Shroud reveals why he chose Twitch return over YouTube or Facebook

Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek has admitted he was always going to return to Twitch after Mixer’s shock shutdown in July, in part due to the fact rival sites YouTube and Facebook just aren’t big enough for all his “big plans.”

The retired CSGO pro originally exploded as one of the world’s leading streamers on Twitch, before defecting to Microsoft-owned Mixer at the height of the platform exclusivity wars. He was one of many, including Ninja and FaZe Clan’s Ewok.

Mixer wasn’t to last though. On June 22, it was announced the Twitch rival would be shutting doors permanently just a month later. The move left a host of stream-stars, including shroud, as the hottest free agents on the market.

Only, shroud was never going to consider a move to YouTube or Facebook Gaming, the star revealed during his first stream back. He was always headed back to the website he built his fandom on. The Twitch move “just fit,” he said.

“I am streaming exclusively on Twitch.tv, nowhere else! I am, in fact, back,” the former Mixer streamer said early on in his return broadcast.

• Read more: Shroud reveals insane Twitch stats after first stream back

“A lot of you are like, why Twitch? Obviously Twitch is the best, obviously, duh! Born and raised on this platform from the start. It’s the biggest [streaming platform]. Definitely the biggest in gaming. It just feels right, you know?

“Twitch fits well with the big plans that I have in gaming. I might have some plans coming up soon… I’m not going to tell you just yet. There’s some cool things that I’m brewing up though! A lot of secrets are in my head right now, a lot.”

Those plans won’t come to fruition just yet though, Shroud revealed. The streamer wants to “let the whole thing stabilize first” before he unveils anything else “huge” in the near future.

• Read more: Ewok returns to Twitch after Mixer shutdown

There will be plenty more Shroud now he’s back on Twitch though, the returned streamer promised. “Get used to me being here. I’m here for the long haul,” he said. “I’m not going to burn myself out, but I’ll be around a lot. I ain’t going anywhere.”

Related segment begins at 4:08 in the video below.

Shroud’s declaration that Twitch is the “biggest on the market” is a direct echo of the reason Pokimane gave when she inked her own exclusive deal in March. The star ⁠— who is currently on a month-long hiatus ⁠— admitted she even took “less money” to stay with the platform.

“There’s just not much recognition on other platforms,” Pokimane said at the time. “You can be on another site with 30k viewers, but people still won’t see you as a top streamer because [everyone] exclusively looks at the Twitch space.”

• Read more: Dr Disrespect admits he “hopes” Shroud goes pro in Valorant

For now, it looks like Twitch may have won the first battle of the exclusivity wars. YouTube is certainly still in the fight, however, especially considering Dr Disrespect has shifted there following his shock Twitch ban back in June.

Other huge Mixer names like Gothalion and Ewok have already inked new deals after their platform collapsed too. The former jumped shipped to Facebook Gaming nearly immediately, while Ewok rejoined Twitch on August 12.

One streamer question mark still remains too; former Mixer star Ninja has yet to settle on new digs post-shutdown. He has streamed on both Twitch and YouTube recently, but hasn’t locked himself into anything just yet.