Kick is already clamping down on gambling streams
The streaming wars have well and truly begun. A space once dominated by Twitch has now been met by competition, with Rumble offering total freedom to streamers (mostly the freedom to be offensive for offensiveness' sake) and Kick offering huge payouts to massive streamers willing to jump ship.
It's a big step for these platforms, and it's getting truly competitive. Now that Kick has bagged huge names, including Felix "xQc" Lengyel and Kaitlyn "Amouranth" Siragusa, Kick is starting to take itself a little more seriously.
Kick is cracking down on gambling streams
Well, someone had to. A new update to the company has been issued by Kick boss Eddie Craven. It reveals the streaming service has removed "unnecessary" exposure to gambling streams.
The site was naturally attracting gambling streams in the first place, especially as it is co-owned and operated by crypto-gambling site Stake, but it looks like Kick is tidying up regardless. It'll be interesting to see how this goes, especially with xQc's gambling history on Twitch.
A new tweet from the boss has explained a number of changes, including better viewer count protection, fixes for tab issues, and plans for the disabling of hot tub streams. But it's this last one that could prove a problem for the platform.
How will Kick police hot tub streams?
Click to enlargeWho knows how Kick plans to police hot tub streams, but it's certainly not in the same calibre of immoral streams as gambling streams. It's bizarre that they've been lumped into the same category as literal gambling.
Much like Twitch, it could be just as easy to let the "meta" run its course on the site and readjust to whatever new interest comes to the streaming medium. Kick is branching away from the precedent set by Twitch, and despite poaching some of its megastars, it's doing things its own way.
Regardless, it's clear that Craven isn't hoping that Kick will become something of a streaming wild west like Rumble. The green team is 'kicking' into gear to crush Twitch, if you'll forgive the pun.