Jaryd ‘Summit1g’ Lazar has revealed that he’s considering taking a break from streaming due to the “toxic” nature of users on Twitch Chat.
A variety streamer, Summit exploded in popularity when big names like Ninja and Shroud had both left for Mixer and with 5.3 million follows is now considered one of the benchmarks of success for other aspiring Twitch upstarts.
One of the joys or annoyances for any streamer, especially on Twitch, is engagement with chat, but this can be especially trying if the chat happens to be filled with negativity and stupid comments.
During a recent broadcast of a Fall Guys tournament that he was playing in with Shroud, after Summit falling in an early round of the game, Summit took a moment to respond to the chat users who were bashing his play style:
“You guys really know how to suck the fun out of things bros, thanks,” he replied. “I think it’s just a good time to announce that I think I’m going to take some more time off the stream, couple days a week.”
He went on to express that if he can’t have fun with his viewers playing a silly game like Fall Guys, there isn’t much else he can have fun with.
Summit also said he may leave the site entirely once his contract is up, as “Twitch has taken quite a turn and if you can make this s*** unenjoyable, I don’t know how much longer I want to be on the site, might just run this contract we’ll see.”
He further explained that “It’s not just this, this is just the icing on the cake from how it’s been for a long time. Twitch has been a joke for a while when it comes to the new toxicity of it.”
Summit also stated that he started streaming to enjoy the company of his viewers, rather than to seriously compete in any given game being played.
While Summit “used to stream because it was more fun to stream than play by myself but now if you think about it,” he has now found that he “would have a much more enjoyable time playing with these dudes by myself off-stream.”
It definitely sounds as if Summit’s Twitch future is cloudy, and if he does decide to hang up streaming all together, it will be a massive blow to Twitch’s entire platform.
However given that he feels this negatively now, a platform change may be the best thing down the road.
After all, As proven with Dr. Disrespect’s recent success on YouTube, change can be good.
In the case of Summit1G, it’ll be interesting to see what his streaming future holds.