Twitch adds new “boost” stream feature but it comes at a price

Twitch has finally launched its controversial new “boost” feature, allowing streamers the option to grow their channels – but doing so will cost a pretty penny.

The “boost” feature was first unveiled on a September 30 stream, where Product Manager Jacob Rosok explained how it would work during a “Patch Notes” broadcast.

Since then, the addition has been criticized by many big names in the community, including Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel, who called it the “worst idea he’s ever seen.”

Despite the backlash, Twitch still went live with the feature and it is currently in testing. Reportedly, only a handful of streamers have access to it thus far.

Boosting Twitch streams can be costly

The costs to boost a stream varies, but at the low end, you can pay $0.99 for a broadcast to receive 1,000 recommendations.

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On the high side of the spectrum, viewers can pay as much as $500 to help their favorite streamer grow their audience; however, there’s no discount for spending more.

In order for viewers to help boost, they must also be allowed to chat in the streamer’s channel.

Thus far, boosts are limited to US-based users. Given how the feature has been criticized as “pay to win” in the Twitch meta, it will be interesting to see if the Amazon-owned company institutes regional pricing as they’ve done with subscription costs.

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There’s no telling how much these boosts will actually impact small streamers and if they end up seeing significant channel growth even after being boosted, but chances are we’ll get a better indication once Twitch sees the results of this test.

Until then, users can only wait and see if the streaming platform continues ahead with this feature, or if they modify it significantly before a full implementation.