Twitch has lost another of its biggest streamers to a rival platform after 100 Thieves’ content creator Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop announced on November 5 that he will be streaming exclusively on YouTube.
CouRage, who had amassed over 2.1 million followers on Twitch, becomes the third high-profile name to leave the platform after Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins and Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek’s moves to Microsoft’s streaming site, Mixer. Many expected the next Twitch departure to also head to Mixer, and CouRage’s deal with YouTube came as a surprise to some.
CouRage already boasts a big following on YouTube with over 1.8 million subscribers to his channel. However, it had only been used for uploading highlight videos and vlogs before this, with all his streaming being done on Twitch. After announcing the news, he tweeted: “To say this YouTube move is life changing is an understatement. 5 years ago I was an unpaid intern and now I’m able to support my family in ways I could never imagine. I’ll never forget this moment.”
CouRage’s announcement video showed him replicating scenes from famous TV shows or streaming trends (such as ‘Jack’s Anatomy’ and ‘CouRage ASMR’) and featured fellow 100 Thieves streamer Rachel ‘Valkyrae’ Hofsetter and the organisation’s founder Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag.
The Next Chapter…
CouRage x YouTubehttps://t.co/StYfTG6UEE pic.twitter.com/CyYB6gcnHc
— Jack “CouRage” Dunlop (@CouRageJD) November 4, 2019
Despite the lighthearted nature of the video, CouRage does give a number of reasons throughout for joining YouTube, which echo some sentiments made by fellow Twitch departures Ninja and Shroud.
“This move opens up so many possibilities,” he says to Valkyrae and Nadeshot. “I want to grow as an entertainer.”
Later in the video, he says: “I feel like I could do so much more. I don’t want to get stagnant and feel like I’m stuck in some nine-to-five job.”
Interestingly, CouRage is part of the talent agency Loaded, who also have Ninja and Shroud on their books. There are also a number of influential streamers that Loaded represent, such as Ben ‘DrLupo’ Lupo and Tim ‘TimeTheTatman’ Betar, so could we maybe see some of these names move away from Twitch in the enar future too?
CouRage’s first YouTube-exclusive stream will be today, November 5, at 12:00 PST (20:00 GMT).