“I’m worried about longevity of Twitch”: Summit1g comments on Twitch’s updated payout system and 50/50 revenue split

Twitch veteran Jaryd Russell "Summit1g" commented on the platform's updated streamer payout system during his September 22 livestream. Before beginning to play Rust, Summit1g noticed a Twitch viewer asking him about the 50/50 streamer revenue split.

The streamer stated that the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform was seeking "here and now" money, and that he was worried about the platform's longevity. Summit1g remarked:

"The split revenue? I mean, dude, it seems to me that Twitch is trying to get that here and now money, and I'm worried about the longevity of Twitch, that they even have to worry about that, is a little; is a little bit worrisome."

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Summit1g is "worried" about Twitch incorporating the new 50/50 streamer revenue system

On September 22, Twitch's president, Dan Clancy, revealed the updated streamer payout system via a blog post. He mentioned that the 70/30 streamer revenue split was being replaced by the 50/50 revenue split.

Furthermore, Clancy stated that Twitch's updated 'Ad Inventive Program' would be a "great way" for content creators who are affected by the new payout system to earn more money. An excerpt from the post read:

"For those who are affected, we wanted to make sure the impact was minimal — not just by giving them ample time before the deal goes into effect — but also by offering an alternative way to earn revenue. Our recent bump in ads revenue share to 55% as part of the Ads Incentive Program is a great way for these larger streamers to make up most, if not all, of that revenue."

Clancy mentioned that the operational cost of the platform was one of the primary reasons for this sudden shift. He detailed that Twitch spends $1,000 per month to host a 200-hour long livestream:

"Delivering high definition, low latency, always available live video to nearly every corner of the world is expensive. Using the published rates from Amazon Web Services’ Interactive Video Service (IVS) — which is essentially Twitch video — live video costs for a 100 CCU streamer who streams 200 hours a month are more than $1000 per month."

Summit1g spoke about the aforementioned changes at the 27-minute mark of his broadcast. He began the discussion by stating that Twitch was looking for the "here and now" money, and that the situation worried him. He said:

"So, it's a little weird why, you know; I feel like, they're taking the here and now money, and it's like, that long-term is going to be affected. If that's the case."

Timestamp: 00:27:21

Twitch viewer Fiogz commented that Twitch streamers will soon be required to find a "real job":

"Streamers may need to find a real job soon lol."

Summit1g smiled as he read the message aloud, mentioning that some content creators "came from real jobs." Jaryd also speculated that the revenue reform could affect certain content creators:

"You know, some of us came from real jobs, all right? It's not like we didn't do any of it. But yeah, it might effect some people. I'm not really sure, to be honest with you."

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Fans react to Summit1g's clip

The streamer's clip was one of the most highly-upvoted posts on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit. One Redditor agreed with Summit1g's take and stated that Twitch "doesn't care" about the future and that they're simply "cashing out":

Another Redditor believes that the push for a 50/50 streamer revenue split was strange:

Here are some more fan reactions:

Summit1g is one of the most well-known personalities in the streaming world, having created his Twitch account way back in 2011. He is a variety gamer, and has played several popular titles such as Grand Theft Auto 5, Escape from Tarkov, Sea of Thieves, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Fortnite on his channel.