Former top Super Smash Bros. player and streamer Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios is one of several content creators changing streaming platforms. He’ll now be streaming on Facebook Gaming, the player announced today.
With this move, ZeRo will try to uproot his more than 500,000 followers and bring them over to one of Twitch’s growing competitors as the steaming service battles rage on. He’s also the second major streamer to move to the platform in the last few weeks after Facebook agreed to a deal with Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang.
Since retiring from competitive Smash in 2018, ZeRo has continued to grow his stream and was frequently one of the most-watched variety channels on Twitch. His playthroughs of Persona 5, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and various Pokémon games brought in over 10,000 viewers every day.
The Smash personality cited his desire to do more outside of just streaming and the potential Facebook provides in helping him expand his content as the main reasons for the move.
“I actually have a lot of plans with Facebook and things I want to get done,” ZeRo said. “More collaborations with celebrities, more collaborations with other gamers, and more cool projects that I am pretty much going to be able to do because we have that Facebook support. But it also comes down to the fact that Facebook is going to do other things and explore other options.”
His first project is going to be his first stream on Facebook, which will be a charity stream to directly support the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI.)
“I always wanted to provide more support to charities that I believe in,” ZeRo said. “So on the first stream I am doing for Facebook we are actually going to be raising funds for that cause (NAMI) which is a cause is something that I really believe in personally.”
And while this transition is happening, ZeRo and Tempo Storm are making sure to take care of the supporters who have been with the streamer since he went full-time. Any person who subscribed to ZeRo’s Twitch channel for a year or more is eligible to win a free shirt.
ZeRo had been teasing a big announcement for several days before the longtime Twitch streamer revealed that he accepted an exclusivity deal with Facebook. His first stream on Facebook will be on Dec. 3.
