The British content creator Josh Strife Hayes (26) is considered one of the most important voices regarding MMORPGs and MMOs. His video series on MMO design or bad Pay2Win tricks in Diablo Immortal reach millions of viewers. However, Hayes has apparently had enough of Twitch: The TwitchCon incident involving the foam pit was too much for him: During a PR event, streamer Adriana Chechik broke her back in two places.
Who is Josh Strife Hayes?
- Josh Strife Hayes is one of the most important MMO experts in gaming: He provides the well-founded content that Asmongold (3.3 million followers) reacts to, scrunching his bushy eyebrows wildly. Hayes himself is a mid-sized streamer on Twitch with 133,000 followers.
- We reported on Hayes on MeinMMO when he explained parasitic systems in WOW, searched for the worst MMOs in the world or when he analyzed the Pay2Win design of Diablo Immortal in detail in a 44-minute video.
- Many of his YouTube videos are based on Twitch streams: Hayes streams live on Twitch repeatedly, and clips from those streams go viral on YouTube. But now he has announced plans to move his live streaming to YouTube.
Twitch clips can also be fun:
Hayes used to work in a trampoline park: Safety comes first
What bothers Hayes about Twitch? In a clip, Hayes says (via youtube):
Twitch has messed up too many things lately. The TwitchCon was not organized as well as it should have been and was not safe. They no longer treat Twitch partners as well. There are now many justified complaints. I want to give YouTube a chance now – and so far, it’s okay.
Hayes specifically talks about the incident at TwitchCon, where streamer Adriana Chechik broke her back in two places when she jumped from a platform into a foam pit that was apparently too shallow to ensure the safety of the streamers.
Chechik accused the event organizers: They even urged streamers to jump into the pit.
Hayes says he worked in a trampoline park and was drilled on safety regulations. He cannot understand how the incident at TwitchCon could happen in that way:
Safety in situations like this comes first. If someone gets hurt, you shut the thing down. Then you find out what went wrong. You find out immediately where the error was and correct it.
Foam pits must be at least 2 meters deep and have numerous safety measures to mitigate the impact of a fall:
If I had worked there at an event, I would have said: This is not safe. This is absolutely not safe. It is impossible that 2 foam blocks on a concrete floor can protect anyone.
Hayes considers the waiver form that Twitch streamer signed to be invalid: Such a waiver cannot protect anyone from negligence.
Is he really switching? Hayes streams only irregularly on Twitch. In September, he did 2 streams for 7 hours.
After his announcement on October 10 that he finds Twitch to be getting worse, he was only briefly back on Twitch once for less than 2 hours. Since then, Hayes has not been active on the platform.
YouTube is becoming more exciting for “clean” live streamers
What’s behind it: The atmosphere on Twitch is becoming harsher. Hayes’s decision to move his live streaming from Twitch to YouTube could also be influenced by the fact that Twitch has reduced the 70/30 split. They are clearly signaling to the streamers: Amazon wants Twitch to make money. Please do more advertising for Amazon Prime and run more of your own ads.
Since a rule change in August, Twitch partners now have the option to stream on other platforms as well.
For “clean” content creators like Hayes, YouTube is an exciting alternative. The platform has already made lucrative offers for a switch to some “nice, smart” streamers from Twitch. Streamer DrLupo mentioned that with the money YouTube pays him, he is “set for life”.
Especially for Hayes, who has his main content on YouTube and reaches the most viewers there, the platform is becoming more and more attractive.
And events like TwitchCon are apparently not a plus for the Amazon subsidiary.
Twitch must now be careful not to lose too many of the people who have made the streaming platform so attractive to viewers and advertisers in recent years. It might be likely that we will only see Josh Strife Hayes on Twitch when Asmongold is looking for content again:
Did he stick to his announcement? Update, March 8, 2023: Indeed, Hayes has largely withdrawn from Twitch after his announcement. Since he made the statement, he has been live on Twitch only 2 times, on October 19 and December 30, 2022:
- In 2021, Hayes was seen on Twitch for 384 hours
- By the time of his statement, he had already streamed 154 hours in 2022
- After the statement, there were only 8 hours in 2022
- In 2023, he has not been seen on Twitch at all so far
