Eager to get out of the shadow of its money-throwing green rival, Twitch on Thursday unveiled Hype Chat, a new way for its large and mid-sized streamers to earn money from viewers by allowing them to pay between $1 and $500 to pin messages to the live chat.
Although Twitch’s new Partner Plus program, which gives streamers an increased share of their subscription revenues, was seen as an olive branch by many in the streaming community, creators should probably take a second look at the company’s sparkling initiative before starting to cheer, industry experts say.