Dr. Disrespect Says He Has A Big Announcement Coming
Dr. Disrespect may be making a big change in the very near future, and his fans are on the edge of their seats. During his March 11 broadcast, Dr. Disrespect was asked by a fan to give them some hints about his future plans.
The Doc went one step further that that. In his typically dramatic fashion, full of intense pauses and a knowing grin, Dr. Disrespect said, "Tomorrow we decide what our streaming platform is, ladies and gentlemen."
Naturally, this brings the question of whether or not Dr. Disrespect is leaving Twitch for Mixer or some other platform. Last summer, Ninja shocked fans when he signed an exclusive deal with Mixer. Since then, Twitch has had some trouble keeping up with Ninja's move. Still, the company still has plenty of partners like Dr. Disrespect to keep Twitch's viewership numbers (pardon the pun) respectable. Twitch has also made a point of re-signing streamers who have been performing well for the platform, including Lirik, DrLupo, and TimTheTatman. Twitch is clearly trying to hold onto its top talent as closely as possible.
There's a chance that a streamer like Dr. Disrespect could stand to thrive on a platform like Mixer. While Ninja is doing well, he almost exclusively streams Fortnite. Dr. Disrespect, on the other hand, streams a wide swath of games in the first-person shooter genre. He's most recently enjoying the brand new Call of Duty: Warzone, which should bring with it plenty of curious viewers who haven't yet checked out that battle royale title for themselves.
One of the biggest questions in the streaming world today is how long we can expect our favorite streamers to stay with a particular platform. There's a bidding war going on for the highest performers and it's not terribly surprising when someone jumps ship and heads to the platform that will pay them better and give them more exposure.
Recently, Pokimane shocked fans when she teased that a big announcement was coming in regards to her future with Twitch. After quite a bit of speculation within her fanbase, Pokimane announced that she had inked a deal with Twitch to stay with the service for another six years. However, she did say that the amount of money she was offered to go to another platform (presumably Mixer) was significant. In the end, though, she stayed with Twitch because she preferred the lack of delays in broadcasts and the level of interaction the platform afforded her with her fans. All in all, she had several solid reasons for staying on board the platform.
On the subject of money, however, it's interesting to wonder what Dr. Disrespect may or may not have been offered to make the move to another platform. After Ninja made his move to Mixer, there were rumors suggesting that he may have made several millions more than he was making on Twitch. However, Dr. Disrespect has hinted that he knows the real amount that Ninja is being paid — and that it's not nearly as impressive as we've been led to believe. Again, though, knowing how Dr. Disrespect operates, giving Ninja a hard time over his alleged earnings could all be part of his usual schtick.
Most of Dr. Disrespect's fans are also seemingly on board for wherever the streamer wants to go. As fellow streamer Icon Mark (aka TwiztedGI) tweeted, "He's successful enough to have his own website and stream from it directly that way he has no restrictions on his streaming. That being said, he could miss out on some big money from established platforms if he took that route. He'll be successful no matter where he goes!"
Still, there are those who are just skeptical of Mixer as a whole. Some feel like Dr. Disrespect would be doing himself a disservice by moving to a smaller platform like Mixer. Twitch streamer Harp0 tweeted, "Doc isn't going to go fight shroud and ninja for all of mixers [sic] 72 total viewers."
On the other hand, there's always the chance that the Doc is simply trolling his fans. Pretty much Dr. Disrespect's whole persona is built around hype and joking aggression. It wouldn't be entirely out of his wheelhouse to make fans anticipate a big announcement that turns out to be him simply telling everyone that he's staying put, much like Pokimane's announcement. The most telling thing in this whole tease is the big smile he has on his face. Either way, we'll know where the next chapter of Dr. Disrespect's legacy will begin within the next day or so. Stay tuned.