Moist Esports Sues U.S. Gov, Helldivers 2 Takes Down Sony, Creator Royale 2 Announcement

Today’s edition is brought to you by Fanatical - Fanatical is on a mission to help gamers from all over the world find amazing games at amazing prices. Fanatical lets you quickly find what you want from a selection of over 10,000 officially licensed digital games from over 1,100+ publishers. SEE LATEST DEALS

Any typos in this email are on purpose actually.

Happy Tuesday Streamers!

Last weekend I had my first pulga experience! If you aren’t familiar, pulga is Spanish for flea market. I had never gone to one where I’m from, so getting a chance to visit my first in San Antonio was a treat!

I was surprised by how many vendors were selling gaming equipment and titles. One vendor in particular had whole garage’s worth of retro consoles from the NES to the Xbox 360. I almost snagged a Gamecube, but the price was a little high.

I did, however, manage to grab these awesome anime pins for my work backpack.

I also met with a vendor who sold me an awesome Crash Bandicoot figure that will be displayed proudly on my office desk.

Celebrating May The 4th

While I was out exploring the best deals pulgas can offer, many others were celebrating Star Wars Day! I would have LOVED to see The Phantom Menace in theaters for its re-release. Instead, I settled for throwing on Revenge of the Sith on Disney+ and dusting off my Fortnite account to see what Star Wars skins were available in the shop.

We DID get some cute photos of my 7 month old daughter in Princess Leia’s signature look from A New Hope. That was pretty cool!

There are some awesome deals on Star Wars games going on right now:

• Star Wars: Squadron for $2 on Steam Visit Steam Page

• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is 90% OFF Visit Steam Page

• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is 55% OFF Visit Steam Page

• Star Wars Battlefront 2 is 91% OFF Visit Steam Page

• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is 75% OFF Visit Fanatical

If you don’t want to spend, the aforementioned Fortnite is in the middle of a massive Star Wars event spanning all game modes.

Anyway, all this to say I hope y’all enjoyed your Star Wars Day!

Keys Available for Indie Horror Game

Last week, I shared a great opportunity for horror game streamers.

Huge thank you to those of you who reached out to grab a game key for Exanimum: The Silent Call.

I still have a few Steam keys so I’m putting the word out again!

If you choose to stream this title, it would go a long way to support indie developer Perspektik! Interested? DM me on Twitter with your media kit.

That’s all for now! Enjoy the rest of the content below.

Dim

DON’T MISS OUT: If you’re viewing via email and notice this edition is getting clipped. You’ll miss a few important updates unless you switch to View on Browser using the link in the top right corner of this email.

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. ⏱️Play - The website HowLongToBeat has released a daily game similar to Wordle that has players guess how long games take to beat. Try it next time you go live!

2. 🏅Compete - Popular Twitch and Tiktok creator Katliente announced Creator Royale 2 which has creators showcasing their content in several challenges. Submit your Intro Video before May 10th! Find more info and rules here

3. 🙋Request - Grab your Steam key for Reus 2, a soothing adventure game in which you guide humanity as mighty giants and shape the evolution of multiple worlds. Get Key

4. 🛍️Claim - Get a copy of LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars for FREE through Prime Gaming and GOG. Claim Now

5. 🙋Request - Creators can request a code for Venture to the Vile, a narrative and exploration-focused metroidvania adventure. Register Now

🥇This Week’s Top Stories

Your Favorite YouTuber Is Suing The U.S. Immigration

Okay, I don’t actually know if he is your favorite. However, you may be familiar with MoistCr1TiKaL who has amassed 15 million YouTube subscribers who tune in watch him play games and spill the tea on topics ranging from the Kendrick versus Drake Rap War to his thoughts on Amazon’s Invincible series.

In addition to regular uploads on his YouTube channel, MoistCr1TiKaL also owns an esports team, Moist Esports, which competes in Rocket League, Valorant, and Apex Legends.

In one of his most recent uploads, he shares an update to an ongoing situation him and his esports team has had with U.S. immigration. Three members of his Apex Legends esports team, who are all Australian, were denied entry into the U.S. to compete in a tournament multiple times over the course of six months. He further explained that he was forced to release the team in order to allow them to compete, which is a huge blow to the organization.

MoistCr1TiKaL furiously proclaimed his intentions to sue the Department of Immigration. Not only did the visa situation force him to drop his esports players, but Moist Esports won’t recoup any of the damages as a result of the denial. MoistCr1TiKaL states that the U.S. government is not liable for any damages they were directly responsible adding more frustration to the situation.

Despite all the difficulties, MoistCr1TiKaL expressed pride in the team who has competed well throughout the Apex Legends tournament. He also promised to keep everyone updated on the lawsuit as it develops.

You can watch the full video here.

Major Order Complete. Sony Defeated By The Helldivers 2 Community

Helldivers 2 is one of 2024’s best-selling games. Since its launch, Helldiver 2 earned overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam for its addictive gameplay and community-driven approach to a live service game.

This all took a turn for the worst when Sony announced plans to force PC and console players to link an active PlayStation Network account. And yes, this goes for players who don’t own a PlayStation or have a PlayStation account.

Of all the gaming communities that Sony could have pissed off, Helldivers 2 was certainly the WORST. The community quickly organized and review bombed the Helldivers 2 Steam page; amassing over 200K negative reviews.’

After several days of protesting, Sony finally backed down and announced they would be discontinuing any plans to force the PlayStation Network account linking.

Helldivers 2’s creative director said he was impressed by the “willpower” of players who had created immense pressure for Sony in only a few days.

The Steam page is already showing signs of leveling out as users remove or update their reviews.

Mission accomplished patriots. 🫡

📥More Great Content. Right To Your Inbox.📥

Your free subscription helps support my work!

• Twitch announced several events in celebration of AAPI Heritage month featuring prominent creators including HealthyGamer_GG, loughh, supershigi, and CocoConfession. See Tweet

• The deadline to submit ideas for TwitchCon San Diego is May 13th. Oh! And tickets to attend will go on sale later this month! Submit Your Ideas

• Twitch is emailing creators to notify them about upcoming changes to the Monetized Streamer Agreement effective June 3, 2024. Check your email!

• Twitch launched 30 new Hype Train emotes organized by theme. The emotes were created by prominent creators in the Twitch community. Music: @GOBLINTENGU | Sports: @ABritoArt | Games: @LumpyTouch | Food & Drink: @artbynoir | Just Chatting: @symon_redd | Animals: @SharpBalloons

• Twitch has updated the engagement buttons included on clips: Follow, Subscribe, Gift a Sub and Watch Live.

• YouTube is launching an AI-powered “Jump Ahead” feature for Premium subscribers. The feature would allow users to skip ahead to the most interesting parts of a video. This will only be available to Premium users on Android for now. Read Article

• YouTube is testing a GenAI content inspiration tool that will help creators brainstorm ideas, understand their audience better, and create videos faster. See the update

• Creator Liaison, Rene, sits down with legal live streamer Emily D. Baker, and YouTube Director of Product Management for Fan Funding and Memberships, Bangaly for a chat about community. Watch Video

SPONSORED BY

$18.74 $24.99

INDIKA is a third-person, story-driven game set in a strange world where religious visions clash with harsh reality.

🎙️ Creator News

• Footage captures Twitch streamer Kai Cenat dancing on stage at a Nicki Minaj concert. See Tweet

• The AT&T Annihilator Cup returns in 2024 featuring top Twitch streamers like Sketch, DrLupo, Emiru and JakeNBake competing for a $250K prize pool. The event was live streamed over the weekend and saw blank win this week’s Fortnite tournament. Each week in May will feature another tournament including League of Legends (May 9), Street Fighter 6 (May 16), and Counter Strike 2 (May 23).

• Sykkuno and BruceDropEmOff announce their return to Twitch after signing exclusive streaming deals with YouTube and Kick respectively. Even after all the missteps, is Twitch still the place to be?

• YouTuber Chris Stuckmann’s first full-length film, Shelby Oaks, is in post-production. Mike Flanagan, creator of Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, is on as a producer. See Article

• T-Pain (yes, that T-Pain) was featured in Billboard magazine sharing how streaming on Twitch has influenced his music career. See Article

• Twitch Streamer, Sweet Anita, shares some heartfelt messages from individuals who benefitted from covering the cost of their therapy, something she’s been doing for a few years now. See Tweet

🔴Streaming News

• Tracks from Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Billie Eilish are being added back to the TikTok library after TikTok and UMG agreed to a new licensing agreement. Read Article

• Meta announced plans to add several AI-powered tools to Facebook and Instagram that may potentially help connect brands and creators collaborating on sponsored content. Read Article

• Instagram is testing a new feature allowing creators to go live with channel subscribers only. See Post

• Discord released the first edition of its Patch Notes feature highlighting technical bugs that the dev team is squashing. Read Article

• NPR seems to think the TikTok ban is an “extinction-level event” for the creator economy. Read Article

🎮 Gaming News

• Star Wars has jumped to Lego Fortnite in a new collaboration celebrating of May The 4th. See Tweet

• Hades II is now available in Early Access and has overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam. See Steam Page

• Super Nintendo World opens in Universal Orlando next year. See Announcement

• In a Steam update, the developers of Another Crab’s Treasure announce that the indie souls-like has crossed 150K sales across all platforms. Watch The Trailer

• A recent AfterMath article covers how some algorithm changes from Google have cut traffic to popular gaming sites like Dexerto, Gamerant, Game Informer, and Kotaku by over 60%. Read Article

• Apex Legends teases a New Legend named Alter in a trailer for Season 21 of the popular battle royale. The announcement also included some new features coming to the game. See Update

• Marvel Rivals reveals its Closed Alpha will include 5 game modes, a May 10th tournament with a $22,500 prize pool, the ability to earn in-game invites, and a potential Twitch Drops collab. See Tweet

❤️Kind Words from the Community❤️

Follow Paopura on Twitch

Share your testimonial to get featured here

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

Did you enjoy this week’s newsletter? If you did, I’d love if you would take a second to share this newsletter with at least one friend this week. By doing that once, you’d not only be supporting the newsletter, but you’d also help your friend be better informed about everything happening in the gaming / streaming space. Look at you being such a good friend!

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

-Dim

Disclaimer: Some links in this post are affiliate links. I only suggest products I believe in and personally use myself. If you have questions, please ask. Thanks for your support!