It was on the cards for a few weeks, but nobody was sure if it would be delivered. In recent hours, the news broke that xQc – arguably the biggest streamer on Earth – has signed a ‘non-exclusive’ two-year contract with Kick, the all-new, somewhat virulent competitor to Amazon’s Twitch. It’s said to be the most valuable contract in streaming history, boasting a total value of ‘up to’ $100 million over two-year period.
This claim was handed over to the New York Times by xQc’s manager following the reveal that the Canadian content creator would indeed be moving over to Kick – while remaining on Twitch, it seems. It’s a huge win for Kick and another massive blow for Twitch, which despite strong numbers is flailing under the weight of so many ongoing issues.
One of the Biggest Deals in Entertainment History
It was only a matter of time, for some. It was just weeks ago that xQc was mulling over how well Kick is acquiring its content creators, especially through the use of non-exclusive contracts that don’t lock them into the one platform. For the longest time, xQc found untold levels of viewership success in costly but popular gambling streams, and lo and behold, here comes a streaming platform backed by one of the most valuable gambling platforms around, Stake.
Recently, Twitch seemed to drive another nail into its coffin with an all-new ‘Partner Plus’ tier that opened up a higher revenue split for its beleaguered users but – as usual – it came with caveats that served to piss of the users that now quite literally hold the future of the platform in the palms of their hands.
In a statement, Felix ‘xQC’ Lengyel spoke openly about the deal:
Kick is allowing me to try and do things I haven’t been able to before. I’m extremely excited to take this opportunity and maximize it into new, creative, and fresh ideas over coming years.
At present, xQc boasts almost 12 million followers on Twitch, which puts him in fifth place overall, but he’s the most popular streamer in terms of overall watched hours and most views. As he takes these levels of performance over to Kick, he’ll arguably boost the profile of the platform immeasurably.
And let’s be honest, considering that before this, the site’s biggest star was Adin Ross… Perhaps it’ll do good to have someone a little more wholesome assume control of the largest portion of the site’s audience. Unfortunately, given that the majority of xQc’s audience is made up of younger viewers, there are concerns about them being exposed to Kick.
Let’s see how it plays out.
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of the new gamemode headed to Modern Warfare 2
