The Twitch Vs. Mixer Battle Is Alive And Well

The streaming world seems mostly divided between two camps: Twitch vs. Mixer. It's understandable, given that these platforms are where the streamers with the biggest followings call home. However, there are times when that rivalry is brought back to the forefront.

On his Twitter account, Dr Disrespect posted a video clip that shows him flying through the air on a glider. As he cackles and soars through the sky, a fighter jet passes by him. He then sails down through the clouds towards a futuristic-looking city that bears a giant Twitch logo. This is a portion of the video that the streamer released when he reassured fans that he was staying with Twitch.

The video then abruptly shifts to a clip of fellow streamer Shroud in a purposefully low rent Mixer commercial. The caption of the video reads, "The difference between Twitch and Mixer."

It's a pretty funny clip. The juxtaposition is pretty hilarious, showing from Dr Disrespect's perspective the kind of production values that are afforded to higher earning Twitch streamers. It's impossible to deny that the Doc's segment of the video looks pretty impressive. It's no surprise that Dr Disrespect recently signed a television development deal. 

Naturally, it wasn't before Ninja weighed in with some thoughts on the differences between Mixer and Twitch. Considering his contract with Mixer, Ninja was sure to make a few swipes at Twitch's business practices and a controversial fellow streamer.

"I was expecting this tweet to contain a nip slip without being banned or a cat being thrown over your head," tweeted Ninja. "But I like this too."

Ninja is making a not so subtle reference to a number of controversies surrounding Twitch streamer Alinity. During a recent stream, Alinity experienced a waedrobe malfunction and inadvertently flashed her viewers. Twitch's response was swift, issuing a 24 hour suspension on Alinity's account. 

For her own part, Alinity tweeted that the 24 hour ban was "not long enough." In a later tweet, she added, "Hey so regardless of whatever Twitch decides to do, I'm gonna give myself a 3 day suspension from the platform. I think it is fair. Have yourselves a nice day!"

This is an interesting move for the streamer to make, but it appears as though she is trying to make sure that her suspension doesn't set a double standard. She tweeted that she sees inconsistencies in how Twitch handles these kinds of bans, later adding, "I just took time off to think about my mistakes."

Ninja is also referring to an even bigger Alinity controversy: the cat-tossing incident. Last year, Alinity raised the ire of her viewers when she picked up one of her cats and threw it over her head to get it out of the way during a game. Almost immediately, Twitch was bombarded with complaints from concerned viewers. This even prompted an investigation from the SPCA, which ruled that there was "no malicious intent" behind the incident.

Beyond simply taking a swipe at Twitch's roster of streamers, it's clear that Ninja is still focused on the apparent rivalry between Twitch and Mixer streamers, perhaps even moreso than Dr Disrespect. While the Doc's video could be seen as a funny jab, for his own part, Ninja has been extremely protective of his Mixer move. This has been particularly true in recent months. 

In fact, a joke about Mixer led to the dissolution of Ninja's longtime partnership with Reverse2k. When Reverse made a lighthearted joke about Mixer during a stream, Ninja blew up at him. He demanded an apology and an explanation for why it seemed like Reverse though his move to Mixer was a bad idea. 

Ninja took a risk changing platforms in such a huge way, but it certainly seems like it has paid off and everyone on both sides is happy. Streamers like Dr Disrespect and Pokimane have renewed their contracts with Twitch for the foreseeable future, securing their careers and putting their viewers at ease. Pokimane says she actually turned down quite a huge sum of money to stay with Twitch, as she prefers the freedoms afforded to her on the platform.

Meanwhile, Ninja appears to be in a comfortable spot financially. In fact, he recently made a comment about his wealth on stream that kicked up quite a bit of dust. In a remark about disrespectful players, he said, "Dude, I can literally purchase the bank that your house is being loaned out to [...] and f*cking foreclose. And then you can't talk sh*t to me 'cause you won't have internet."

While that's obviously an exaggeration, it shows how tense the rivalry among streaming platforms has become. Everyone seems to feel like they have something to prove in this battle, whether they're expressing it through funny videos or shade-throwing tweets.