Shroud Returns To Twitch With Exclusive Deal After 10-Month Absence

After a 10-month absence and a move to Mixer, Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek is making a return to the platform where he first gained fame.

Grzesiek returns to Twitch, signing an exclusivity deal with the Amazon-owned streaming service, to reconnect with his 7.1 million followers, Engadget reports. Shroud was scheduled to go live at 11:00 a.m. PT on August 12 for a homecoming that many expected.

He was one of several high-profile streamers who jumped ship from Twitch last year to sign with Mixer. Grzesiek was one of the bigger names jumping, with Tyler “Ninja” Blevins possibly being the most prominent.

Mixer, owned by Microsoft, tried establishing itself in the streaming world dominated by Twitch and Google-owned YouTube. However, just this past July, Microsoft announced that it was shuttering Mixer and asking their subscribers to move to Facebook Gaming instead.

Facebook Gaming offered both Shroud and Ninja “almost double” the value of their Mixer contracts, though they both refused early on, according to esports lawyer Rod Breslau. He said Shroud’s Mixer contract was worth $10 million, while Ninja’s came in at $30 million.

As a former professional “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” player, Engadget notes that Grzesiek is known for his buttery-smooth first-person shooter skills. Alongside the news of his return to Twitch, Shroud’s logo and branding also got an upgrade.

Following a short stint on YouTube in July, Blevins made a surprise return to Twitch last week, streaming as “Fortnite” provided its latest update. Ninja quickly had 96,000 views on his initial stream but has yet to announce if he is indeed returning to streaming on a regular basis.

With 15 million followers on Twitch and 24 million subscribers on YouTube, Blevins supposedly has his eyes set on becoming a movie star.

Grzesiek has no such plans, however, and is seemingly content with just making a homecoming to Twitch and streaming to his heart’s desire. With his exclusive Twitch deal, Shroud will not be able to go live on YouTube or Facebook Gaming.

Just last week, Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm also returned to streaming but on YouTube. Beahm was permanently banned by Twitch in June for reasons that have yet to be revealed.

With Shroud signing a Twitch deal, it effectively killed the chances of him playing with or against Dr. Disrespect as Twitch will not allow Beahm back on their service.