Twitch streamers DrLupo, LIRIK, and timthetatman have reportedly re-signed exclusive, multi-year deals with Twitch.
Microsoft's streaming platform Mixer has been around for a few years now, but they've recently been stepping up their game with attracting talent. They've been picking up popular streamers and signing them for exclusivity deals with Twitch. The site was previously worked on by Mike Ybarra before he left Microsoft for Blizzard Entertainment after 20 years with the company.
Now, it seems like Twitch is fighting back against Mixer's poaching of talent with some exclusivity deals of their own — although in this case, they're paying people not to leave Twitch.
DrLupo, Lirik, and timthetatman Said to Have Received 'Millions'
"DrLupo, timthetatman[,] and LIRIK will announce they have re-signed to Twitch today in multiyear deals, according to sources[,]" read a tweet from Rod "Slasher" Breslau, a longtime Esports commentator and reporter. "[All] of the deals are in the millions of [dollars] per year, according to sources[.]"
"Loaded, the agency representing nearly all of the top streamers in the world including Ninja, shroud, CouRage, timthetatman, DrLupo, and LIRIK, continues to bring in multi-million dollar contract deals for all of their top clients[,]" he concluded.
At the time of writing, none of the three streamers listed above said anything about this deal. However, they each posted more or less the same announcement on their Twitter timelines today:
Big day. 🥳https://t.co/BDRRdjs1wm
— DrLupo (@DrLupo) December 10, 2019
See you in chat. Announcement at 10 AM PST/Noon Central. ❤️💜
live for the day
— timthetatman (@timthetatman) December 10, 2019
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY AT 1PM EST (dont miss this)
fortnite first then OW Christmas update/meta change after!https://t.co/d7TqjilDGJ
get it
*Clears Throat*
— Lirik (@LIRIK) December 10, 2019
🚨 Announcement @ 1pm EST 🚨
Unfortunately, they've decided to make that announcement at the same time Nintendo and DOOM are running livestreams of their own.
In any case, Slasher is generally a reliable source, but this is still nonetheless information that we haven't yet independently confirmed. As always, take it with a grain of salt — although one would be forgiven for believing it considering the simultaneous tweets above.
What do you think about DrLupo, LIRIK, and timthetatman reportedly securing multi-million deals to stay on Twitch? Do you think we are going to see more bidding wars between the streaming platforms? Let us know in the comments below!
Update: Following the above leak the DrLupo, Lirik, and timthetatman have all confirmed the rumor. You can see their announcements on their Twitter accounts.