Emmett Shear, CEO of a hugely popular streaming platform convulsionswill step down from his position after more than 16 years in command.
Shear announced his departure twitter thread today. According to screenshots in his blog post, he paused in the wake of the birth of his son to ponder his future on Twitch. He compared it to raising a child, growing from a 24/7 reality show to a site where streamers can deliver their gameplay to millions of people.
“Twitch often feels like the child I raised,” Sia said. At 16, I feel like Twitch is ready to leave home and adventure alone.From Twitch as CEO.”
In October 2006, we started working on live video for the Internet. That became Twitch. Over 16 years later, I am now a father and ready for the next phase of my life. I wrote a blog post and here’s the short version: Thanks to everyone who helped build this with me.
— Emmett Shear (@eshear) March 16, 2023
Twitch’s current president, Dan Clancy, will soon become CEO. Shear will continue to serve as an advisor on Twitch.
growing pains
Shear founded Twitch in October 2006 as Justin.tv, a 24/7 reality show. This is named after his one of his co-founders, Justin Kan, and was made to chronicle Kan’s life.
As the years went by, Shear said he didn’t think a single-person, round-the-clock reality series was the best idea. A favorite game watched by millions of people.
In the last decade, it made Fortnite a household name, turned Ninja and Pokimane into stars, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon. There is also no shortage of controversies such as: deepfake scandal more. Either way, his Twitch influence on the gaming community is undeniable, attracting millions of users a day.
Christina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she has her love for Sonic the Hedgehog up her sleeve like a big deal – follow her on her Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
