New Twitch feature might put an end to free streaming

Who’s your favorite Twitch streamer? Is it Shroud ,Ninja, DrDisrespect or maybe Tfue? The answer doesn’t really matter, because you might lose the ability to watch all of their content if the new feature is anything to go by

The new feature being tested right now might change the way your favorite streamers and even esports tournaments stream content, putting it directly behind a wall that you have to pay for.

The new feature has been leaked by StreamerNews Twitter account, with an attached screenshot to a stream belonging to an account called “hgg_cheering_test”. A message we have not seen before appears to be talking about “streaming for subscribers” and that the free period ends in 3:50 minutes.

The description of this broadcast states that direct subscription to the channel allows user to “watch and chat during subscriber-only streams” which makes the function of this feature clear: to hide broadcasts from non-subscribers providing free previews for those interested.

This is not the first time we saw this controversial feature actually. Back in November of last year, Twitch sent surveys about something similar to random users, but we did not think it could actually turn into reality.

There are many reasons why users would be frustrated by this new feature, as they feel that such a move is not beneficial to the viewer, but only to esports tournament organizers and big name streamers, who may use this method to have some more personal, quieter streams.

“I knew this day was coming, back in November I got a survey which was filled with stuff like this. They were gauging interest on what kind of services on twitch people would pay for and how much they would spend.” Reddit user TheBassGhost said.

Other services covered by the survey include “the ability to pause and play, and rewind just like Youtube, for a price” and “special coaching sessions with pro players,” which are new ways of making money that are on the way to Twitch.

We may see the paid live broadcast feature sooner than we thought, too, if the image shared from the Hearthstone Global Games account is correct, the 2019 season that starts on May 31 may be the beginning of its adaption. We still do not know the official details from Twitch, and we will share them as soon as they become available.