The month of February gave Twitch and the rest of the streaming world a good dose of heated rivalry. Despite a slow start to the month, things picked up towards the end – culminating in a showdown between The Undertaker and Dr Disrespect, xQc's ban from Twitch, and SlikeR's long-awaited partnership on the platform. It's easy to miss a lot of the craziness, so here are the month's highlights.
Showdowns
Dr Disrespect gave his audience a big helping of mystery towards the end of the month, slowly rolling out clues that eventually revealed his collaboration with WWE's The Undertaker; Apparently, there is some major beef between the two. Between vandalizing Doc's "arena" and sabotaging his prized (digital) Lamborghini, The Undertaker gave the Twitch streamer a challenge that has yet to be resolved.
Otherwise, February saw Tfue challenge his Fortnite streaming rival Ninja to a real fight – inspired by the lucrative boxing match between YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI. Ninja was quick to decline, however, stating that he was uninterested in such an event. Other showdowns on Twitch included the resurgence of BattleBots-esque channel "RobotConflict" and a feud between popular League of Legends streamer Yvonne and a small streamer, who decided it would be a good idea to ask her if she'd have sex with him; This led to his completely justifiable ban from the platform, which neatly leads into our next section.
More Bans
You guessed it – Twitch banned more people throughout February. Most were justified, of course, and the company does seem to be doing a better job clarifying when they do ban streamer, but nevertheless there have been puzzling suspensions. Body-painting streamer "Forkgirl" was banned without explanation despite her claims that she followed guidelines. Luckily, after her going to social media, Twitch was able to eventually clarify and reinstate her channel.
Additionally, many partnered streamers fell to the clutches of a false DMCA strike for broadcasting the Democratic Primary debates. A big wave of Twitch streamers were subsequently banned, leading to outrage on social media. Twitch was able to eventually identify that the strike was falsified by a third-party and reversed the suspensions, but not before their automated system caused headaches for big names such as BadBunny, ChapoTrapHouse, TriHex, Central_Committee, TheSerfsTV, JustinRYoung, David Pakman, MajorityReport, and ChumLord.
Plenty Of Hacks
Another ban was brought upon MLG's official Twitch account, but not due to confusion or unfairness. In fact, someone managed to hack into the account and – for whatever reason – stream pornography for over an hour. Needless to say, when Twitch staff caught onto the unfortunate act, the account was suspended. After the dust settled, the situation was explained and the account has since been reinstated.
Ninja's Twitter account was another that fell to hackers this month, the perpetrator attempting to start public conflict with other personalities through a series of tweets. Luckily for Ninja, he regained control of the account quickly, deleting the impostor's posts and explaining the situation.
Creator Burnout
Creator burnout has become a growing issue in the streaming community, many big personalities opening up about their personal struggles with the occupation. Asmongold, for one, decided to release a detailed YouTube video about his recent hiatus from Twitch, citing negativity and lack of creative freedom as primary deterrents.
Pokimane went through a similar spell, but targeted living in LA as the problem rather than streaming itself. YouTube superstar PewDiePie also saw his return to the platform after a planned break, emphasizing his fear of being caught up in monotony and routine. In the cases of all three, however, they are all optimistic about the future and will continue onwards.
Due to the increasing cases of burnout and mental drainage that results from unhealthy digital practices, Dr. K's "HealthyGamer" has picked up some well-deserved steam. On the channel, the psychiatrist and Harvard grad is known for helping streamer-celebrities through various issues; His presence on Twitch is certainly a welcome one.
End Of The Month Chaos
Giving Twitch an absolute banger of an ending to February, xQc found himself suspended from the platform. The popular French-Canadian streamer brought the cruel fate upon himself, however, willingly streaming uncensored nudity while playing the scandalous Strip 4: Classmate Study.
With his removal came the partnership of longtime Twitch affiliate ItsSlikeR, completing the Yin-Yang effect. SlikeR was the leading affiliate on the site for quite some time, averaging impressive numbers and harboring a dedicated fanbase. His seemingly permanent affiliate status became notorious, supposedly denied well over 10 times by Twitch staff.
Overall, the month was a net-gain for Twitch. They created a handful of unfortunate mishaps for themselves, like usual, yet avoided major disasters. The company certainly has kinks to work out regarding clothing-related suspensions, DMCA strikes, and automated bans. Otherwise, February's drama (specifically Dr Disrespect's ambitious collaboration) has remained tame and effectively entertained viewers.