YouTube has been securing some of Twitch’s top streamers for its own platform. TimTheTatman admits he left Twitch for a similar reason as the newly-signed Ludwig.
Remember when Tyler “Ninja” Blevins left Twitch for Mixer? We all knew he’d be back on the purple streaming site eventually, but it was the first time streamers were seen as purchasable assets. Just as athletes are traded between teams, Ninja leaving his home team of Twitch popularized this idea that other platforms could scout and sign streamers.
Over the past two years, we’ve seen a number of Twitch’s most successful streamers transition to various platforms. Some streamers take risky opportunities and sign to smaller platforms such as Facebook Gaming or DLive. Others take a more secure route and sign with YouTube Gaming.
At first, it seemed like those jumping from the Twitch ship because other sites were offering more money. While it is true that top streamers have been offered better deals, Ludwig’s recent departure from Twitch shows that there’s more to it than just money. And TimTheTatman has admitted to leaving Twitch for a very similar reason.
Why Ludwig and TimTheTatman left Twitch
On November 29, 2021, Ludwig Ahgren announced he would be streaming exclusively on YouTube. This comes after his incredibly successful four-year stint on Twitch where, during that time, he became the platform’s #1 most subscribed streamer. And while Ludwig claims to love Twitch and its dynamic culture, he made the difficult decision to sign with YouTube gaming.
Ludwig is pretty open with his fans, so we didn’t have to wait long for him to lay all his cards on the table. In short, he left Twitch because they didn’t fight for him to stay on their platform. In contrast, YouTube Gaming was willing to offer Ludwig a better deal even after he made the initial decision to stay on Twitch.
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With a creator this large leaving Twitch, you can expect a lot of personalities to weigh in. TimTheTatman, who left his lucrative space on Twitch earlier this year, expressed his own thoughts. On stream, Tim admitted to his move to YouTube Gaming following a similar storyline.
After watching Ludwig’s video, TimTheTatman stated, “Obviously, I had my own decision-making process with YouTube and Twitch. All I’ll say is, I know Lud has been on Twitch for three or four years. I was on Twitch for about 8 or 9 years, and -uh- similar storyline, man.”
Looks like even @timthetatman had a similar story line as Ludwig when it came to leaving Twitch for YouTube Gaming.
Yikes.. https://t.co/xZ4S5vNF6V pic.twitter.com/R8U4JjNhIA
— Wicked Good Gaming (@WickedGoodGames) November 30, 2021
Tim went on to clarify that not many of the people he “really met” at Twitch were there anymore. He also touched on Amazon running Twitch now which could be a reason for the impersonal side of streamer/platform interaction.
Ludwig also mentioned in his departure video that he was aware there are thousands of people working for Twitch. He knows how long it takes for a large company like Twitch to make anything happen. However, a larger company like YouTube showing these streamers they value them was enough to win them over.
