Twitch Regrets Paying This Streamer $30,000,000

To clarify- I don’t think I should feel bad when people who CHOOSE not to get the vaccine get sick from COVID I also labeled people against the vaccine as anti vaccine- I didn’t think that was contentious

But for real, YouTube needs to fix some of their streaming stuff so you can find streams easier

Conventions keep doing this "no requirements, oops people are mad, ok requirements" thing that just ends up making everyone upset

I'm on the board for a (much smaller, ~5k) convention on the east coast, and I think the change in requirement might have come from talent. They're the draw, and people show up to see them. If they weren't willing to come without a stricter policy, that's a major reason to do it. Generally, if people are upset, you weather the storm and let it blow over. Talent upset? That jeopardizes the whole event. The swap probably broke even on the number of people mad, but the hassle of handling refunds and attempting to enforce the policy are far more effort. I'd be surprised if a change-up like this didn't have an additional impetus. I assume there was something else because pre-order sales can seem pretty low. 15k doesn't seem unexpected or bad 2 months out if you're looking for 30k attending, since a lot of people buy last-minute or on-site if it's available. I don't think they'd be scared enough for those numbers to warrant something like this, since the trade-off can't be that big a difference. The final alternative is they're just banking on people not getting refunds.

I think it comes down to the area and how big the event is. In the US now, a lot of people are done with the pandemic and could care less about masking and other restrictions. But with an event like TwitchCon where not only cases are rising in the area but people from all over the states are flying in to the event, it could end up being a super spreader like you said. I think the part of the story where a lot of people are upset is how Twitch said one thing, but once a certain group of people got mad about the lack of restrictions, Twitch changed their guidelines to make that specific group happy (which made everyone else upset). I think Twitch was smart in requiring masks, but I really don’t like how a lot of events are changing their rules in order to please what seems like a few angry people on Twitter (bit of an exaggeration but you get the point).

even though twitch did switch plans ,regarding covid restrictions, the tickets were originally non-refundable but when they changed the restrictions they did send an email and allowed ticket holders to get a refund from August 12th (announcement made) to August 19th which i think was a good course of action

I think more people would be outraged if showering a day before attending the event was a mandate

Otakon (Anime Convention on the East Coast) did Mask REQUIRED and Vaccination or PCR test to go in. While it was certainly impossible to control everyone to be wearing a mask, most people where actually complying. Even with the strict requirements, Otakon broke all forecasts and did record numbers.

Large companies and events should be looking at local laws as a minimum guide and making best interest decisions to tighten those where needed. The only reason I can see to change those decisions is if for example an area went from none to very little cases to an alarming amount of cases (encouraging the event to tighten their rules)

This sounds like the next tanacon except Covid instead of heat stroke

I think it should be noted that Nick has been planning this event to run alongside Twitchcon for months.

btw a lot of people did get sick after eu twitchcon so thank god they’re trying to do something this time

Ludwig, over the past year you've grown to become one of my favorite creators, your deep understanding of the internet and simple honesty has yet to be matched by any other creator of your genre

I’m glad the mogul mails are coming back some of my favorite relaxing content also nice Bo Burnham merch

“cant get pngs pregnant” from qt replying to chance has me dead

I'm with you and not even for covid or non covid / vaccine reasons. People paid for tickets with a certain scenario, then twitch flipped it. I'd say those people are entitled to refunds if they want them.

I might be wrong about this, but if I were Twitch, I wouldn't look at twitch con like a money making event. I'd look at it as marketing. Twitch is developing a community around their platform and no matter what you do on the platform, they make money off of you being on it. Ideally, the event breaks even or is profitable, but it isn't a huge loss as long as it keeps people excited and staying on Twitch. The competing event basically fulfills the same function of TwitchCon without Twitch spending money on it and will be where people they've alienated by their change of policy will be able to go. I think it is likely a win for Twitch.

Hey Lud, I just wanted to say that your last 24 hour live stream was one of your best streams ever!

great video as always love the mogul mails:)

Keep up the Mogul Mail, Lud. I appreciate it! And although it seems better to stick to the same policies for an event, they can be changed if the scenarios change ofc. And among other things, organizations such as Twitch should not be so reckless and make policies that end up changing. Restrictions and requirements for an event are primary in event organization and if the smart people at Twitch cannot come up with an elaborate policy, then it feels like they need a better event management team or stakeholders.