Twitch Launches 'Elevated Chat' Testing

An online direct streaming gaming platform Twitch is launching a new feature named 'Elevated Chat.' This option is going through a testing phase. It started at the end of September and will last for four weeks. The US, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland are currently testing the new feature. 

The essence of the new chat room is that users can secure their messages for money. The minimum period lasts 30 seconds, and the maximum is two and a half minutes. The user will pay from $5 to $100 for the time in the chat. If several people buy this service at once, messages will be displayed in the order of priority. That is, the first place will be the notice of the person who made the purchase first. The message will be displayed either below the video or at the top of the chat. 

Many users were confused by this feature, as viewers can leave comments with insults while streaming. The developers have also made provision for such a possibility and said that a moderator has the right to block a paid message. In this case, the user will not receive compensation for the deleted message. Also, Twitch says they receive 30% of the profits and give 70% to content makers after paying all the taxes.

Recently Twitch was at the center of a scandal over the distribution of profits between streamers and the platform. The company said they would no longer be able to give 70% of the revenue to content makers, as it was expensive to maintain the platform. This news greatly angered users, and they accused Twitch of extorting money. After this incident, the company's vice president left his post. 

The company plans to test the new option within four weeks. A similar option is already available on YouTube, so we think that the paid comments on Twitch will work just as well.