If you want to understand the budding rivalry between Twitch and Kick, there’s only one thing you must know: It’s all about the shoes. After Twitch created some custom kicks for streaming superstar Kai Cenat, upstart competitor Kick sent Cenat a brand-new pair of Nikes.
The subtext behind Kick’s gift is clear: The gambling-oriented streaming platform is looking to curry favor with the top draw in the streaming world. Cenat smashed records on Twitch during a 30-day sub-a-thon earlier this year. By the time the campaign concluded, the Bronx native had collected more than 300,000 concurrent subscriptions. That’s the most active subs a Twitch broadcaster has ever had.
Twitch celebrated Cenat’s accomplishment by sending him a purple pair of shoes emblazoned with his “KC” insignia and the logo of AMP, the creator group that counts Cenat as one of its members. The recipient of the gift did not seem too amused by it, as he was hoping Twitch would send him a contract instead.
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In the past, Cenat has argued that Twitch does not do enough to support Black creators. “For so many years, people of my color, we’ve been unrecognized,” Cenat said during a previous sub-a-thon. “I refuse for my community to go unnoticed…There’s not one time I’ve seen anyone in my community on the front page of [Twitch].”
The powers that be at Kick seem to have recognized that Cenat is disgruntled with the platform that hosts his record-breaking streams. In a move Cenat described as the “biggest one-up,” Kick sent him a pair of green Nike x OffWhite Air Force 1s. As he unboxed them, he reacted with astonishment.
If Kick were to sign Cenat to a streaming contract, it would be a major coup, but the AMP star doesn’t seem like he’s ready to decide his preferred platform just yet. He’s more interested in acting out roleplays in which Twitch and Kick’s gifted shoes stand in for the companies themselves. “I just want to be good with my supporters,” Cenat said.
This bit of improv isn’t the first sign that Cenat is considering a move to Kick. On April Fools’ Day, he played a prank on Kick star Adin Ross. “Guess who’s coming to Kick?” he joked during a phone call with Ross.
If Cenat does make that switch, he would join streamers like Hikaru Nakamura and Corinna Kopf on a platform that is delivering promising financial returns. Some established streamers have made more than $30,000 in their first months on Kick. For someone as popular as Cenat, the Kick paydays could be massive.
