The contract inked by Félix Lengyel, popularly recognized as xQc, mirrors those typical for conventional athletes, further highlighting the strained dynamics between Twitch and its most prominent streamers.
The rumour reported on last month turned out to be true. In a considerable setback for Amazon’s Twitch, a leading streamer announced last Friday that he is transferring his allegiance to the competing platform, Kick. This switch reflects escalating tensions between Twitch and its content creators.
Félix Lengyel, a Canadian internet celebrity better known as xQc, is on the cusp of finalizing a two-year contract, roughly valued at $70 million. However, performance bonuses could potentially inflate this sum to nearly $100 million, according to his representative, Ryan Morrison.
The financial terms of Lengyel’s agreement are comparable to the two-year contract extension LeBron James, a member of the LA Lakers, signed last year. This deal is anticipated to bring about significant shifts in the financial landscape of the digital entertainment sector.
“This transcends the salaries of many professional athletes and A-list celebrities,” stated Morrison. “This contract ranks among the most lucrative in the entertainment industry as a whole.”
Aged 27, Lengyel is a prolific live streamer, who interacts with fans, hosts reality TV shows, and shares his gaming experiences. Amongst gambling enthusiasts, he is likely best known for his slot streams as a sponsored streamer for Stake casinos – a gambling operator now banned on Twitch. He has amassed close to 12 million followers, consistently drawing tens of thousands of viewers to his streams. According to several indicators, Lengyel is the leading streamer on Twitch.
“Kick is facilitating opportunities for me to explore avenues that were previously inaccessible,” Lengyel shared. “I’m eagerly awaiting the chance to harness this potential into generating unique and inventive ideas in the forthcoming years.”
Leading live streamers, who have amassed dedicated viewer communities, can earn millions. However, many have migrated from Twitch recently, lured by profitable offers from rival platforms like YouTube. Some of these streamers have expressed dissatisfaction with Twitch’s growing focus on revenue over community satisfaction.
This dissatisfaction came to the fore last fall when Twitch announced an increase in the revenue share it takes from top streamers’ subscription fees. Twitch reversed its policy this week and also rescinded a recent restriction on the types of advertisements streamers could broadcast.
Kick, a newcomer in the streaming sector, is funded by Australian online gaming and gambling platforms, such as Easygo Gaming and Stake.com. Launched this year, it differentiates itself with policies that favor streamers. It takes only a 5% cut from streamers’ subscription earnings, as compared to Twitch’s 50%. Ed Craven, CEO of Kick, shared that the company is willing to operate at a loss initially. Kick also takes a much more liberal stance on gambling, which makes it possible for xQc to once again join the Stake.com streamer lineup.
Lengyel’s primary obligation is to generate content for Kick, but his contract is not exclusive. Craven mentioned that Lengyel could occasionally appear on platforms like YouTube or TikTok and has plans to continue on Twitch, albeit much less frequently than before his deal with Kick.
Kick, although still lagging behind Twitch’s seven million monthly streamers and 31 million daily viewers with 110,000 daily live streams, has demonstrated rapid growth and drawn other popular figures.
Craven stated, “Our focus is on creating a platform that truly supports and revolves around creators, fostering a community centered on them rather than purely corporate interests. We don’t believe we have the right to impose ourselves on your earnings.”
