Amouranth Reveals The Damage Done

Streamer and cosplayer Amouranth recently found herself at the center of controversy when she spoke up against Twitch's developing policies regarding hot tub streams. Amouranth argued that Twitch shouldn't use children as the "litmus test" for appropriateness, unless that was the only market the platform wanted to cater to. Many fans didn't like Amouranth's response, and Twitch ultimately decided to suspend Amouranth's advertising privileges indefinitely. On Reddit, Amouranth revealed that demonetization could mean a loss of 500k a year for her. Twitch eventually restored Amouranth's ability to use ads, but the damage might already be done.

Things happen rapidly online. In the short time Amouranth was without monetization, things changed for the popular streamer on Twitch. Amouranth agreed to receive less money for ads in exchange for simply getting them back on her channel. Referencing a now-deleted Twitch stream, Dexerto reported Amouranth as saying, "For comparison, before the demonetization, I was getting $1000 a day in advertisements. Yesterday, I streamed for like 15 hours, had a 15,000 viewer average, and had $130 in ad revenue." 

Needless to say, that's a big difference in revenue for one of the most famous streamers on Twitch. Although Amouranth was aware she would receive less money for ads moving forward, the difference in overall earnings is shocking.

One thing Amouranth didn't sign up for upon her return to the monetized world was scammers. A legion of new tricksters have risen to take advantage of Twitch's new dedicated "hot tub" category, using known streamers' old videos to lure in new viewers.

As Wicked Good Gaming reported on Twitter, "there are currently a s*** ton of streams in the Pools, Hot Tubs, and Pools category on Twitch, that are just downloading streamers hot tub VODS and using them as their own broadcast. kind of weird." Some scam streams don't even include video. Instead, some imposters simply upload a screenshot of a more famous streamer, indicating that they'll be right back because they're changing. One gamer pointed out that this new tactic is both smart and pathetic.

Many fans and professionals in the gaming industry have spoken out about the perceived hypocrisy of Twitch's decision to create a new hot tub category while still allowing other problematic behavior on the platform. Esports host and producer Erin Ashley Simon tweeted, "If we are going to give energy toward kids coming across hot tub streams on Twitch, how about we collectively give the same energy toward kids coming across racism, sexism, and toxicity on the platform as well." Meanwhile, streamer AfroSenju said that the real problem Twitch needs to fix is communication with its users.

With every fan, streamer, and commentator holding a different opinion on how Twitch has handled the hot tub meta situation, it seems that streamers who depend on ad revenue are the ones who will remain tangled in the middle of a convoluted situation.