The platform started in 2007 as Justin.tv, a live-streaming project following the life of Justin Kan, who started the site with Mr. Shear and two others. Mr Shear wrote that he “thought at the time that we would most likely fail and give up in less than a year”.
Instead, the site became a hub for live video and transitioned to Twitch in 2011, a place where video game players streamed their gameplay. In 2014, Amazon bought the site for $1 billion. .
As Twitch has grown, it has faced the same questions as other social platforms, such as how it should regulate harmful content and keep its users happy. It also faces the additional question of how best to cater to its star content creators, many of whom have been lured to rival platforms like YouTube. Over the past few years, Twitch creators have called out the platform for not doing enough to protect them from online stalkers and harassment, and complained that the site takes too high a cut of their revenue.
Despite the controversy, Twitch has continued to thrive. The site now attracts seven million streamers each month and 31 million viewers daily.
From now on, Mr. Clancy, who already ran the day-to-day operations of the site, will take over. A long-time Google employee and Nextdoor executive, he lacks the gaming background of Mr. Shear, an avid StarCraft player.
