Twitch’s “purple screen of death” is now occurring inside video games

Twitch has come under fire for a new feature in embedded streams, which presents viewers with a pop-up asking them to watch content exclusively on their platform — but it’s not just a problem on websites, anymore.

In late January, Twitch became the subject of the internet’s frustration after implementing a new change that has a huge affect on embedded live streams in other websites and services.

When users attempt to watch an embedded broadcast, they are met with an unskippable 30-second pop-up, which features a message against a purple background that asks viewers to watch the content directly on Twitch.

That’s not all, though; the message can also appear for those who are already on Twitch and are using ad blockers, making an ad-free experience rather difficult for those not interested in having their streams interrupted.

Twitch

Twitch has rolled out a 30-second, unskippable pop-up on embedded streams that encourages viewers to watch exclusively on Twitch.

The pop-up doesn’t go away after just 30 seconds, either. In fact, the message will reportedly reappear every fifteen minutes, potentially interrupting important moments in specific streams.

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Needless to say, the change has not been met positively by Twitch viewers — but it’s not just an issue in the internet, itself. It appears that this issue has also come up within video games, as found by esports insider Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau.

Breslau noted that the PUBG Global Invitational has been affected by the “purple screen of death,” with the pop-up appearing over the livestreamed event within the PUBG client, itself.

Where one would normally see the gameplay being broadcast on the in-game big screen, instead, the purple message comes up — leading to a less-than-stellar esports viewing experience.

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Commenters also noted that other esports events are streaming via alternative services like Steam, thus bypassing this potential for Twitch’s latest feature to interrupt the broadcast.

Even former employees of Twitch have spoken out against the purple pop-up — and while it still remains to be seen if this will become a permanent feature of the site, as Twitch has claimed it’s only a “temporary experiment,” the backlash surrounding its implementation is nothing to sneeze at.