Twitch streamers furious over platform’s “gross” plans to increase sub costs

Twitch’s decision to increase the price of subs by 20% in the United States is being hammered by both streamers and viewers alike.

On June 4, Twitch announced that come July 11, the cost of subs will be adjusted in over 30 regions, with the price jumping from $4.99 to $5.99 in the US.

The Amazon-owned company justified this decision, stating it was made “as part of our efforts to help creators build and grow their communities worldwide.”

However, as expected for any price hike, the reaction was one-sidedly negative as viewers and streamers overwhelmingly slammed Twitch for the move and urged it to reconsider.

“This ain’t it. Extremely tone deaf given the current economy,” said streamer Obkatiekat. “This doesn’t encourage anything, if anything it’ll hurt community members and creators alike.”

IRL streaming sensation JakeNBake expressed concern that the hike would drive some loyal viewers away. “Really curious how many subs this will drive to cancel their sub. Rough times.”

TannerSlays was even more worried about Twitch’s decision. “This scares me to death. I feel like full-time streaming could come to an end for me,” he warned.

“I’ll continue to work my a** off to not let that happen, but this isn’t good for viewers or streamers. This hurts smaller creators trying to do it full time imo.”

Others accused Twitch of “screwing over” smaller creators. One called the sub-price increase “gross and predatory.”

An especially damning reply was delivered by streamer LordAethelstan, who directly took issue with Twitch’s reasoning for the sub cost hike.

“What the hell does stupid save-face boardroom drivel even mean?” they rhetorically asked. “Just say you don’t know how to monetize your site properly and need to shift that burden onto the viewers.”

LordAethelstan’s comments, while very critical, raise some interesting questions about the platform and whether it will ever be profitable.

The price hike comes just six months after Twitch CEO Dan Clancy revealed that the site isn’t “profitable” even after laying off 500 employees. Whether or not this sub-increase ends up helping remains to be seen. At the moment, though, many are convinced that isn’t the case.

Twitch is scheduled to address the price changes in greater detail during a June 12 broadcast.