Mad Mushroom Launches First Game, Watcher Drama, New iOS Emulator Emerges

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Happy Tuesday, Streamers!

I’ve been touching a lot of grass this past week because we’re currently celebrating Fiesta in San Antonio, Texas. Fiesta is an annual celebration highlighting the city’s rich and diverse culture. I’ve been eating a bunch of great food and been hopping around the city with my family to catch some of the festivities. Its been a nice change of pace!

That being said, there was a ton of important updates from Twitch this past week that you’ll want to take a look at.

Also, If you didn’t hear a new iOS emulator hit the App Store that is giving gamers that nostalgia trip they’ve been craving.

I also have a few ready great opportunities in the Tuesday Todos section from new indie titles Snacko, Rumble Club, and Europa.

Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of this email to let me know how I did this week!

Cheers,
Dim

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In This Edition

• Tuesday ToDos

• This Week's Top Stories

• Twitch Platform Updates

• YouTube Platform Updates

• Creator News

• Streaming News

• Gaming News

✅Tuesday To-Dos

Every week I bring you🖐️ actionable tasks to help you improve your content. See what’s new this week 👇

1. 🐱 Grab - Register to receive a creator key for Snacko, a cozy farming sim with featuring a big city cat looking to rebuild their life on a quaint island. Register Now

2. ▶️ Watch - Who said you needed a camera to be a content creator? Robert Blake makes a case for Faceless Channels and other social media trends in 2024. Watch Now

3. ▶️ Rumble - Mad Mushroom, gaming publisher owned by OTK, just released their first game, Rumble Club. OK, this one has more than one opportunity so be sure to check out all the links below:

   1. You can claim a key for the Bronze Founder’s Pack on their LurkIt page.

   2. You can join their new creator program to make a cut on in-game purchases.

   3. Also check out the Creator Hub for streamer tools to help you share Rumble Club with your community including a photo mode, spectate mode, replay mode, and streamer queue to easily rotate your chat into games.

   4. Enable Twitch Drops from today until May 8th to reward your viewers with exclusive in-game prizes.

4. 🔴 Go Live - If you currently use Streamlabs, you can go live on TikTok without a stream key. See Tutorial

5. ⛰️ Grab - Register to receive a creator key for Europa, a Ghibli-inspired adventure game releasing on the Nintendo Switch later this year. Register Now

🥇This Week’s Top Stories

Rediscover Classic Gaming on Your iPhone with the New Delta Emulator

If you're like me, you've probably been longing for an easy way to dive back into the games of your childhood without digging out old consoles from the attic (or buying them at 3X prices on Facebook Marketplace).

Well, good news! There’s a new app called Delta that lets you play those classic NES, SNES, and even Nintendo 64 games right on your iPhone. Sorry, Android users. Here’s how you can get started with Delta:

Adding ROMs

It’s super easy to get games onto Delta.

You can upload ROMs directly from your iPhone’s Files app or sync them over from your Mac using Finder. Just hit the "+" sign in Delta and you’re set.

Sorting and Playing

Once your ROMs are added, Delta sorts them into neat collections by console type. This setup supports a range of systems from the Game Boy to the Nintendo DS. See all supported formats here.

Customizing Your Experience

One of the coolest features of Delta is the ability to customize your controls with different skins. Just head over to skins4delta.com, pick out a skin for your controller, and download it to your Files app. Adding it to Delta is as easy as adding a game.

Why the sudden spike in retro gaming?

Well, the gaming industry has had a ROUGH year so far—what with all the layoffs, online services shutting down, pricey in-app purchases, and overwhelming number of game passes—it seems a lot of us are craving the simplicity and pure fun of the old days.

When I was playing Pokémon Yellow in the 90’s I wasn’t being spammed with messages to spend more money on DLC, skins, and battle passes. I just played and it was great.

Playing a game on Delta doesn’t just remind us of simpler times, it keeps those classics alive and well in our pockets.

If you’re feeling nostalgic or just tired of the modern gaming grind, give Delta a try. It’s a fun and straightforward way to keep the legacy of classic gaming going strong on our modern devices. Plus you could totally stream your Delta ROMs under the Retro category on Twitch.

Here’s to keeping the past playable!

How Not To Announce A New Streaming Platform

There was some big news from Watcher Entertainment over the weekend. Its that huge channel started by those ex-BuzzFeed guys Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej? They’ve really made a name for themselves on YouTube, racking up over 2.8 million subscribers with their unique mix of funny and unscripted shows. They just dropped a bombshell in their latest video titled “Goodbye YouTube.”

From now on, they’re going to stop posting their new stuff for free on YouTube and are moving it all to their own streaming service called watchertv.com. It’s going to be a subscription-based model where everything is ad-free, including all their new shows.

In the video, they explained that sticking with YouTube meant they had to conform to YouTube’s rules to maintain their ad revenue and keep sponsors happy. According to them, it didn’t always let them create the content they really wanted. They also added that they were feeling the financial burden of increasing production costs with each new video. They think this move will give them the freedom and money to make the shows their fans love without interference.

However, not everyone was thrilled by this news. In fact, the announcement got a lot of pushback from their community, especially on YouTube and Twitter. One of the top comments was pretty harsh, saying the video felt like a a middle finger to those with minimum wage jobs.

Watcher must have felt the heat because they quickly backtracked in a follow-up video. In it they promised that subscribers to watchertv.com would get to see new content a month before it hits YouTube, so it’s not like they're abandoning YouTube entirely. Plus, all the past shows will stay up there for free. And if any early adopters jumped on the subscription and are now regretting it, Watcher is offering full refunds.

Personally, I’m all for creators trying to have more control over their work, but I get why people were upset. It’s tough out there, and it feels like everyone is trying to squeeze another dollar out of you. Especially when money’s tight, it’s hard to justify paying more just to keep up with your favorite content. Most of my content subscriptions are bundled with a service like my ISP. I’ve actually been trimming down on subscriptions out of necessity. I feel like this whole story really resonated with and angered members of the community who are struggling financially.

• Twitch is emailing users who were impacted by an issue that caused unexpected sub cancellations. Here is how they plan on making it up: See Tweet

• TwitchCon Rotterdam is only a few months away. Check out the recently released schedule for the event. See Schedule

• A few weeks ago Twitch added a Follower Verification feature that allows creators (or their mods) to require all users or users with new accounts to verify their email address or phone number before following. See Patch Notes

• The Discovery Feed feature is rolling out to all users later this month. It is a scrollable feed of live streams and clips on the Twitch mobile app meant to help viewers quickly find content and help streamers get discovered by more viewers. See Patch Notes

• Mod View for Twitch mobile is coming to iOS. Mods will be able to complete familiar actions and 5 widgets (chat, quick-actions, activity feed, automod queue, and mod actions) are currently available with more to come soon. See Patch Notes

• Twitch is renaming the Travel & Outdoors category to “IRL”. See Patch Notes

• YouTube highlights creators observing Ramadan in a recent blog post. Read Article

• YouTube is experimenting with a new feature that would allow users to toggle on a Personalize Subscription feed. Watch Video

• Creators can now upload Shorts videos that are member-only. Watch Video

• The YouTube Liaison breaks down how you can improve your Thumbnail game. Watch Short

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🎙️ Creator News

• MrsDrLupo and Professorbroman are hosting the St. Jude Play Live Creator Summit charity stream on April 24th at 3pm CST. See Tweet

• Sery_Bot, who you may use as a safety tool, received an unexpected ban from Twitch for “hacking and platform manipulation”. Very strange. The ban was short-lived. See Tweet

• Creators on streamer Twitter express sharp criticism after a streamer by the name of vpnninja87 proudly admitted to ‘viewbotting’ when he shared a suspicious stream performance screenshot. He has since been suspended by Twitch LUL. See Tweet

• Twitch streamer, PirateSoftware, shares that community support has allowed him to hire his employees (including mods) full-time with full benefits and a retirement account. What an accomplishment! See Tweet

• 1,000 Dreams Fund announces its 2024 BroadcastHER ambassadors and creators. See Announcement

🔴Streaming News

• Live.Space announced they will be shutting down their streaming platform on May 1st. Read Announcement

• Right-wing social platform Truth Social announced it has plans to launch its own live streaming service after the company went public in late March. Read Article

• TikTok updates its policies for TikTok Live creators announcing that content with the primary purpose of moving users off-platform will be ineligible for the For You feed. Read Updates

• Elgato launches Neo, a new product line that aims to make live streaming easier and more affordable. The launch includes the Wave Neo, Facecam Neo, Stream Deck Neo, Game Capture Neo, and Keylight Neo. See Launch Trailer

• The U.S. House passed a legislation that would result in a ban of TikTok within the next year. This is a different bill than the one I had previously covered in March. See Article

🎮 Gaming News

• The first trailer for Tales of the Shire, a Hobbit simulator set in Middle-Earth, dropped on Monday. See Trailer

• Fortnite is introducing a “See Confrontational Emotes” setting that will allow players to choose whether they can see emotes that are defined as confrontational. This includes: Laugh It Up, Take The L, Whipcrack, and Make It Plantain See Announcement

• Embracer Group who own the Tomb Raider and Lord of the Rings IPs announced plans to split into 3 distinct companies (Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends) each specializing in an unique area including AAA titles, indie titles, and mobile gaming. Read Article

• The Fallout tv series continues to impact game sales with Fallout 4 sales rising over 7,500% week-on-week across Europe making it the best-selling game in Europe surpassing Helldivers 2. Read Article

• Meta and Xbox are teaming up to create a limited edition Quest headset. See Article

• Earlier this month during the Triple-i Initiative showcase, Gearbox Publishing unveiled a new game called RKGK, a color-soaked love letter to 90s anime, 3D platforming, and Mexican graffiti culture. Read Article

🥳You Made It To The End!🥳
Have A Cookie
🍪

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Thank you so much for reading and I hope to see you next week!

-Dim

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