Dr Disrespect revealed that he would want $50 million to jump ship fromYouTubeto Kick. The popular streamer cited this eye-watering figure that even prompted a response from Kick shortly afterAsmongold weighed in on the ongoing drama between Dr Disrespect and Hasan.Backed by the co-founders of crypto betting startup Stake, Kick launched in December 2022 as yet another Twitch rival seeking to succeed where the likes of Facebook Gaming and Microsoft’s Mixer failed. The service touts its relaxed approach to moderation and generous 95-5 revenue split in favor of content creators as some of its main selling points. Its current growth strategy largely revolves around tying popular Internet personalities to non-exclusive streaming partnerships in order to secure a consistent influx of popular content. The latest such move arrived earlier this month whenxQc confirmed he signed a massive Kick dealvalued up to $100 million, a new industry record.RELATED:NICKMERCS Says Hasan is Dead to HimA week later, Herschel “Dr Disrespect” Beahm IV has taken to Twitter to publicly inform Kick he’d be willing to follow in xQc’s footsteps for half that amount. The streaming platform promptly responded to his tweet, with a company spokesperson jokingly writing they “need to ask for a raise” on June 22. The figure cited by Dr Disrespect matches the $50 million deal Ninja signed with Mixer back in 2019, which was the biggest contract in the history of the streaming industry until this year. Before Kick signed xQc,Adin Ross’s move to the new streaming platformis also widely believed to have surpassed Ninja’s deal in terms of overall value.
It remains to be seen whether Dr Disrespect’s blunt offer to Kick amounts to anything, although that’s not looking likely right now, not least because negotiations over multi-million streaming deals rarely start on social media. Moreover, it’s still unclear whether the Twitch rival is even eager to maintain the momentum of its ongoing talent pursuit. After all, the last massive contract it gave out has already raised plenty of questions afterxQc started openly defying Kick staff and policieswithin days of announcing his $100 million deal.
Since Dr Disrespect has a comparably controversial track record culminating in his permanent ban from Twitch that saw him move toYouTubethree years ago, the possibility of partnering with him might not necessarily look overly attractive to Kick right now. On the other hand, drama drives engagement, and Kick has already demonstrated it’s more than willing to take risks by signing polarizing streamers in its pursuit of growth.
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