Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek — one of the most influential live-streamers on the internet — has today announced his triumphant, exclusive return to Twitch, the platform that made him famous, after a detour to Mixer that possibly netted him a cool $10 million when the site went dark and his contract got paid out.
It’s a big deal. Grzesiek was one of the biggest names on Twitch pre-Mixer acquisition, and him leaving the site last October for then-greener pastures appeared to signal a worrying exodus of talent from Twitch onto other competing live-streaming platforms, like YouTube, Facebook Gaming, and Mixer. Ten months and one (ongoing) pandemic later, Mixer is gone and the entire live-streaming landscape has shifted again.
I’m coming…
