XQc is the latest and most popular Twitch start to announce that they will be accepting a non-exclusive deal to stream on Kick, and as one of the biggest stars in the industry, he said on his Twitch stream today that he intends on breaking some of the narratives surrounding the new streaming startup.
Most streaming viewers found out about Kick through the popular streamer Trainwrecks late last year when he announced that he was working with the platform to help it become a rival to Twitch.
Early in its existence, the platform’s questionable moderation resulted in a lot of questionable activity, including the streaming of copyrighted material and even sex acts. Their reputation was further put into a less-than-stellar position after the highly controversial creator Adin Ross joined the platform.
Shortly after joining, Ross pulled a few stunts, including opening up PornHub on his broadcast and streaming the Super Bowl. However, xQc seems to want to be a cause for a shift in that negative association many streaming viewers have with the platform.
“Because of some events and some people, the brand was kind of tarnished in a way that some people think, ‘oh, Kick equals this, Kick equals that,’” he said. “And I genuinely want to fix that shit. I think just showing up, doing the same thing, moderating the exact same way, having the exact same experience of chat here over there and what not. Making sure that it sticks is super important to me.”
Related: Gaming, streaming communities left in shock of xQc’s Kick mega-deal: ‘You can’t make this s**t up’
Unlike Twitch, Kick’s moderation has been notorious early on in the startup’s life for being light and even non-existent at times. For many people, the lack of rule enforcement was seen as a net positive compared to their perception of Twitch’s swift ban hammer, but it was clear that Kick’s early lack of moderation made the site a haven for accounts that spammed inappropriate comments in chat rooms.
Having been banned from Twitch five times since 2020, xQc isn’t necessarily known for being a strict follower of rules. But compared to some of the more outlandishly controversial and inappropriate behavior of other streamers, he is oddly enough a move in the right direction as far as finding talent with good behavior is concerned.
