It seems as though Twitch is setting its sights on subscriber-only streaming, according to some eagle-eyed gamers.
Over on Twitter, @StreamerNews shared the news, writing: “Twitch is testing subscriber-only live streams. No official announcement yet, but we’d expect one soon.
“Check out a preview at https://www.twitch.tv/hgg_cheering_test …
“Thank you to @Tomparkes1993@LBrGaming for tip.”
In the image above you can clearly see the UI for the new feature, with a “streaming for subscribers” line of text and a “free preview” complete with countdown timer.
Over on Reddit, the idea of subscriber-only streams is being heavily debated, as the controversial move can be seen as a paywall, where people have to pay to access the content.
One Reddit user commented: “I’ll personally never use it, and I would imagine 99% of streamers won’t be using it, but I could see a few big name streamers wanting to do special thank-you streams just for subs.
“OR I could see some of the wrestling companies that now run on Twitch wanting to do Sub-Only shows, that feels like a natural move.”
Over on YouTube last year lots of content creators were putting their content behind a paywall, where only sponsors can see it. It’s definitely a controversial move that’s a good way to p*ss off your fanbase.
How exactly Twitch plans to implement the subs-only feature remains to be seen.
“I mean it could be a sub incentive to just do a Q&A once a month with subs only. I see it making sense,” commented one user on the Reddit thread.
Another sparked a discussion about how it could be used for big-name brands such as WWE, writing: “I can totally see this working for big wrestling companies, WWE, Impact, even AEW could benefit. Is not the WWE Network, but people could see the value in watching an event alongside Twitch Chat.
“Impact already airs their pre-show PPV’s in their Twitch channel, so is a no brainer. AEW acknolowdges the current PPV fares are too damn expensive and while looking for alternatives, this could be great for them (specially with Fyter Fest being based on a fighting game tournament).
“Smaller companies like Hoodslam? I don’t think so, they rely on the good will of people, well, willing to subscribe, and the exposure Twitch can give them, no way they’re gonna paywall their events.”
We’ll have to wait for more information for Twitch on this one! What’s your opinion?
Featured Image Credit: Twitch