'The answer is no'—Twitch moneyman rejects larger revenue cut for streamers

pcgamer.com:

One of this year's rumbling controversies around Twitch has been the platform's revenue split. Twitch takes a 50% cut of the subs revenue streamers earn on the platform, whereas competitors such as Youtube offer a more generous 70/30 split in favour of the streamer. There was a big community push earlier in the year, featuring the obligatory internet petition and given fuel by the fact Twitch had historically offered big streamers a better deal.

Twitch responded to this with a statement in September that said it would be moving away from the sweetheart deals (though of course left wiggle-room so it can still do them), and wouldn't be increasing the revenue split in favour of streamers. Now at Twitchcon, the company's chief monetisation officer has addressed the revenue split again, and essentially put some of what the company's already said in blunter terms.

Minton was asked about the topic during the 'Patch Notes' stage segment (thanks, Eurogamer(opens in new tab)), and his answer starts during this stream at the rough timestamp of 02:20:15. After some introductory fluff about hearing responses and how Twitch is «100% focused on helping to improve [streamers'] income» Minton directly addresses the sub-rev split.

«The question here is y'know 'why not',» says Minton, «and we did look at all possible options: could we do it, could we offer 70/30 widely and broadly? And the answer is no, [it] simply is not viable for Twitch or the long term, at least as we know things today.»

Those words «not viable» may confirm what many suspect: Twitch has tonnes of money sloshing about in its ecosystem, but no-one really knows whether it's turning a profit yet. Which is where Minton goes next:

«Now the immediate response that typically