Twitch platform has been hit by hacks and 'hate raids'
Twitch has reportedly reduced its headcount again after it eliminated around 400 jobs in March. AFP / Lionel BONAVENTURE

KEY POINTS

  • Twitch is reportedly transitioning to outsourcing in customer experience
  • The company was affected when its parent company Amazon cut staff in March
  • Twitch was criticized by streamers in June for its new ads rules, which the platform removed later

Videogame streaming platform Twitch has reportedly implemented another round of layoffs just days before its annual event, TwitchCon Las Vegas, which will feature various activities for the gaming community.

"It appears there is another round of layoffs at Twitch today," streamer Zach Bussey said on X on Tuesday. "Significantly smaller than the first round, but still an unexpected layoff. Those impacted are finding out in the next hour or so."

The layoffs will happen in the customer experience unit, GamesIndustry.biz reported, citing a source familiar with the situation. The San Francisco-based company is reportedly looking to outsource more vendors to fulfill roles in the affected department.

The exact number of affected employees is unknown. Twitch did not immediately respond to International Business Times' request for comment.

Twitch last reduced its workforce in March, after parent company Amazon announced it was eliminating around 9,000 roles.

"Some may ask why we didn't announce these role reductions with the ones we announced a couple of months ago. The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees at the time.

He added that the company decided to be "more streamlined in our costs and headcount" due to economic headwinds and an uncertain future. The March layoffs reportedly affected around 400 Twitch workers.

Tuesday's layoffs came days before the TwitchCon 2023 Las Vegas, which includes various activities for the gaming community such as meet-and-greet events with some of the industry's biggest streamers like "League of Legends" streamer Angelskimi and JimmyHere.

TwitchCon 2023, which will run from Oct. 20 to 22, will also feature a meetup for the cosplay and make-up community, live drag transformation, MC Championship live, and streamer showdown events.

Twitch had earlier received criticism for its new ad rules that some streamers said would hurt their revenue. Twitch announced new rules in June that will determine how ads will be run on the platform. At the time, the company said streamers would no longer be allowed to feature third-party display, audio or video ads.

A chat moderator, who requested anonymity, told The Verge that setting limits to how ads can be run on Twitch "dramatically impact the revenue stream for these creators and will absolutely push mid-size streamers into an income bracket too low to remain full-time on the platform."

The streaming service backtracked on its rules after the backlash from streamers, saying the guidelines "are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately."

Twitch joins a growing number of streaming platforms that implemented layoffs in recent months, including Noice, an Indonesia-based audio streaming platform, which has around two million users. Swedish music streaming giant Spotify also cut around 200 roles in June, or about 2% of its total headcount, with a focus on departments working with podcasts.

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