Pokimane, one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, is leaving the platform after a decade.
Imane “Pokimane” Anys took to X/Twitter to declare “the end of an era”, indicating her departure from the platform on which she had 9.3 million followers and become one of its leading lights.
“Twitch has been my home for a decade,” Pokimane said, “but it's time to say thank you for all the memories and love during my League, Fortnite, & Among Us days.”
Twitch replied to that tweet with the following: “What an incredible journey it’s been. We’re so proud of everything you’ve accomplished and what’s ahead in the future. You’ll always have a home on Twitch, Poki ?”
What an incredible journey it’s been. We’re so proud of everything you’ve accomplished and what’s ahead in the future.
— Twitch (@Twitch) January 30, 2024
You’ll always have a home on Twitch, Poki ?
The question now is what Pokimane does next. If she plans to continue streaming, she may follow the likes of Félix “xQc” Lengyel to rival streaming platform Kick, or perhaps head to YouTube Gaming, where Ludwig Ahgren resides.
Either way, it’s yet another blow for Twitch, which has endured a troubling period that has seen layoffs and uncertainty about its future under owner Amazon. Earlier this month, Twitch confirmed plans to cut about 35% of staff on top of 400 layoffs last year, with CEO Dan Clancy saying "we still have work to do to rightsize our company".
Speaking in a follow-up livestream, Clancy said Amazon had propped up the broadcaster as it remains unprofitable. “I’ll be blunt: we aren’t profitable at this point,” Clancy said. “Amazon has been extremely supportive of Twitch. Big thing for being sustainable over time is ensuring we don’t lose money. That’s a big part of my job because that’s going to be what makes sure we can be here for the long term.”
Clancy said Twitch was no longer in the business of offering big-money deals to streamers, insisting the economics do not make sense. “The cost of retaining those streamers would have been far more than the revenue generated from them,” he said. “That is something we’ve been very clear about. We don’t want to do that.”
Image credit: Photo by Leon Bennett/WireImage
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
