Diablo 4 was the much-anticipated fourth title in the dungeon-crawling series developed by Blizzard. The game sold well and sold well, generating $666 million in revenue. It also reached a milestone of 12 million players by August 2023.
The game also received much post-launch support from the devs through roadmaps to get to level 100 faster and new content. The title is a hit among many game streamers, and it seems like X’s CTO, Elon Musk, is the latest one.
This happened after Musk recently stated that Twitter would soon be getting a feature allowing players to stream their playthroughs of popular games and get paid for it. Right after that, the streaming company Kick attempted to troll Musk using a meme featuring a photo of him.
Elon Musk Streams Diablo 4 and Gets Mercilessly Trolled by Kick
For those unaware, Kick is a streaming platform akin to Twitch that launched in 2022 for streaming and paid the famous streamer xQc a considerable sum of 100 million USD to stream on the platform. The website is known for being a lot more unhinged as compared to Twitch, and their response truly justifies their notoriety about the same.
All of it began when Elon Musk live-streamed himself playing Diablo 4, which is something that the individual has done before as well. This time around, however, he said that Twitter is looking at possibilities and exploring options about monetizing and incentivizing players streaming on the platform. This would allegedly be done by adding a tipping function for viewers to tip their favorite streamers and for streamers to earn through ad revenue, a means similar to YouTube.
Kick channeled its love for Super Smash Bros., the hit fighting game published by Nintendo, and hit back at Musk. The tweet they put up had the familiar “A new foe has appeared! CHALLENGER APPROACHING” screen from the game and inserted a picture of the businessman in a swimsuit.
You can check out the tweet here. It is uncertain whether the platform’s CTO will take offense to the post or if the streaming company will face consequences for making him into a meme. Nothing is inevitable, but netizens will probably see his response, knowing how Musk has been very vocal on social media, especially Twitter.
Following this, the company also commented on the same post, apologized (probably ironically) about the post, and asked Elon Musk not to shadow-ban them. Since there has been a timeframe provided for the rollout of the discussed features, it looks like one would have to wait for confirmation.
Monetizing the ability to livestream games on Twitch makes sense when one considers that Elon Musk tweets about games frequently. He has gone on record to speak about titles like Elden Ring, Bioshock, and Quake. How successful the venture will be dictated by the number of players who feel streaming on the platform is a good idea. Considering that the platform has found itself surrounded by controversy now and then, it is unlikely that a successful streamer would switch to X for streaming purposes.
Even if one were to discount the controversy, since X wasn’t intended to be a streaming platform, it is unclear how well-organized and well-designed the infrastructure for the website will be. So, many switches are not expected unless a big streamer is paid millions to let go of their current partnership and switch to X.
The gaming industry and passive, second-hand consumerism, i.e., watching streamers play their favorite games on stream and interacting with them, have become increasingly common. This is mainly because streamers have become prevalent public figures, and the Internet is no longer only available to the wealthy. Elon’s interest in the game streaming side of the industry indicates his passion as a gamer and suggests that he finds it profitable.
After all, it is impossible for someone to even talk about upcoming features in the pipeline if they are not deemed fit and profitable by several company stakeholders. Regardless, it is doubtful that Twitter will be able to attract the masses, both streamers and viewers, as well as Kick and Twitch, unless it has a wildcard up its sleeves.
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