In a recent stream, OTK co-owner Thomas Chance “Sodapoppin” Morris said this year’s TwitchCon in San Diego made him realize that Twitch’s demographic has changed since he joined the platform. He said:
“Twitch is no longer a gaming website, and that’s fine.”
According to the streamer, the drastic demographic change was most noticeable during the convention. He did not necessarily seem to have a problem with it, but he did address his concerns about certain aspects of the shift.
“Like a YouTuber convention”: Sodapoppin shocked by drastic change at TwitchCon and purple platform over the years
Sodapoppin has been on Twitch since 2012. He has attended many TwitchCons over the years and noted that things have changed over time.
The content creator said:
“Every year that TwitchCon has happened, you kind of see the community it itself just changing slowly.”
While gaming still dominates the purple platform, other types of content creation, such as Just Chatting and reaction-based streams, have taken off massively in recent years. Lifestyle channels and online shows have also pulled in huge numbers over the years.
While describing the demographic change he noticed in San Diego this year, Sodapoppin said:
“But to go from the last TwitchCon I went to to this TwitchCon. The jump, the drastic change? I’m like, ‘Oh yeah! Alright, this is it now.’ It felt more like a YouTuber convention. Just to be short, it really did.”
Timestamp 0:4:42
The 28-year-old then reminisced about a time when he could name every streamer at TwitchCon, no matter how small. He said:
“But I look back on TwitchCon where there was not a single person I didn’t know who they are. I know this person, if they had 200 viewers? I know. A very tight, small community right? First TwitchCon. And then year, year, year and year just keeps getting more, more and more like, what the f*ck’s going on!?”
Fan reactions to the stream
Most of Sodapoppin’s audience sympathized with his views about the new Twitch demographic. Here are some reactions to his latest stream on the platform:
Here are some reactions to the stream on Reddit:
It is only inevitable that the streaming community will change over time. With gaming streams arguably taking a back seat, there are bound to be other kinds of content creators rising to the top of the platform’s streaming charts.
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