“Really, really, really messy”: Pokimane reveals why she’s leaving Twitch

A day after her announcement, streamer Pokimane revealed why she was leaving Twitch on her podcast.

For those who are gaming fans, are remotely aware of streamers, or are avid Twitch stream viewers, Pokimane saying it’s the “end of an era” is spot-on. The popular streamer has long been associated with the streaming platform, which had its positives and negatives as she revealed in this episode of her podcast. So it was a pretty big announcement that shocked many when she revealed yesterday that she won’t be re-signing with them anymore, thus ending her exclusive contract with the platform. Many speculated as to what led her to this decision, but the streamer herself set the record straight on her podcast.

Moroccan-Canadian streamer Pokimane is leaving Twitch. Here’s why.

the end of an era

twitch has been my home for a decade..

but it's time to say thank you for all the memories and love during my League, Fortnite, & Among us days 💜 pic.twitter.com/S8FMp6G3I8

— pokimane (@pokimanelol) January 30, 2024

Imane Anys, better known as Pokimane, is one of the biggest streamers in the world. For the majority of her gaming career, she streamed on Twitch and built her following there. Now that she’s ending her contract with them, this allows her to stream on other platforms like YouTube and TikTok. In fact, her first YouTube stream with other streamers is set to happen on February 1, 12pm PST (February 2, 3am Thailand time).

On her podcast don’t tell anyone with pokimane, the streamer goes into great length about the reasons why she wanted to stop streaming on Twitch exclusively. One of the things she cited was a desire to venture into other forms of content other than streaming and to also try other platforms. 

“I’ll just be spreading myself out a little bit and I am so excited to, for the first time ever, stream on YouTube, stream on TikTok, stream on Instagram,” she said. “I could literally sit on Instagram and talk sh** for an hour now and I’ve never been able to do that before.”

She also shared her feelings that the streaming community has “regressed” and that there was a stark difference between now and the pandemic when many people were watching streams because they were stuck at home. “There was such an influx of different communities,” she said but that now there was a “rise of so much manosphere red pill bullsh**” that thrives thanks to the male-skewed demographic of streaming.

Pokimane went on to share what her misgivings were about Twitch but also repeatedly said how grateful she was for the opportunities she had as an exclusive streamer for them. She described the company as “really, really, really messy” in terms of how they handle things, citing the way they went back and forth with their policy on “artistic nudity”. She also said that she feels Amazon, which owns Twitch, isn’t doing much to help the “general infrastructure” and “PR” of Twitch.

She mentioned that she tried to “beg Twitch to do certain things and they wouldn’t. “I’m done with being emotionally invested in the changes this company is doing,” the streamer said. 

Pokimane did clarify that she would still stream at times. But now that she’s not limited to any platform, she’ll be exploring other kinds of content and avenues to reach out to even more people. 

“I want to feel free to participate in whatever seems fun to me,” she said towards the end.

You can listen to the entirety of the podcast episode below. 

[Hero image: Pokimane FB]