The streamer Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter (33) has only recently returned to Twitch but is already fed up. During a practice match for a tournament in Marvel Rivals, she felt treated unfairly and wanted to speak to the manager. She had waited 5 years to play a Twitch Rivals, but is now bitterly disappointed.
This is Valkyrae: The streamer Valkyrae was an emerging star on Twitch around 2018, gathering fans with the shooter Fortnite, just like many back then.
However, the head of YouTube Gaming saw great potential in the then relatively unknown streamer and lured her away from Twitch in 2020 with an exclusive contract. Valkyrae struggled initially on YouTube, but during the pandemic, she took off with Among Us, became the largest gaming streamer in the world, won an award as “Gaming Creator of the Year,” and made it onto the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
Her exclusive contract with YouTube has now expired like many other YouTube talents – YouTube and Twitch have not been distributing financially lucrative contracts since the end of 2023. Therefore, Valkyrae announced in December 2024 that she would stream again on Twitch. After nearly 5 years, she is now back on Twitch.
Valkyrae is frustrated because she loses against Uber-Team in Marvel Rivals
What frustrates her? Twitch regularly hosts tournaments for streamers. The events are called “Twitch Rivals” and occur in the hottest games on Twitch. Currently, the hottest game on Twitch and Steam is the hero shooter Marvel Rivals.
Valkyrae recently participated in such a tournament for Marvel Rivals, but she viewed the tournament as “total rubbish.”
During the preparations for the tournament, some practice matches, called scrimmages, took place.
Valkyrae played in a practice match with some friends who, like her, are rather mediocre in Marvel Rivals. However, she faced a top team with 4 players holding Grandmaster titles, including “Necros,” the streamer for Marvel Rivals who has the highest rank in the game. Also, Valkyrae’s close friend, Sykkuno, was on the opposing team, which Valkyrae felt was excessively strong.
Valkyrae was outraged during the practice match and admonished her own top player Sleepy not to be afraid. After all, he is a professional.
However, Sleepy explained to her that the opponents also had 4 players of his caliber on their team.
Valkyrae was incredibly upset about losing in the practice match. She said: There are “5 professionals” on the opposing team – it doesn’t matter what you do, her team has no chance.
I waited 5 years to participate in Twitch Rivals, just for this kind of crap to happen. This is insane. Who planned this shit?
Valkyrae asked (via x), “who had this rat-ass idea” and who changed the rules to allow 4 Grandmasters on one team. Before the rule change, only 2 players at that level were allowed per team.
She says Twitch even asked her to host the tournament, but she declined. She had hoped that her complaint would change something now.
Twitch changes rules a second time, causing chaos before the start
Did the complaint work? Yes, indeed. Twitch quickly changed the rules again and instead of “4 Grandmaster players per team,” only 2 are now allowed.
This forced teams to make last-minute adjustments, making the whole situation difficult.
In the later winning team, for example, the team captain, the V-Tuber Dokibird, stepped down less than 24 hours before the tournament’s start because she had to remove 2 players who had too high a rank. Dokibird then withdrew from the tournament herself (via twitter).
“Uber-Team” finishes last in the actual tournament after the second rule change
This is how the tournament went: The so-called Uber-Team “Team Necros” lost almost all games in the actual tournament and was eliminated in the preliminary round. In the end, they finished in last place. Valkyrae’s team, Team Abe, at least made it to round 1 of the playoffs and finished in rank 5-8.
Ultimately, a team that got by without any big names won. Teams led by xQc and shroud took 2nd and 3rd place. Valkyrae, as a major gaming influencer, is continually in the public eye: 32-year-old gaming streamer has to hear that she has “reached her expiration date”
The streamer asked which Twitch employee she needed to speak to. She couldn’t understand how this could happen.
How was her tone? Valkyrae was pretty shrill and upset. But there was also a bit of a wink involved. She apparently recognized herself that she came off like a “typical Karen” who first starts ranting and demands to speak to the manager.
There seemed to be a bit of exaggerated excitement as well.
“They call me a whiny bitch”
So it continued: Valkyrae had to listen to some mockery for the complaint. She says she was called a “whiny bitch.”
However, she wouldn’t have been the only one complaining. Others also expressed outrage over the last-minute rule change. The rule allowing 4 Grandmasters on one team was changed only shortly before the start.
She says Twitch even asked her to host the tournament, but she declined. She had hoped that her complaint would change something now.
Twitch changes rules a second time, causing chaos before the start
Did the complaint work? Yes, indeed. Twitch quickly changed the rules again and instead of “4 Grandmaster players per team,” only 2 are now allowed.
This forced teams to make last-minute adjustments, making the whole situation difficult.
In the later winning team, for example, the team captain, the V-Tuber Dokibird, stepped down less than 24 hours before the tournament’s start because she had to remove 2 players who had too high a rank. Dokibird then withdrew from the tournament herself (via twitter).
“Uber-Team” finishes last in the actual tournament after the second rule change
This is how the tournament went: The so-called Uber-Team “Team Necros” lost almost all games in the actual tournament and was eliminated in the preliminary round. In the end, they finished in last place. Valkyrae’s team, Team Abe, at least made it to round 1 of the playoffs and finished in rank 5-8.
Ultimately, a team that got by without any big names won. Teams led by xQc and shroud took 2nd and 3rd place. Valkyrae, as a major gaming influencer, is continually in the public eye: 32-year-old gaming streamer has to hear that she has “reached her expiration date”
