Image: Twitch
Twitch rival Kick is looking to make a name for itself, and that starts with signing on streamers like xQc.
Twitch streamer and occasional esports player Felix Lengyel, better known as xQc, will stream on Kick following a jaw dropping streaming deal worth up to $100 million in incentives. Kick is an up-and-coming streaming platform that’s been bulking up its roster of streamers this year by offering better incentives than its rival Twitch.
According to the New York Times, xQc signed a two-year contract roughly valued at $70 million to stream on Kick, with more incentives included that could increase its value to $100 million total. The report compares this deal to a similar two-year $97 million contract signed by LeBron James to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers, saying that it, “could shake up the economics of the online entertainment world.”
xQc said, “Kick is allowing me to try and do things I haven’t been able to before. I'm extremely excited to take this opportunity and maximize it into new creative and fresh ideas over the coming years." Despite the nearly $100 million price tag on this deal, xQc will still be free to stream on any other platforms seeing as the contract doesn’t demand his exclusivity to Kick.
The streamer intends to continue streaming on Twitch, though the platform’s 70-30 profit-sharing cut is likely less attractive than Kick, which only takes 5%. Kick also has an entire category dedicated to gambling, a hobby xQc infamously has an affinity for, while Twitch is much more strict on the matter.
Kick has been trying to make a name for itself this year as a rival streaming platform to Twitch, though its efforts have mostly consisted of sharing memes like these on Twitter:
Kick’s co-founder and CEO Ed Craven is fully prepared for Kick to operate at a loss, according to the New York Times, and that’s likely because he also happens to be the co-founder of an online crypto-casino website called Stake.com. Kick is a crypto-friendly, gambling-friendly streaming platform that likely exists to draw profit from its viewers and streamers in a very different way than Twitch, hence its more generous profit-sharing deals.