Asmongold has issued Twitch an ultimatum — ban the controversial gambling streams xQc and Trainwrecks have been defending in recent times, or “watch the platform die” as a growing number of viewers quit the streaming website.
The past week has seen Twitch stars from all across the internet weigh in on one controversial topic: sponsored gambling broadcasts.
Huge names on the streaming platform like xQc, Adin Ross, and Trainwrecks have been seeing bundles of success with gambling, with both viewership and their earnings spiking through lucrative promo deals. Not everyone is a fan though, with everyone from Hasan to Pokimane condemning the meta.
The latest star to take aim at the streams is Asmongold — who just lashed Blizzard for their “frat boy” culture — though he has a slightly different worry.
According to the WoW streamer, who joined H3H3 host Ethan Klein on his July 22 stream, there’s a bigger concern than “scamming viewers” or pocketing unethical cash. If left unchecked, he warns, gambling could actually “kill” Twitch.
“I don’t know about each of the websites, whether each one is actually a scam. It’s really impossible to know the whole scope,” the popular Twitch star began, before warning that the platform will “suffer” if gambling streams continue.
“What I do know is, as a Twitch streamer, if Twitch lets this continue, it will hurt our website. Every single person on here [viewers and streamers] will be negatively affected by that, through a loss of revenue, which will turn into loss of support, funding, which will then affect you as a viewer.
“Do you really think big companies like Disney, Ford, those guys advertising on Twitch, are going to want to sponsor gambling? They’re going to pull out over this!”
Later, when his chat brought up xQc and Trainwrecks, Asmongold was quick to lash the two Twitch stars for their involvement, calling them “dumb.”
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“It makes no sense for me, for them to come on [H3H3’s stream] yesterday and say that gambling streams aren’t bad. Gambling streams are just bad, everyone f**king knows that, so these guys should just come out and say ‘I want to make as much money as possible’ and everyone would be okay with that, really.”
“I have no problem with people who just admit it, but I hate when people don’t, and they play this stupid ‘hide the ball’ bullsh*t.”
He doesn’t blame them, however, for hosting the streams.
“I’m concerned we’ve been distracted by everything to do with Train and xQc; they’re just a symptom of the disease. Who is out there who do you know that would actually turn down over a million dollars for streaming.
Instead, Asmongold called for Twitch viewers to focus on the real issue at the heart of the controversy: “The real disease here is Twitch still allowing this to happen.”
This isn’t the first time Asmongold has issued Twitch a similar warning either. Back in June this year the streamer predicted, “the amount of bullshit and pitfalls [gambling streams] create will f**k the website in so many ways.”
“I personally hate gambling and, if it were up to me, all forms of casino gambling would be illegal. I don’t hold doing gambling streams against any streamer. If it’s not against [terms of service] though, people will do it, that’s it. It’s entirely Twitch’s responsibility to uphold integrity on their site, not the streamers.”
Twitch has yet to respond to the outcry over gambling streams. When they faced similar backlash over hot tub streams, they simply demonetized those broadcasts.