Twitch, the No. 1 streaming platform for games and esports, reportedly suffered a data breach earlier today, revealing the gross earnings that some of the most popular channels on Twitch have purportedly amassed from August 2019 to October 2021.
The purported sums could refer to subscription, ad revenue, and bits that these channels gathered during that period. CriticalRole tops the chart with a purported direct payout of $9,626,712, followed by xQc at $8,454,427.
A user uploaded a 125 GB torrent link containing the data on 4chan and an anonymous source confirmed to Video Games Chronicle that the files are legitimate, including the platform’s source code.
Next on the list are summit1g with a purported $5,847,541 earned and Tfue with $5,295,582. The list goes on and contains the earnings of other streaming personalities, such as NICKMERCS, TimTheTatman, Asmongold, Tyler1, Gaules, and shroud.
Twitch is aware of the breach and believed the data was obtained as recently as Oct. 4, according to VGC’s source. The Amazon-owned platform, however, is yet to release a statement regarding the leak and its possible consequences. A Twitter user who’s digging through the leaked data said there are also encrypted passwords hidden among the files. This hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s worth changing your password and enabling two-factor authentication just in case.
This leak could bring huge consequences to Twitch’s business and see more streamers switch to other streaming platforms such as YouTube Gaming, which recently poached TimTheTatman and DrLupo from Twitch.
Update Oct. 6 10:25am CT: Twitch has confirmed the data breach and will issue an update as soon as more information is available.
Published: Oct 6, 2021 07:37 am