Well, it has started. Stream Wars.
Twitch changed the way it does things with the announcement of its saved VODs (videos on demand) being muted by a separate program it is licensing, if they are found to have copyrighted material playing, or even if it is playing in the background. This is similar to the move that Youtube made to flag content that had the same problem. Twitch also chose to delete all VODs after a period of 14 days.
http://blog.twitch.tv/2014/08/3136/
As can be expected, this was met with serious backlash from the community, streamers and viewers alike. Many streamers decided to jump ship, and there is even a list floating around the internet with the names of streamers who are making this decision.
Many of these streamers are going to a relatively new service called Hitbox that is still in beta, and have done so after they released a statement on their blog a day after Twitch released theirs about their changes.
http://blog.hitbox.tv/hitboxlive-time-to-switch/
It is my personal belief that Hitbox did this to cash in on it's new service. It saw the opportunity to take viewership and potential money away from Twitch. I don't blame them. Any company would do this. I, however, do have a problem with the wording Hitbox used in it's statement. The statement made it seem like they have the community in mind with their service, but the timing, and plain logic tells me differently.
What I see is a clear rift in the market now. In one day, Hitbox has the edge they need.
They have emotion.
People feel betrayed by Twitch, and now Hitbox has thousands of haters and potential fanboys at their disposal. In the same way there is a System War (PC master race!), there is now a Stream War.
It will take time to see where this goes, and if at all Hitbox becomes big from this, or if Twitch even loses as much as people are wanting them to, but one thing is clear, Twitch has angered a large portion of the gaming community who are abandoning logic and reason to this change.
Hitbox has their attention, and that's all they really need at this point.
Is this a bad thing? No. I don't think it is. Neither of them are evil for what they are doing. They are both companies looking to make a profit. Who is to say Hitbox won't be where Twitch is in 5 years? Most likely they will be in spite of the things that its service claims to be better by, most significantly a shiny interface and 2 second delay. Bandwidth is limited, and more users will require changes. If Hitbox becomes as big as Twitch, I think it is reasonable to think that they will also change things up.
At the most, we will have 5 or so years to enjoy it before they change as well.
The good that we can take away from this, I think, is the fact that competition is good for everyone. It promotes growth and, in most cases, we as the consumer get the benefits of that.
Unfortunately, it will also create fanboy-ism and flame wars. I can see it now. Not only will we have the usual trolls in streams talking about which Final Fantasy is better, and you are stupid if you think a certain way (I apologize if you are unaware of this going on. I can assure you it is heated on some level. 12 is the best!), but now we will have trolls from either Twitch or Hitbox crossing over to both and incensing the other side, having tabs to both sites open just for this reason.
It may or may not happen, and much of this is speculation, but I couldn't help but reflect on the current industry and put my thoughts.
I understand some will not care, and this is your permission that you don't have to comment.
What are your thoughts?
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