By celeburma_zirmxt
As part of a flurry of TwitchCon news on Friday, the company revealed that Twitch will now allow its producers to simultaneously stream across any live streaming provider. Until Friday, streamers could simulcast on mobile apps like Instagram and TikTok, but Twitch is expanding the number of places where they can go live at once. (That is, providing the streamers are not bound by a Twitch exclusivity contract.)
Recently, a few Twitch streamers have been looking into opportunities on other networks. This year, big stars like xQc, Nickmercs, and Amouranth secured big deals with Twitch rival Kick; xQc’s and Nickmercs’ deals are non-exclusive, and Amouranth’s arrangement appears to be non-exclusive as well, based on a video she posted on her Twitch account a few months ago. In September 2022, Ninja terminated his exclusivity agreement with Twitch in order to simulcast across many platforms. (He appears happy with Friday’s announcement; he dined with Twitch CEO Dan Clancy earlier this month.)
A support document for Twitch’s new simulcasting policy outlines a few criteria. It will be up to streamers to ensure that their Twitch stream is of a caliber “no less than the experience on other platforms or services.”Streamers “should not” post links to their simulcasts on other platforms that lead to their Twitch community. (Streamers are still able to publish connections to external websites on their channel’s About page; they are unable to link to their other simulcasts that are active on Twitch, though.) Additionally, streamers are unable to combine communication across platforms or utilize other third-party services.
Twitch promises to include a feature at some point in the future that will allow streamers to signify that they are simulcasting.
A significant revision to Twitch’s off-service behavior rules was also revealed. The firm states (emphasizing Twitch’s) that “to further protect our streamers, we’re adding doxxing and swatting to the list of Off-Service Conduct behaviors we will enforce against.” The changes take effect on Friday. The inclusion of doxxing in the policy comes in the wake of a recent controversy in which YouTuber Jacksfilms claimed that SSSniperWolf had doxxed him in an Instagram story. On Friday, YouTube declared that SSSniperWolf’s channel would be temporarily demonetized, and SSSniperWolf apologized on X (formerly Twitter).
Also, Twitch disclosed several product modifications. Stream Together, formerly known as Guest Star, will allow streamers to host co-streams with other users and will include features like chat merging. According to Twitch, a live channel-surfacing version of its Discovery Feed, a la TikTok, is currently undergoing testing. Additionally, a streamer’s own animated emotes will “soon” be supported by Twitch’s own alert system for notifications such as subscribers and Bits donations.