Twitch's New Streaming Rival Kick Tests Waters of Lighter Moderation

Hi everyone, it’s Cecilia. We’re talking about livestreaming and “freedom” today, but first...

This week’s top gaming news:

• Microsoft expands Xbox Game Pass amid antitrust scrutiny
• Game developers are eyeing Ireland for a new tax incentive plan
• Twitch streamer Kai Cenat the platform’s subscription record 

A Twitch challenger

For about a decade, Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch has dominated video game livestreaming. Others have tried to dethrone it – Meta Platforms, Inc.’s Facebook GamingTikTok Live, Microsoft Corp.’s now-defunct Mixer and, of course, YouTube Gaming, which has offered highly lucrative deals to lure top personalities away from Twitch.

But Twitch has held fast. Right now, 2.6 million people are watching 92,200 livestreams. And until recently, one of those streamers was Adin Ross. 

An irreverent 22-year-old known for his Grand Theft Auto V streams, Ross was sitting at the top of Twitch — with 7.2 million followers — when he decided to move to its latest competitor, . The site, which aligns more closely with Ross’s edgy persona, launched late last year and has been slowly wooing Twitch streamers fed up with the platform’s policies.

“I feel like Twitch is making stupid decisions,” Ross said in a recent interview with journalist Jake Lucky. He cited Twitch’s controversial revenue split and push for streamers to play more ads. “Now is the perfect time for Kick to come in and give them some competition.” 

Kick advertises a 95-5 revenue split compared with Twitch’s default 50-50. Although Ross claims to have received an enormous sum for his Kick contract, money wasn’t his only motivator. He says he wants to “say whatever the f--- I want.” On Kick, Ross livestreamed the Super Bowl, scrolled through Pornhub and even brought a Nazi on to discuss their views. Twitch has more robust moderation to enforce its community guidelines prohibiting hate speech, harassment, sexual content and copyright infringement.

Also, Ross could no longer livestream himself gambling with cryptocurrency — an activity Twitch outlawed late 2022.

Twitch banned Ross’s account earlier this week. In a message to Bloomberg, Twitch cited its policies against “unmoderated Hateful Conduct in chat, such as racist and anti-semitic messages.”

A representative for Kick said the site is expanding its moderation efforts and improving its policies daily. The representative said Kick complies with Digital Millennium Copyright Act requests and doesn’t tolerate hate speech. 

Kick’s ownership structure isn’t clear. The platform is being publicly promoted by Tyler Niknam, a top Twitch streamer known as Trainwreck. 

Crypto gambling site Stake.com's co-owners Eddie Craven and Bijan Tehrani have reportedly  Kick for an undisclosed sum. Kick currently has 30,000 people watching streamers play casino games, including on Stake.

There are a lot of people in the world who think social media sites should be less moderated than they are. Look at former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social or the “free speech social network” . But even Elon Musk, who bought Twitter last year with a view to less moderation, conceded that he couldn’t turn the site with its 450 million users into a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.”

Kick isn’t likely to seriously threaten Twitch's viewership any time soon; only 793 people are watching League of Legends streamers on the platform compared with 189,000 on Twitch.

Kick is quickly coming to terms with the idea that its loose-moderation approach could kneecap growth. Niknam  he tried to “create a platform that has more freedom,” but gets frustrated when people “cross lines and do things for the sake of clout and high viewership.” 

What most social media platforms, and even games, have learned is that if they want to attract the most people, they have to make their site welcoming to most people too. 

What to play

Nearly a year late at a friend’s recommendation, I’m diving into Cult of the Lamb, a cute but deeply sinister indie game a lot like hit roguelike 

In Other News

• Microsoft and Activision CMA regulators this week
• Jack Black appeared on the Kelly Clarkson show in full Bowser attire
• Funko Pops are in major trouble and the company is tossing toys in the trash

You can reach Jason at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected]. Cecilia is [email protected]

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