“Counter-Strike. Everywhere. We are now non-exclusive and will be broadcasting all of our livestreams to both Twitch AND YouTube!” ESL Counter-Strike tweeted.

Prior to this development, ESL events were streamed only on Twitch. Now both Twitch and YouTube will be broadcasting CS:GO matches simultaneously. The first CS:GO event that will be streamed on YouTube is the 2023 Intel Extreme Masters Katowice, which is scheduled to take place this week.

In 2020, ESL and its brand DreamHack signed an exclusive three-year agreement with Twitch. Although the exclusivity did not apply in 2020, the remaining years, 2021 and 2022, were exclusive.

The CS:GO tournament organizer has had exclusivity deals with other platforms before, such as Facebook and YouTube. At the time of the agreement, fans expressed their dislike for the exclusivity agreement.

ESL bought into the idea of integrating YouTube because of the advantages it has over Twitch. With YouTube, fans can replay streams — a feature not available on Twitch. Another added advantage is that fans can watch YouTube through their smart TV — an option that is not always available to Twitch users.

ESL will be joining a few other CS:GO tournament organizers, like BLAST and PGL, that have since incorporated both Twitch and YouTube as their streaming platforms.

YouTube can now broadcast tournaments such as the ESL Pro League, ESL Pro Tour, and ESL National Championships.

According to the chief relationship officer and senior vice president of brand and media partnerships at ESL, Mark Cohen, the entire ESL team is delighted to be giving its supporters a better “viewing experience”.

“As we are creating worlds beyond gameplay, it is important to connect with the community where they are, be that on Twitch, YouTube, or any other platform,” Cohen said.

“Live-streaming our events on our own broadcast channels across multiple platforms adds to the reach our products have via our official Media Rights partners and allows us and our brand partners to grow and nurture the esports community and to better serve gaming enthusiasts worldwide.

“Building on our relationships with Twitch and YouTube, we have the opportunity to provide fans with a better viewing experience, and we are thrilled to have them on board on this journey.”

The 2023 IEM Katowice play-in stage is scheduled to commence on Wednesday, February 1.

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DisguisedToast made the revelation of putting up a team for the first time in October. In a stream, he explained that he’s “thinking of starting a team” from the “best available unsigned pro Valorant player[s].”

The streamer has now announced that he has successfully set up the new company. Hence, what is left is to sign a couple more players to add to the three he already signed a contract with recently.

DisguisedToast has also recounted the challenges he has experienced on his way to building up this team, which is quite typical of other Valorant team founders. He explained that he has been struggling with what to call the team. DisguisedToast called on fans to help him pick a reasonable name for the Valorant team. He narrowed the specifics of what he expects from the proposed name that fans may choose. The streamer noted he does not intend to add “Toast” or “esports” to the name.

“I’m trying to get these guys to VCT,” he told his chat. “I can’t be calling them the Rizz-lords,” he said.

Another challenge he has recounted is looking for sponsors. He also described how difficult it is to get desired players. The streamer revealed the two players he had on his radar and wanted to have on his team were both snatched up by other esports outfits. Although he did not reveal who these players were, several reports allege that it was American Max “Demon1” Mazanov, who apparently has been trailing with DiguisedToast’s team.

“I also had my first team owner experience, of kinda have a player snatched from me. We were going to sign a player, but another org signed him after we scrimmed against them. That player did pretty well,” he said on a stream.
“This is what it’s like to be involved in esports.”

The North American Valorant Challengers league qualifiers are scheduled to begin as early as January 9, 2023, thus DisguisedToast will most likely be unveiling his lineup and possibly the team name anytime from now. Teams already confirmed to be participating in this Valorant league include G2 Esports, TSM, The Guard, VersionX, Shopify Rebellion, and a couple others.

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Fans of YouTubers will be able to play alongside their favorite content creators by voting in real time on the event’s special gaming challenges. The viewers will also be able to influence how long the stream will go on and the events that will occur.

The platform announced, “This fully interactive livestream celebrates the diversity of gaming content that makes up YouTube gaming culture – from entertaining gaming challenges and surprise gameplay moments to honoring classic game anniversaries – all of which are inspired by the most popular trends on the platform.”

The people invited would celebrate the gaming content diversity on the streaming giant by going on adventures in games like Fortnite, Fall Guys, and several others.

YouTube: Game On will have several gamers from around the world, and the event will be streamed in several languages simultaneously. The languages include English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Each stream will have a live chat, and the players will be able to join in the polls.

YouTube: Game On content creators

At the moment, YouTube has revealed over 60 popular streamers who will be a part of the event. More names will be communicated at a later time, but right now, some of the most well-known streamers on the bill include:

• EddieVR
• EyStream
• Bazerk
• Caylus
• Chica
• Felipe Kwebbelkop
• Neto
• GeorgeNotFound
• Ali A
• AyChristine
• MatPat
• CouRage
• SunlessKhan
• Slogo
• Wirtual
• Sykkuno
• Markiplier
• Preston & Brianna
• Sapnap
• Sidemen
• The Grumps
• TommyInnit
• Larray
• LaurenzSide
• LDShadowLady
• Typical Gamer
• Dream
• Jake Fellman
• Lachlan
• Muselk
• Myth

The streaming platform revealed the featured content creators would represent more than 400 million subscribers and over 150 billion lifetime views in total on YouTube.

Featured games

YouTube revealed a plethora of games the invitees would play for YouTube: Game On, including some of the most well-known games released in recent years. There is a possibility that the list of the featured games could change or be adjusted before the gaming special; however, at the moment, the following were mentioned.

• Among Us
• Minecraft
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Fall Guys
• Fortnite
• Poppy Playtime
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Rocket League
• Free Fire
• Street Fighter 6

The event will feature game segments, including “a frightening batch of analog horror challenges” with jump scares as well as Hot Ones Challenge: Video Gamer Faceoff, which will be hosted by Sean Evans. There the players selected by fans would face off against each other in Street Fighter 6, and defeated parties would have to eat hot wings that get increasingly spicier.

Another show segment is Grandma & Gran Poppy Playtime, where oblivious seniors would try to outlast each other in Poppy Playtime, a survival horror game. Besides these three, several different segments will be available and feature popular games.

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The live audience was restricted to only the elimination and grand finals due to COVID restrictions. For the decider, the venue sold out shortly before the VCT Masters began.? ?Jean-Baptiste Blot, Executive Producer and Creative Director with Riot Games, shared a video of a long line of fans trying to gain entrance into the stadium with the caption informing the public that the stadium has been sold out.? ?

The grand finals were a thrill for the audience, both live and online. The finalists were the best of the best as they traded map picks to force a fifth game in the best-of-five series.?

?The grand final attracted nearly 200,000 viewers across multiple streams on YouTube and Twitch. The YouTube stream attracted over 71,000 people, while some 121,000 people tuned in on Twitch via various channels.

The Valorant esports scene is attaining massive growth, particularly with the new partnered-teams format to take effect in 2023. To further grow the esports title, it is said to be imperative that more live events are organized to engage and reward participating players.

The grand finals ended in favor of FunPlus Phoenix as the franchise won the fifth map to edge Paper Rex. The Chinese organization clinched its first Masters after a superb lower-bracket run.?

?The final VCT event for the 2022 season is the Valorant Champions, which is scheduled to take place from September 2-19 in Istanbul, Turkey, with 16 participating teams.

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The new anti-cheat software in Warzone called Ricochet is not flawless when it comes to constantly banning troll players and cheaters from the game. On PCs, it’s a kernel-level driver that monitors gaming and background processes for anti-cheating. These metrics help anti-cheat analysts assess if a player is utilizing improper third-party tools.

In this particular incident, Metaphor has been banned from the game more than once due to a needless shadow ban imposed by the anti-cheat system. In this ban, players are not prevented from playing Call of Duty: Warzone; rather, they are sent to separate lobbies that are different from the standard game mode.

A player will find that any lobby they play in after that is packed with other players who have also been identified by the anti-cheat system. Activision assures that all hackers and cheats are playing together with this approach, leaving the regular lobbies that are played by honest gamers to play with themselves.

In recent years, Metaphor has become one of the most well-liked content creators on Twitch. When the streamer first began his profession in 2011, he was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops and posting footage of his gameplay to his channel on YouTube. After that, in 2015, he joined Twitch and began streaming himself playing League of Legends for an extended period of time. In the year 2020, however, Metaphor began broadcasting videos related to CoD in May of 2020, when Warzone was launched. This was the series that brought him his claim to fame.

Activision’s Call of Duty: Battle Royale has never lacked competent and authentic content creators since the game’s initial release in 2020 when Warzone was made available to players. Due to the fact that he masters the keyboard and mouse combination on PCs, Metaphor is revered among the highly followed creators on the internet.

For the past two years, Metaphor has focused all of his attention on his involvement in the game. Following the publication of a large number of gameplay videos on his channel, he has earned a reputation for possessing extraordinary abilities in the game. He has acknowledged earning about 500 kills every day on-stream and occasionally off-stream combined.

But given the latest incident with Activision, it would appear that he is being treated poorly by the developers in reference to the ban. Metaphor has been an essential part of the Warzone community for a considerable amount of time at this point. Since the video was published, the Activision software team has not provided a response to any of this information. Therefore, it is possible that it will be some time before he is unbanned.

In the initial video he posted about the ban, he expressed surprise and dismay at how little assistance he received from the game’s developers in his quest to get unbanned. He said he was stunned by the situation.

A Twitter post by him read: “atleast whenever i get shadow banned I get a free banger on yt, sucks that @Activision has terrible employees and a worthless reporting system though. hopefully they can fix something soon because im not the only one getting shadowed, and im definitely not cheating.?”
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She is the latest top streamer to make the switch as YouTube begins to gain some skin in the steaming war against Twitch. Her decision comes only after a few months away from when her good friend Thomas “Sykkuno” ported to YouTube.

LilyPichu made the announcement on her Twitter page via a video post she titled, “my big decision”, which depicted the Matrix “blue” or “red” illustration. In front of her were two buttons – red (1) and purple (1), which represented YouTube (red) and Twitch (purple).

Thank you for supporting me ;_; I had so much fun on twitch, I can't wait to have just as much fun on youtube!!!

(my first stream will be in a hotel room in Japan it will be very janky)

— Lily (@LilyPichu) July 7, 2022

The OfflineTV member was unable to make the big decision so she resorted to having her pet choose. Her dog gestured closer to the red bowl which contained a YouTube logo design cake. She seem to agree with the decision as she was heard saying “good decision.”

She looks to make her debut on July 8 on her dedicated YouTube channel, but the announcement did not bear details as to the time she would be live. A few days ago using her Twitter page, LilyPichu seemed to be itching to make some sort of announcement. She was seen counting down to something as she prepared, setting up some suspense for her big reveal.

2 hours ish!!!!

— Lily (@LilyPichu) July 7, 2022

She had garnered total watch hours of 2.9 million on Twitch as reported by Streams Charts. She had attained a peak of 32,137 viewers this year, with an average of about 5,508 viewers this year. While she covers a large range of content on the purple platform, her most played game is Valorant, which garnered a total of 145.6 hours spent.

LilyPichu to go live on Youtube OTV Japan stream

LilyPichu joins the likes of Valkyrae, DrLupo, TimTheTatman, and CouRage in signing an exclusive contract with YouTube Gaming. Although Dr. Disrespect streams exclusively on YouTube. This was attained due to an indefinite suspension he suffered on Twitch for reasons unknown to the public.

Her announcement was met with much fanfare by her fans and colleagues likewise, as she was congratulated for the move. Her switch was done ahead of the OTV Japan stream as she gears to make her first stream on YouTube on July 8.

WE’RE GOING TO JAPAN!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/KeI0fpDSn0

— OfflineTV (@OfflineTV) July 7, 2022

Her decade-long union with Twitch comes to an end as she looks to chart a new course with YouTube. Like Imane “Pokimane” Anys and William “Scarra” Li, LilyPichu is an original member of OfflineTV. While she is known for her gaming streams, she is also a musician.

While she frequently plays competitive esports titles like Valorant and League of Legends. Her most popular posts have always been her laid-back collab streams with Pokimane, Sykkuno, Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang and her boyfriend Michael Reeves. She also shares content that borders on art and music on her channel.

She received tons of well wishes from YouTube streamers, including Valkyrae, Sykkuno, and TimTheTatman. They wished her a smooth transition to her new platform, with her being used to Twitch. Even Twitch took to Twitter to bid her farewell and thanked her for her time with the brand.

“From art to music, to gaming, you did it all with a voice and style that’s unmistakably you,” Twitch’s official Twitter account tweeted.

“Good luck, keep growing, and thanks for sharing so many memories with us.”

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The revenue share for partners is now 50/50 for a tier-one subscription, 60/40 for a tier-two subscription, and 70/30 for a tier-three subscription, all in favor of the streamer. A different income split has been informally agreed upon by a few major Twitch partners.

??According to Bloomberg, the revenue split might be reduced to a 50 percent cut across the board.??

The platform is also said to be contemplating several levels of partners, each with its own set of requirements for access. As a result, Twitch may allow its partners to stream on platforms other than Twitch, which is prohibited at the moment.

??Profit-based over people-based streamers have been fighting for a more equitable revenue split for years, with one of the most popular campaigns on the Twitch UserVoice site. If these rumored modifications are effected, it will be of benefit to Twitch significantly more than consumers.

??Over the last year, the streaming service has been rocked by high-profile departures amid claims that it has lost touch with the streaming community. It has also lost top streaming talent to YouTube, which has a 70/30 income split.

??Twitch is also discussing other alternatives, such as the creation of different levels with specific requirements for how broadcasters might qualify for each. The proposed changes are said to also feature an increase in advertising incentives for streamers.

??The brand is also considering overhauling its flat sum model for advertising earnings and looking to implement a revenue-sharing agreement instead. Partners would no longer be obligated to stream only via Twitch in exchange and may also stream on YouTube or Facebook.

None of this has been confirmed yet, but if accurate, it might annoy a number of the larger streamers. After all, they would lose a major portion of their income as a result of this shift, all in the name of the company’s increased profits.??

Reacting to the rumored changes, users have taken to Twitter to air their displeasure.

Ok, @Twitch, real talk.

We know you want more ads. We saw the article suggesting even more are coming. We see the writing on the wall.

But seriously, for the love of all that is holy…

MAKE. AN. AD. SKIPPING. SYSTEM. PLEASE.

— Cohh Carnage (@CohhCarnage) April 27, 2022

GIVE ALL TWITCH CREATORS 70% REVENUE SPLIT GIVE ALL TWITCH CREATORS 70% REVENUE SPLIT GIVE ALL TWITCH CREATORS 70% REVENUE SPLIT GIVE ALL TWITCH CREATORS 70% REVENUE SPLIT GIVE ALL TWITCH CREATORS 70% REVENUE SPLIT GIVE ALL TWITCH CREATORS 70% REVENUE SPLIT

— TheMavShow (@TheMavShow) April 27, 2022

Users have pointed out that while many of the partners have a 50/50 split already, instead of bringing others up to the bigger names on the platform, they are seeking to apparently drag everyone down instead. Others have said that YouTube is a much better option since its defaults to a 70/30 split instead of a 50/50.

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The statistics company’s latest numbers indicate the professional gaming industry will grow 26% by 2020 as it continues to capture the attention of more mainstream audiences projected to grow 12% each year.

Advertisers and investors such as Mercedes Benz, the NBA and the Kraft Group have contributions accounting for 85% of the worldwide market, while video game companies such as Activision Blizzard, Riot Games and Valve support their titles, which have grown into esports power-houses, with bigger prize pools and increased player franchising agreements.

Additionally, esports like League of Legends and Overwatch are projected to grow direct revenue by selling advertisements, brand sponsorship, team merchandise and ticket sales in addition to indirect revenue from third-party investments. Overwatch is currently the most anticipated esports title for US fans.

SuperData also revealed increased viewership of esports on live-streaming sites such as Twitch: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds pulled in 200 million viewers just seven months after it launched – the second largest audience this year for a single prospective esports game and 20 times larger than its actual playerbase. It is only beaten by League of Legends’ recorded 286 million audience on the video game-centric streaming platform.

In the United States, Twitch continues to dominate as the go-to source for esports fans with 20% of them using the service exclusively, though YouTube is not far behind with 11% of esports enthusiasts using only that service. 87% of US esports viewers used Twitch for their live-streaming esports needs, while 77% used YouTube for other esports-related and curated video content and 67% of esports fans watched their favourite events through both platforms.

The research also gathered data on the current playerbases. Dota 2 and League of Legends remain the dominant esport picks, securing 10 million and 84 million active monthly players.

Author’s option: Overall, global esports revenue has greatly exceeded expectations from last year’s projections, previously estimated at just $1.1 billion by SuperData. While the metric data from this year’s report is a little iffy given investments and prize pools were counted in the total revenue number – investments are not generally counted as part of company earnings and the prize pools are sometimes funded by the organisers rather than crowdfunded – the growth in sponsorship, viewership and popularity is undeniable. If it isn’t already clear by now, the esports industry is profitable, going mainstream, and here to stay.

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