For streamer Ludwig, 2021 was a successful year. He was able to more than double his number of followers on Twitch and also broke one of the platform’s biggest records. He is considered one of the most important streamers of the year. Nevertheless, he is not mentioned by Twitch when looking back at 2021.
How did 2021 go for Ludwig? In March, Ludwig drew the attention of many viewers on Twitch and also many media in general with a special marathon. For every new subscription, he extended the duration of his stream.
Such subscription marathons are not unusual, but they usually end after 24 to 72 hours. Not so with Ludwig. His marathon began in mid-March and ended on April 13, but only because he had set a limit for himself – it should end after 31 days.
Even after the marathon, Ludwig was able to captivate over 15,000 concurrent viewers almost daily. Overall, he made it to 21st place among the fastest-growing channels in 2021 and entered the top 100 in terms of average viewers.
Did Ludwig make it into the Twitch Year in Review? No, as the streamer himself has sadly noted. Despite having broken one of the most important records on Twitch with his marathon, he was omitted from the Twitch recap for 2021.
This means: If people watched him in 2021, they still won’t see him in their personal year in review. So anyone who only watched Ludwig would not have seen any streams in their year in review.
On Twitter, Ludwig wrote:
I am depressed that I was completely removed from the Twitch recap. While I understand it from a business perspective, it’s still sad to be erased from the year of so many people. Thanks to everyone who watched me. I appreciate you very much.
Why was Ludwig omitted? The reason is likely his switch to YouTube, which he completed in December. Although he was active on Twitch for 11 of the 12 months of 2021, Ludwig is not seen in the recap.
Twitch loses its “Golden Boy” who broke the subscription record in 2021
What kind of record was it? During the marathon, Ludwig filmed himself the entire time. Viewers were able to participate in his entire life. He showed himself gaming, in talk sessions, cooking in the kitchen, and even sleeping. And the viewers rewarded this:
- Overall, Ludwig was online for 726 hours straight, while maintaining his 8 hours of sleep per day.
- During that time, he reportedly earned about 1.17 million euros, according to fan estimates.
- In the last days of the stream, he was the clear number 1 on Twitch.
- Ludwig was able to gain over 230,000 subscribers. With that, he broke the old Twitch record set by Ninja in 2018.
While not much of that money was left for Ludwig himself, as Twitch and the tax office took a significant portion of the earnings, and he also paid 167,000 dollars to his mods and donated 233,000 dollars. However, for the streamer and especially for the Twitch platform, the event was a huge success and attracted a lot of attention.
Some fans even proudly shared that they were present when “Twitch history was made.”
Why did Ludwig switch platforms? At the end of November, Ludwig announced that he would be switching to YouTube. He stated that while he loved Twitch and people referred to him as the “Golden Boy of Twitch,” he had never received that love back from Twitch.
During negotiations with YouTube, he asked Twitch for a better offer but did not receive one. YouTube, on the other hand, fought for him.
Ironically, Ludwig was banned three times in a week directly after his switch:
In 2019, shroud was also bid farewell by Twitch
How has Twitch treated other streamers? Ludwig is by no means the first well-known streamer to leave Twitch. The beginning was made by Ninja and shroud in 2019, both of whom switched from Twitch to Mixer.
Twitch even dedicated its own farewell video to shooter streamer shroud, in which they cleverly advertised for themselves as well.
They showed the rise of a streamer to the top of Twitch, but also how he donated 100 subscriptions to a very small streamer and said, “This can happen to anyone on this platform at any time.”
That streamers are now ignored after their switch and even excluded from the year in review is something new.
Overall, there has been increasing criticism from many streamers towards Twitch in recent months. There are even claims that even more streamers will switch to YouTube soon:
“You will be shocked when you see who is next to switch from Twitch to YouTube”
