Riot apologizes for divisive 2XKO Twitch campaign, promises a "better solution" for the League of Legends fighting game

I love a good Twitch drop. As someone who spends far too much time on the purple platform, watching the likes of Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont scream at League of Legends, every time I earn a new reward I get that little dopamine hit. But, despite launching Season 1 on Wednesday January 21, 2XKO has found itself in hot water with content creators, as its new Twitch campaign feels more like free promotion than something that rewards hours watched. Global head of player community Erin ‘Aureylian’ Wayne has responded to concerns over the program, promising a “better solution for future activations” going forward.

So what’s the issue? To celebrate 2XKO’s full launch, Riot has partnered with Twitch for a free bonus subscription campaign, running from Thursday January 22 through Monday February 2. Per a screenshot from streamer ‘BloodyDrongo,’ “for every bundle of five subs purchased on your channel, Riot will add one bonus gift sub.”

Now, on paper, that sounds great: a lucky viewer will get their sub paid for by the fighting game’s developer. BloodyDrongo points out, however, that “bonus gift sub earnings are paid out based on your typical net share revenue.” Typically, Twitch can take up to a 50% split of all subs – included gifted ones – so, while the creator will earn some extra money, Twitch is racking up a good chunk of change.

“Not only do they [Riot and Twitch] now expect our communities to pay for us to receive payment to promote a product to them, they’ll be taking 30 to 50% of the gifted subs and 30% to 50% of the bonus subs that are compensation for creators,” BloodyDrongo writes, and the comments on his post are equally as damning.

The primary issue seems to revolve around the idea of “sponsorship.” In this instance, viewers are still paying to view, and the additional gifted sub (locked behind that five-sub gate) doesn’t really provide that much revenue, especially in lieu of any concrete sponsorship fee. If your sub is $5, and Twitch is already taking a cut from the five-sub stack, then an extra $2.50 isn’t anything to write home about – especially if you’re a smaller steamer who isn’t constantly inundated with new, paid viewers.

Wayne has since responded to creator concerns, noting that Riot is “experimenting throughout the year with different ways to recognize and reward creators for creating content around our games. The goal with this campaign was to celebrate 2XKO’s console launch and reward creators who stream 2XKO with bonus gifted subs alongside their communities. It definitely was not intended to replace traditional sponsorships or influencer marketing campaigns, and especially not to devalue creator UGC [user generated content].

“We’re working with the Twitch team to build a better solution for future activations so campaigns like these are not presented as a sponsorship,” she continues. “I can personally say that we always want to leave creators feeling valued and rewarded. Your feedback is appreciated, and we’re excited for you to see more of what’s in store in this endeavor.”

In response to comments rehighlighting the “sponsorship” issue, Wayne admits that “that’s the name of the Twitch product.” The problem here, then, is Twitch’s wording. If the system was called literally anything else (World of Warcraft titan Tim ‘Esfand’ Esfandiari suggests “Incentives” in the comments), creators may not have felt as short-changed.

The issue remains, however, that a lot of smaller streamers won’t consistently get five-sub bundles. To me this is more of a problem: the system works well for more popular creators, but doesn’t feel universally inclusive. It’s why I’ve always found the standard Twitch drop to be the way to go: you get a cool cosmetic, the streamer gets the viewership, and everyone’s happy. Very Nasus, Much Wow is still one of my favorite League emotes, so hopefully Riot’s next 2XKO campaign produces something equally as iconic.