Emmett Shear, the co-founder of Twitch and its longtime chief executive officer, announced on Thursday that he will be stepping down from his role after more than 16 years with the live video streaming platform owned by Amazon.com.
Dan Clancy, who has been with Twitch since 2019, will take over as CEO immediately, according to Shear’s blog post, in which he also stated that he will continue to advise the company.
Over the past few months, Twitch has faced criticism for changes to its monetization policies, specifically regarding the revenue share for its top streamers. Previously, prominent content creators could keep as much as 70 percent of the revenue from subscriptions, but this percentage has recently been reduced.
Additionally, reports indicated that Constance Knight, Twitch’s chief of global creators, departed from the company last year.
In response to backlash, Twitch revised its policies in September, allowing major creators to keep 70 percent of their subscription revenue up to the first $100,000 earned, with the revenue share reverting to the standard 50 percent thereafter.
Shear reflected on his journey in a tweet, stating, “In October 2006 we started working on live video for the internet. That became Twitch. More than 16 years later, I’m now a father and ready to move to my next phase of life.”
Shear initially co-founded the live streaming platform Justin.tv, which rebranded to Twitch in 2011 and quickly captured a significant audience in the gaming sector by allowing interactive communication between viewers and players.
Three years following its launch, Twitch was acquired by Amazon for nearly $1 billion.
Clancy brings a wealth of experience to his new position, having held senior roles at organizations such as NASA, Nextdoor, and Google prior to joining Twitch.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
