Shroud is one of the most popular Apex Legends streamers on Twitch.TV. Now, the game’s developer donated a significant amount of money. Viewers are wondering if that is okay.
Who is it about? Michael “shroud” Grzesiek is a former Counter-Strike pro and has been showcasing his skills in Apex Legends for weeks. He was also one of the influencers who got to test the game before its release and helped improve the gameplay.
What happened? During a stream by Shroud on March 24 on Twitch.TV, the official Apex Legends account gave the streamer 500 subscribers as a “Sub Gift.” This is a feature on Twitch where one account can cover the costs of subscriptions for other players and give them as gifts.
The 500 subscriptions cost a total of about $2500. A part of that goes to Twitch, the rest to the streamer.
Repeatedly, streamer shroud surprised his viewers by asking what was happening. He explained that “playapex” gifted him several hundred subscriptions. There were at least 500. In the display of his stream, you can see how the number of subscribers keeps increasing. It does not seem like the action was pre-planned.
This is now the topic: On Reddit , the action is being hotly debated. It feels strange to the players that the game itself is donating subscribers to a streamer who is currently playing their game.
“Hmm, this feels like a loophole that companies exploit to encourage streamers to play their games. Without it needing to be presented as advertising. That’s weird,” writes user bigbabolat.
Others write that it feels somewhat strange. “That’s like sponsoring advertising, just more indirect,” writes one user.
Sponsored streams on Twitch are usually recognizable because the title includes the term “advertisement” or “sponsored” or similar terms, so that viewers know that the streamer is being paid for content.
Apex Legends has apparently also gifted subscribers to other streamers. Streamer Mendokusaii received 200 subscriptions from them when Season 1 of the Battle Pass was released.
What do you think about this? Should developers gift subscribers to popular streamers and thereby indirectly advertise their game? Or does it seem too much like the streamer is “bought”?
