UNITED STATES: Emmett Shear, the CEO and one of the founding members of Twitch, the world’s leading game streaming platform, has stepped down from his position after 16 years with the company.
Shear, who started Twitch as a gaming content category, will now focus on his family after welcoming his son into the world. However, he will remain with the company in an advisory role.
Twitch began as a 24/7 live TV programming service called Justin.tv, which later launched a sister platform called TwitchTV that focused on gaming.
Since then, Twitch has grown to become the biggest name in the game streaming segment, with its own creator economy that has earned millions of dollars for big names such as “Ninja,” “Shroud,” and “TimTheTatman.”
With Shear stepping down, the role of CEO will now be fulfilled by the company’s current President, Dan Clancy, effective immediately.
Twitch hired Clancy, a senior NASA official , and a former Google executive, in 2017 as the Vice President of Creator and Community Experiences.
The change comes as Twitch has recently updated its Ads Incentive Program, allowing content creators to earn up to a 55% cut of ad revenue, relaxing the monthly limitations, and offering more opportunities for monthly earnings.
While Twitch continues to dominate the game streaming segment, it has also drawn criticism over the tighter revenue sharing with creators, data breach incidents, criticism over gambling content, a well-known deep fake involving a famous face, and content moderation woes.
Meanwhile, YouTube has been upping its game in-game streaming content and poaching talent from Twitch’s field.
Despite the challenges, Twitch remains a dominant force in the game streaming world. Twitch is not expecting Shear’s departure to significantly impact its operations.
As Shear takes time off to focus on his family, the company will continue to evolve and grow under Clancy’s leadership.
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