Isnt Support a Streamer better than conventional paid skins?

I was just thinking it over. Regular paid skins would be like this:

1.) Go to Blizzard’s store.
2.) Pay Blizzard to get skin.

But Support a Streamer is like this:

1.) Go to twitch.
2.) Donate to that streamer (or gift subs or whatever)
3.) Get skin.

In the second scenario, some streamer just got something out of their streaming, which can be a big boost if they’re trying to make a living off of streaming. You also got your skin, and Blizzard got the added benefit of getting more eyes on Overwatch.

Really, the only issue I can see with it is if you’re like me and don’t like twitch. For the average viewer, I don’t see why this is a bad thing: you’re directly helping a real person instead of just giving money to blizzard.

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To help shape this conversation, let me reshare what Andy said Blizzard’s goals are for this promotion:

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Streamers like XQC are already set up for life. Stop acting like the streamers they chose are struggling to pay rent. Blizzard specifically chose the most popular streamers they could find so they can get high viewership for a game that isn’t generating any hype. It’s free advertising and nothing more.

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This forum hates content creators because they think that everyone that streams video games is a millionaire that doesn’t need the money.

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So, the issue for you isn’t the idea of Support a Streamer in itself? Its the fact that they already chose streamers who don’t really need the money? I’d need to see the list of streamers they chose before I could agree.

I’m just thinking back to when I got the content drop for Back 4 Blood, and I know it was a smaller streamer I watched that had drops enabled. A situation like that is pretty good, I think.

That seems a bit presumptuous. I think many of us have better reasons as to why we don’t support the relationship between Blizzard and CCs.

1.Many of the content creators that Blizzard promotes are actively violating Overwatch TOS and being toxic for views. Then Blizzard goes and says that they love their wholesome streamers.

2.Many of us are doubtful that what Blizzard is attempting is even working. They want to bring in new players, and think that promoting streamers will do this. But most of these streamers’ audiences already play the game. So it’s unlikely that this marketing strategy is actually doing anything. People like ML7 (who I like) have been streaming Overwatch for a very long time. Why are his streams suddenly going to bring in new players? Because Blizzard is prompting him? And he’s gonna promote them? To his audience that plays the game already.

So there’s some reasons. It’s not about the money streamers make.

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No, the majority of the world thinks that this game is dead. Especially if we want to talk about the audience of massive streamers like xQc.

I said that an Overwatch streamer, has an audience that likely plays the game. So promoting Overwatch streamers isn’t going to show the game to the world. It’s going to show the game to people who already know about it.

Yeah but this program would bring in more people that would want to stream the game because they would have a financial incentive to do so.

Actively as in “each and every stream?” or do they just have a history of being toxic? In both cases, I feel like I’d be fine with them promoted as long as their cleaned up their act for the duration of their sponsorship.

Which is funny because OWL still gets a considerable amount of views. I had first thought they were pumping the numbers up with bots, but the chat was incredibly active, so I don’t know. Usually, when people are botting streams, the chat reflects it by being dead.

No it wouldn’t, because Blizzard has their special list of streamers. The closest exception is streamers like Pokimane who aren’t known as Overwatch streamers. But the majority of the streamers they promote play the game regularly. So it’s hard to understand where the new players will come from.

Many of the streamers Blizzard has promoted have done things like Bronze to GM series. Many have done things like “Trolling Bronzes” series. Not to mention things like other smurfing, false reporting, and general toxicity.

Not all of these things even bother me specifically. If I find a streamer too toxic I simply won’t watch them. But when Blizzard promotes a streamer they’re giving an endorsement.

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This would want people to get on the list by streaming Overwatch more actively.

There are plenty of low name streamers who play Overwatch that aren’t on the list. And some of the streamers they promote stop playing during the content droughts. So it doesn’t seem like there’s a clear path for CCs to get on the list.

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It’s mostly just that they left out a lot of OW content creators who are actually struggling while including a bunch of big-names who aren’t actually even streaming OW anymore.

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Some may even have their own circumstances too. Take Mori Calliope from HoloLive as an example, she has to play a total of 80% of her income to taxes due to her duo citizenship. Japan tax takes 40% of her income, and US tax takes the other 40% of her income.

Anyways, what most people on the forum don’t realize is that the OW players that are donating to other streamers that don’t play OW a majority of the time, would still donate to the same streamer regardless of the promo or not. The skin is just free extra to them.

It is a bunch of extra complexity needed to get the skin. I’m at work waiting for a big old chunk of devops to deploy, it is horrible, and complex, and honestly I am about done with dealing with complexity “just because someone else wants it”.

Now I’m being told if I want the skin, I can’t get it though the store, but I have to sort out my twitch account, link it up to my credit card, link my twitch up to my overwatch account, work out which streamers are not awful people and pick someone there, get on to their stream when they are on, and them do a sub donation or something.

Because they want to do more advertising.

You know? No, my poor overstressed ADHD brain has had enough. I play overwatch to relax, not to have more work and complexity pushed on me.

Like, put it in the damn store, and they can give the result to a streamer if they want to support them. Or have a drop down there.

But don’t push a bunch of extra complexity on me. I didn’t sign up for this. I’m happy to support a streamer, even which ever one Blizzard wants to support, but please please don’t push more complexity on me to do so.

This sucks.

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The amount of money she has to be making to have to pay that level of taxes is over half million, AND that you are only taxed that amount for the money made AFTER that first half a million, not the entire thing.

Its unfortunate she has to pay taxes to two different countries, but she’s making that level of money that makes her top 1% of Americans in terms of income, I can’t even imagine how much that is globally.

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I’d buy this line of reasoning if they were doing small OW streamers to support the scene, but these are mostly big name streamers and OWL/Blizz employees.

plus half the money is still going to Big Bad MegaCorp, it’s just going to Amazon instead of ActiBlizz.

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I agree wi the everything you said aside from this.

Overwatch will be the most viewed game on Twitch even if it’s a short while, that will be enough to get new people curious and streams suggested to the by Twitch’s recommendation engine

But many friends of mine don’t even have a twitch acc. lol

Blizz often do such things like you should buy/play THAT game to get the skin of THIS game, and I just hate it.