Report: Twitch confronted with staff "exodus" over strategy disagreements
Marie Dealessandri
Features Editor
Friday 4th March 2022
Twitch
Twitch lost over 300 employees in 2021, and over 60 have left since the beginning of 2022.
That's according to a report from Bloomberg, which talks about an "exodus of executives" at the platform, with at least six "top employees" having left since the start of the year.
Employees have been leaving Twitch due to disagreements over its strategy in recent years, current and former staff said. The streaming platform has been focusing on monetising its users and expanding instead of "listening to and understanding" its streamers, which has "alienated" both its employees and its users, Bloomberg reported.
Among the executives who recently left the platform, former head of creator development Marcus Graham criticised Twitch's hiring process, which he said focuses on Silicon Valley candidates who have little knowledge of the games industry and livestreaming.
Former COO Sara Clemens and chief content officer Michael Aragon also both recently left the company.
Employees have also said Twitch's execs have been ignoring warnings from its staff regarding monetisation efforts which were likely to cause backlash, with one former employee saying that "Twitch's leadership is uncomfortable with mid-level and lower level employees pushing for change."
In a statement to Bloomberg, a Twitch spokesperson said that the company's hiring policy promotes a "diversity of thought" and that the platform improved its employee retention both in 2020 and 2021.
"Serving a community as dynamic as Twitch's means there isn't always one clear solution or answer, and as a result we have always believed in being experimental and innovative -- even when that means launching a bold product or experiment
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
