Congratulation to Twitch: The Biggest Mess of 2019
2019 was nothing short of a disaster for Twitch. A repeat performance in 2020 could spell bad news for the streaming service. | Image: REUTERS/Mike Blake -/File Photo
- Twitch is the world’s biggest streaming service.
- Over the course of 2019, the site has been embroiled in constant controversy surrounding their poor decisions.
- If the company keeps this sort of trend going they’re going to find themselves with diminishing viewers by 2020.
Twitch has been making a mess of itself lately. It seems no matter which way you turn, the streaming service can’t help but make a mockery of itself. It is not immediately clear if the company is trying to intentionally run itself into the ground for some sort of scam, or if the management is all insane.
Regardless of the reasons, it seems like 2019 has not been a good year for Twitch. Maybe if they’re lucky 2020 will be better. Then again, if they maintain their current run of missteps, I won’t be holding my breath.
Twitch Keeps Making Terrible Choices
The big problem for Twitch is that it seems to enjoy making terrible decisions. Over the last year, the company developed severe issues and has made very little effort to resolve them. Twitch has already started hemorrhaging famous streamers, while enforcing its ban policy inconsistently. It has annoyed most of its core users in the process.
For some people, Twitch seems to turn a completely blind eye. In cases such as Alinity, Streamers can get away with absolute murder and still retain partner status. On the other hand, if you’re a well-known gaming comedy group, you can be banned for puking when things go too far.
Twitch’s poor treatment of their creators has led to many of them jumping ship. The biggest loss was probably Ninja, who up and left the service for Mixer earlier this year. Since then at least three other high-profile streamers have left the service . If Twitch keeps doing the same bad stuff to its partners, it won’t be long before most of them have jumped ship.
The Worst Mistake is Annoying Their Users
It’s not just the big-time streamers who are getting fed up with Twitch. Twitter is filled to the brim with unhappy users venting. Whether they’re venting about their favorite streamer getting banned or the numerous other issues with the service, all of it has been bad for Twitch.
As a service, Twitch still has a chance to turn this around. After all, the company was really one of the first truly successful streaming platforms. Without Twitch, the streaming universe probably wouldn’t be as huge as it is right now. But this success has led to complacency. Folks at Twitch seem to think they can do whatever they want without repercussions.
2020 will be a make-or-break year for Twitch. Either they’ll actually knuckle down, clean up their platform and start treating their streamers and users well, or they’ll keep this attitude up and go the way of Blip.TV. That is to say, superseded by a much better platform.
