PopularTwitchstreamer Pokimane explained that she has no intention of leaving the platform for Kick, saying it would be a compromise of her morals. This comment comes after several majorTwitchstreamers switched to Kick in exchange for sizable payments from the newly-launched streaming platform.
Founded by streamer Trainwreckstv and businessmen Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven, Kick launched in December 2022 as a competitor to the Amazon-owned Twitch. The new platform is known for its loose moderation and extremely generous revenue sharing model. However, a big part of Kick’s strategy also includes enticing major Twitch streamers with multi-million-dollar contracts.Recent Kick converts include popular Twitch streamers like Amouranthand xQc, leaving fans to wonder which big names might come over next.
RELATED:xQc Openly Defying Kick Staff and Policies
About 46 minutes into her June 20 livestream, a fan askedthe popular Twitch streamer Pokimaneif she would join Kick in exchange for a $10 million contract. However, this idea seems to be a non-starter for Pokimane, who shot it down immediately. The Twitch star also clarified that her refusal wasn’t just about the money, saying she is happy with how her career is going and thinks joining Kick would be a compromise of her ethics and morals.
Pokimane said she can understand why small, financially struggling content creators might accept, but she doesn’t think it makes sense for a successful streamer to make what she considers an ethical compromise. Pokimane also specified that it was a personal objection, but not something she is judging other content creators for. She pointed out how xQc did gambling content in the past, so it makes sense for him to do so on Kick. However, Pokimane thinks it would be embarrassing and make her look desperate if she followed suit. She also feels that it would be hypocritical given some of her opinions and past statements.
The association between Kick and gambling is not incidental. Two of the platform’s three co-founders, Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven, also founded the online casino Stake.com in 2017. In fact, they started Kick mainly in response toTwitch banning gambling content in late 2022. Kick launched mere months after the ban went into effect, and it’s likely that proceeds from Stake.com explain how Kick can afford the massive contracts. Kick also advertises Stake’s gambling services, leaving some critics to believe the platform’s priority is promoting gambling rather than offering a real alternative to Twitch.
Kick also faced criticism for its moderation policies. Popular Twitch streamer Hasan Piker recently called Kick out for the platform’s sexually explicit content.Kick also faced criticism for allowing racist usernameswhile simultaneously forcing other users to change ther names to benefit newer accounts with more followers. Given all this controversy, it’s unsurprising that Pokimane prefers to stay where she is.
