Twitch streamers up in arms as new advertising rules limit sponsors and threaten to kill charity and esports events

gamesradar.com:

Twitch has updated its branded content policy with sweeping restrictions on advertisements, infuriating countless streamers and threatening the financial viability of event channels including esports and charity streams.

Streamer Zach Bussey flagged the new content guidelines in a tweet that's quickly become a gathering point for thousands of vocal critics. Simply put, Twitch says it will no longer permit "burned in" prerecorded video, audio, or other display ads like graphics, preventing streamers from embedding such promotions directly in their overlay. Sponsored logos will also be limited to 3% of the screen, which is a tiny quadrant of your average 1080p stream. 

Streamers will still be able to discuss, endorse, and unbox sponsored products; play sponsored games on stream; feature sponsored products in the background of their stream cam (though the ruling for virtual backgrounds that vtubers use presents a curious gray area); link to other sites in promotions; and add branded panels to their channel's info, which is shown below their actual stream. 

To put it mildly, the response to these changes has been negative. To put it less mildly, many of the biggest streamers on the platform are actively discussing leaving Twitch once and for all, with this news only exacerbating complaints about monetization after shifts in the platform's ad and subscriber revenue split. 

Bussey himself admitted that "I'm honestly going to have to re-evaluate if Twitch is the place I want to create content on moving forward." 

Charlie, AKA MoistCr1TiKaL or penguinz0, quite unreservedly exclaimed that "it's actually impressive how Twitch manages to make the most dogshit changes imaginable." 

Alex Jebailey, founder of fighting game hub CEO