Twitch streams and NSFW content seem to go hand in hand despite the livestreaming platform’s attempts to enforce its terms of service. While this breach in the rules happens occasionally, it’s generally caused by a smaller channel—not a professional one. But most recently, EVO Japan 2019 stopped a portion of its livestream due to borderline explicit material.
It started when Dead or Alive 6 began advertising the game set to release in March. Two women, who were scantily clad, presented the game and flaunted themselves on camera. Instead of cutting away, the camera followed the women’s actions and zoomed in.
Even the live game demonstration wasn’t without some inappropriate content. During gameplay, the game was strategically paused to show two characters who were unintentionally frozen in a sexual position. With an open camera movement system, the presenters zoomed in and rotated around the characters.
Due to the inappropriate content from the Dead or Alive 6 presentation, EVO momentarily turned off its livestream on Twitch. Additionally, director Joey Cuellar tweeted that the Dead or Alive 6 demonstration didn’t “reflect the core values of EVO” and that the stream was cut off to “protect the integrity of our brand.” Cuellar’s tweet has since been deleted.
When the presentation was over, EVO returned to streaming on Twitch. When the stream turned back on, EVO’s global head of business development Mark “MarkMan” Julio apologized for what took place. Although the stream was on the brink of breaking Twitch’s terms of service, no bans have been issued.
