Twitch streamers Pokimane and Ninja, two of the platform's biggest stars, are seemingly taking a step back from streaming.
Tyler "Ninja" Blevins is currently the most popular Twitch streamer in the world with a massive 18.3 million followers tuning in to watch him play Fortnite. Meanwhile, Imane “Pokimane” Anys has built a fanbase of 9.2 million followers, making her name with League of Legends in 2013.
But, for now, they seemingly won’t be online in their best-known roles in the same way.
“Big things are coming,” said Ninja via Twitter before deleting his social media presence 2 hours later and announcing: “I just need a break… I don't know when I will be back, or where”. It’s currently unknown what has spurred this on, but just days ago, Ninja tweeted that he was “super under the weather”.
I just need a break…I don't know when I will be back, or where
— User Not Found (@Ninja) September 1, 2022
Meanwhile, Pokimane has been a bit more vocal about her reasons for taking a step back in a new video – her first after a month-long break.
“I feel like other platforms fit into my lifestyle nowadays a little bit better,” she revealed. “I hope it doesn't sound big-headed of me to say, but nowadays when I see things on Twitch, it kinda feels like ‘been there, done that,’”
After almost a decade of streaming on the platform, it’s easy to see why she might want a change of pace.
“There's such a pressure on streamers to follow every trend, to capitalize on viewership, to stream longer than the guy next to them,” she added. “It's just a hyper-competitive industry. But ultimately, the reason I say this is because I'm just at a point in my life that it doesn't feel creatively fulfilling to feed into that anymore.”
Ultimately, Pokimane still wants to take part in Twitch, saying that she wants the platform “to be a part of my arsenal” but now wants to step away from the pressures of streaming full-time. “When I wake up nowadays, I don't want to run to my PC and game for eight hours straight,” she said.
Want to read more about Twitch? Check out who holds the record for highest concurrent streams and find out the Twitch feature that was pulled after it was used to push porn to the front page.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Two of Twitch's Biggest Stars Say They Need a Break from Streaming