Over the years, Twitch has spawned a number of talented streamers that allowed them to entertain an audience through creativity and video game gameplay. For the most part, select on-air talents are able to make money off of donations from fans that enjoy their content, this was mainly through PayPal, but now a new microtransaction will be entering the service.
Twitch has introduced to the world a new and upcoming microtransaction for the streaming service called Bits. Viewers who want to donate money towards their favorite streamers can purchase Bits that will in return make a “Cheer” emote to display in the streamer’s chat.
“When we watch Twitch, we feel surrounded by people who understand something that many just don’t. And when amazing things happen on stream, there’s no one else we’d rather celebrate with. The moments we share on Twitch, and the streamers who create them, are the glue that binds us together. So now, we are happy to introduce a new way for us to celebrate and support streamers together: Cheering.
Cheering is a new way to show support for streamers and celebrate the moments you love with the community, all right in chat. A Cheer is a chat message that uses Bits, which are evolving animated emotes that you can buy. Bits emotes can be used one by one, all at once, or anywhere in between. Using many at once shows more support and creates cooler emotes!”
Essentially, viewers can unlock an exclusive emote to display in the chat, the more Bits used the bigger the Cheer emote will become. From there, the streamer can then convert Bits earned into their currency.
Viewers will have to purchase these Bits through Amazon, where $1.40 will grant viewers a hundred Bits to use as they see fit. This has started to stir the streaming community just a tad as there have been accusations that Twitch will take a total of 29% of the Bits currency conversion.
We can compare this to PayPal which only took a 3% cut from the donations. Of course, this has not been fully disclosed quite yet so we’ll have to wait and see just how much Twitch will be taking from Bits conversions. Regardless, the new microtransaction service doesn’t seem to be replacing PayPal but instead is merely another option for viewers to use.
Additionally, the new Bits microtransaction is only available for select Twitch partners for the time being. We will see this rollout to all partners in the near future, as for now, streamers who wish to donate can still use the currently available options.
