Gaming

Twitch Makes Big Change to How Streamers Get Paid

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Twitch is making a pretty significant change to how it pays its streamers. Although it largely started as just a place for people to stream games for fun, Twitch and similar platforms quickly became monetizable for creators. This led to Twitch essentially become a platform people to create jobs, allowing them to entertain other people via video game streams or full-blown productions. Some of these streamers make millions of dollars a year just entertaining a massive user base. As such, many are reliant on Twitch to actually pay them their money and do it efficiently so they can keep the lights on and feed themselves or even re-invest it back into their channel.

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Twitch has announced that it will be lowering the threshold for payouts in the coming weeks in various countries. Previously, Twitch partners and affiliates needed to make $100 from their streams in order to withdraw any of it, but now the threshold has been lowered to $50 which should help smaller streamers get access to their money much faster. This will start on July 15th in Argentina, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and Taiwan and rollout to additional countries through November. Users will be alerted when they become eligible and Twitch estimated about 70,000 streamers will see more regular payouts as a result of this. PayPal, checks, and direct deposits will all support this feature but wire transfers will still require the $100 minimum due to transfer fees. Twitch also noted it aims to continue to create a faster payout experience.ย 

“We understand how important it is for you to quickly access the money you earn from streaming,” said Twitch in a blog post. “This lower $50 threshold is one important step towards creating a faster, easier payout experience. One day, we’d love for you to wrap up your stream and already have the money you earned from that stream in your wallet. As we aim for lower payout thresholds, we’re focusing on building a trustworthy, accurate, and globally accessible experience for everybody.”ย  ย ย 

Although big streamers likely won’t notice this change, this is a major leap for smaller streamers. As Twitch continues to grow, this will become essential. Twitch is facing steep competition with YouTuber as more and more talent begins to sign contracts with the Google-owned platform. This should be a big incentive for smaller streamers to continue to stay on Twitch.

Is this a significant change for you? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.