Kick trolled Twitch by announcing KickCon. Streamers want it to be real.

Kick is trolling its main rival, but its latest stunt may be more than a simple joke. On Twitter, the gambling-oriented streaming platform teased an event called KickCon, which — if real — will go down in the same city as Twitch’s long-running convention.

The Kick tweet included an image of a ticket, which showed that KickCon 2023 will occur in Las Vegas on a date that will be announced in the future. Some replies to the tweet speculated that KickCon could go down on October 20, when TwitchCon will take over Sin City for three days. Kick offered a coy reply to that theory.

The ticket looks official, but there’s no other evidence to suggest that KickCon is anything more than an elaborate goof. Dexerto 

noted that the streamer Trainwreck, who is closely associated with Kick, has not confirmed that the rumored convention will actually happen.

Planning a convention is a lot of work, especially when a rival is holding their own event next door. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Kick revealed its con as a ruse, but several creators have already indicated that they would attend KickCon if the event does in fact go down.

Kick could gain a lot from a gathering of its nascent user base. After launching as a more permissive alternative to Twitch, the streaming hub attracted several top personalities, who are making thousands per month by broadcasting gameplay and gambling content on the new platform.

After seeing those positive early results, several top streamers are mulling whether their time on Twitch has come to an end. Felix “xQc” Lengyel seemed to ask ChatGPT whether he should announce a Kick move, though the French-Canadian star claimed the chat messages were nothing more than another prank.

The more compelling case is Kai Cenat, who has been linked to Kick in the wake of several disputes with Twitch. If Trainwreck and co. can attract the most-subscribed streamer in the world, they can bring Kick to a new era of legitimacy. To convince Cenat, however, Kick might want to show him that it has a thriving community — and that’s where KickCon would come in handy. I’m still betting the convention is a troll, but it might actually be a good idea.