The Real Reason Fans Think Pokimane Is Leaving Twitch
It's no surprise that Pokimane's Twitch career is making headlines once again, but this time it's for a different reason. Fans are starting to wonder if Pokimane is going to leave Twitch after some cryptic tweets and interesting emoji choices. On Jan. 31, Pokimane announced that her two-year Twitch contract had ended and that she would be taking a break until Feb. 8 when a "new chapter" will begin. She also used a red heart emoji at the end, which sent a lot of people into a frenzy.
Many were quick to point out that the heart was red, the tell-tale color of YouTube's logo. As such, fans were quick to assume that Poki's headed to YouTube Gaming when she comes back. Others even threw out that she could be moving to Facebook.
Fellow streamer Myth poked fun at fans' reactions, and even streamer BrookeAB joined the fun with a red heart herself. However, those weren't the most interesting reactions. YouTube Gaming's Twitter account had a strange message for followers that looked like it was inspired by Pokimane's announcement.
The puzzle from YouTube
YouTube Gaming tweeted out its own "Wordle" puzzle formatted with five black squares just after Pokimane's own announcement. The catch? Imane, Pokimane's real name, is also five letters long.
Fans quickly caught on to this, and esports commentator Jake Lucky answered the puzzle with Imane's name. While YouTube Gaming didn't respond, fellow esports enthusiast and writer Jacob Wolf reposted two responses from YouTube Gaming that could support the answer. Both Alienware and Twitter user el_peps_7 got two letters of the puzzle correct, and both of them answered with words that shared two letters in common with Poki's name.
YouTube did eventually say that the answer was games, another five-letter word that fit the same criteria above, but the timing was too coincidental for some people to accept.
On the flip side of things, many people argued that Pokimane couldn't make it on YouTube despite her already-thriving community of over 6 million subscribers on the platform. Others believed that Poki wouldn't leave Twitch because she is arguably the face of the platform itself. However, Ludwig was also the face of Twitch and he made the switch to YouTube Gaming last year, despite the fact.
Less than two weeks ago, Pokimane explained how she almost quit Twitch already in 2022. Perhaps that was another sign of what could be coming on Feb. 8.