Twitch CEO speaks out amid anger from fans over 33% price hike for mobile users
Price hikes are never usually welcomed, and the recent rise for Twitch has had many streaming and gaming fans left frustrated.
Earlier this month it was revealed that the price for Tier 1 subs on mobile would be increasing across all 40 countries later this year. The hike sees the cost go from $5.99 to $7.99 in the United States on October 1.
The increase comes after the streaming platform already increased the cost of subs earlier this summer.
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The rise in fees comes after Twitch recently updated their app, and it left many users frustrated with how it looks and works.
Last summer Twitch announced its ‘discovery feed’ experiment; a limited update which saw a handful of ‘select’ iOS and Android users helping to ‘train’ the company’s ‘featured video’ algorithm.
Yet it seems it's left many gaming and streaming fans angry with the platform asking for more income from its users.
Responding to the anger from fans around the rise in fees for mobile, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has now explained why the hike was needed.
He responded on Twitter as he revealed the reason behind the sub cost increase was due to Apple and Google. Yet he also claimed that the change was made to help creators.
He wrote: "The simplest way to think of it is that you make the same amount from a subscription whether it is desktop or mobile.
"The simplest way to think of it is that you make the same amount from a subscription whether it is desktop or mobile."
Yet the price hike on Twitch has seen some users asking if they will see an increase in their revenue as a result. One user wrote on Twitter: "Are the streamers seeing an increase to their revenue too? When the price went from $4.99 to $5.99, we kept our split with that extra dollar?
"Is that the same with the increase to $7.99, or are those $2 completely unseen by the streamer?"
Others have been left fuming at the decision to raise the cost of mobile subscriptions, with some venting their views on Reddit.
One person wrote: "Twitch used to be my go to for background noise, but now it feels like it’s 40% unskippable ads. Now I just watch VODs on YouTube."
Another shared: "Twitch was cool when it came out, actually true gamer content. Now I get recommended women streams that I have never clicked on before and every time it starts with a 2 minute ad and then ads every 10 minutes. Useless platform."
"New game is out > get curious > Open Twitch > Click on a relevant Stream > “1/6 ads playing” > Close Twitch," said a third.