SPECULATION surrounding the future of streamer Pokimane has taken another twist after it was revealed that her Twitch contract had come to an end.
Fans believe that the decision not to renew her two-year-deal comes amid ongoing threats of legal action.
Is Pokimane leaving Twitch?
On January 31, 2022, Pokimane confirmed that her Twitch contract had ended.
She made the announcement on a live stream where she shared thoughts on a “wild two years” after with a “lots of up and downs, lots of memories and lots of friends”.
The Moroccan-Canadian streamer later doubled down on the news – confirming in a tweet that she’ll be a free agent for the first time since March 2020.
However, she added that “she would see everyone on February 8 for the next chapter” – signalling rumours that she may be set to join another platform such as Facebook Gaming or YouTube.
Why has Pokimane’s Twitch contract ended?
The reasons behind Pokimane’s departure remain unclear, but many fans have speculated that her contract was ended following a spate of controversial incidents.
In January, it was reported that the streamer had been accused of defamation for discussing interactions between gamers Ninja and Jidion.
She reportedly called Ninja out (via @JakeSucky) for helping Jidion try to evade a ban he had received from the platform.
“I wonder if Ninja would’ve said ‘b*tches’ if it was a large male streamer that was hate-raided, but I digress,” she said.
Ninja then messaged Pokimane behind the scenes, and his wife and manager, Jessica Blevins also reached out insinuating they would take legal action in DMs exposed by Poki.
She told the streamer that the pair are “considering everything defamation of character” and are getting their legal team involved.
“You are spewing lies to tens of thousands of people,” Blevins continued, before admitting that Ninja’s offer to help Jidion on stream wasn’t genuine and that he never reached out to his rep.
Come February, it was then revealed that Pokimane could face court as YouTuber TheQuartering accused her of “bullying.”
It came amid allegations that her legal team had attempted to shut down YouTube videos criticising her.
Pokimane’s representatives had alleged that his videos don’t fall under fair use, but have neglected to use YouTube’s systems and processes to remove them.
TheQuartering pointed out that if they went through the proper channels on the platform, they’d have to “commit to going to court”.
