Dozens of injuries are being reported from TwitchCon this year, all centring around a foam pit attraction run by Lenovo. Many who participated in events at the pit sustained injuries, most notably streamer Adriana Chechik, who broke her back in two places when the foam failed to break her fall. However, while reportedly having rules against diving into the pit, a Lenovo commentator seemingly encouraged just that. Across social media channels, the company was also seen encouraging attendees to fight in the pit, causing falls that led to many serious injuries. On top of this, streamers were given foam bats to try and knock one another off platforms, causing many to crash into the ground and injure themselves. "Why did [Lenovo] Legion tell people they could dive into the pit knowing they had the rhinestone pad at the bottom?", tweeted Adriana Chechik, who required surgery after her fall at the foam pit booth. In the tweet, she attaches a clip from Lenovo Legion's livestream of the event.In the clip, streamers are shown to be shoving one another to the ground. The rules apparently stated that no one should be hit in the face, but staff do not intervene when this happens to their own guest, xQc.
"Make sure to come back tomorrow to the Lenovo Legion booth, to do this kind of stuff in the Legion pit," the host says, referring to the fighting on screen. "Who knows? You could even do a pit dive from the Street Fighter booth."
The Lenovo Legion Twitter account also shared images of streamers trying to knock one another into the pit. This includes some contestants falling into the shallow foam head first.
As can be seen from both the video and the number of injuries sustained, the foam doesn't appear to be deep enough for contestants to fall in safely. Some of those that did have now received medical attention. Fellow streamer LochVaness was among those who were hurt. She shared a video of her dislocating her knee after jumping from her platform. Despite landing on her feet, and the jump itself not being particularly high, she had to go to the hospital and was photographed in a wheelchair.
Both Lenovo and Twitch are yet to issue a response following all of the injuries at their event. It is unclear if those affected will receive any compensation.