As “Asmongold,” the 32-year-old American Zack is perhaps the biggest MMORPG streamer on Twitch. The content creator loves to complain: whether about Blizzard, his streaming home, or current developments. However, he suddenly does not want to criticize Kick.
What is Asmongold’s relationship with Twitch? Asmongold has been on Twitch since 2011 and is very familiar with the streaming platform. At the same time, he is one of Twitch’s harshest critics, particularly regarding advertising, which he finds bothersome.
What is the deal with Kick? The new streaming platform Kick, on the other hand, is viewed critically by many. Primarily, the connection to the online casino Stake and therefore to gambling bothers many and has even led to a block of the site in Greece.
The German streamer MontanaBlack also knows: Kick is considered a casino platform and jeopardizes its good reputation. However, that’s not how Kick wants to present itself.
Rather, it styles itself as an alternative to Twitch, which “has lost touch with reality” and wants to stand on the side of creators. Thus, the platform attracts with a subscription split of 95%, a possible hourly wage for streamers, and personal support.
Now there are new accusations against the platform, but Asmongold finds everything not so bad.
“Of course, they will make money with gambling”
What are the accusations? A Reddit user apparently noticed that 2 of the 5 channels recommended on Kick’s homepage seem to be reserved for gambling streamers. The streams are said to always appear in the 3rd and 5th positions in the feature.
This insight was shared on June 24 in the subreddit of Asmongold, which also caught the streamer’s attention. We’ve embedded the post here for you:
Several other users confirm the experience, stating that these spots are occupied by gambling streamers for them as well. However, when we looked at Kick’s homepage, only position 3 was occupied by a gambling stream, while position 5 was taken by a CoD stream. It cannot be ruled out that Kick has made changes in the meantime (as of June 27).
What does Asmongold say? The streamer does not rule out that Kick is indeed targetedly promoting gambling through the recommended channels. However, he considers this quite logical:
There is a possibility that this is the case. I mean, listen to me. Of course, they will make money with gambling. That’s probably quite clever.
For this strategy, Asmongold does not want to criticize Kick at all. That would seem hypocritical to him, as Twitch, where he himself streams, is owned by Amazon, which in turn has a partnership with a sports betting provider:
The truth is that… I am not going to sit here and moralize about how bad it is when Amazon has a partnership with DraftKings.
Asmongold explains that the placement of the streamers could be coincidental, but it could also be hardcoded.
The argument that Kick cannot be criticized for its proximity to gambling because every platform has some dirt on it is often brought up by advocates of the platform.
It is also no secret that Asmongold welcomes the new streaming alternative. He likely believes that a little competition would do Twitch good. For his part, Kick is also openly flirting with the MMORPG streamer:
