could have 30k viewers, but people look exclusively at the Twitch space.”
