Streamlabs has been the center of a controversy after recent allegations claimed out that it copied the website of Lightstream; a live streaming studio program, and one of its competitors.
Lightstream vs. Streamlabs—What's Actually Going On?
Earlier this week, Streamlabs, a live streaming platform, launched a new service called Streamlabs Studio, which helps streamers share their gameplay without any third-party hardware or apps.
The issue began when Lightstream, another streaming service that's similar to Streamlabs Studio, published a tweet saying that Streamlabs had copied its website, showing a side-by-side comparison. This revealed that both websites had a similar design and product descriptions.
Shortly after, Streamlabs came out and said it made a mistake and that the "landing page was placeholder text that went into production by error" while also changing its website after the fact.
Many people quickly pointed out that Streamlabs' reviews were also similar to the ones on Lightstream's website. That includes famous stream iamBrandon, who, according to his tweet, said he reached out to the people who wrote the reviews when he worked at Lightstream.
That's Not The End for Streamlabs
Unfortunately for Streamlabs, the controversy didn't end there. The other problems began because the company also announced that it would change its name from "Streamlabs OBS" to just "Streamlabs."
Open Broadcaster Software, better known as OBS—an open-source video-recording and streaming platform, and the software that was used to create Streamlabs—revealed it had asked Streamlabs not to use "OBS" in its name. Streamlabs didn't listen and used OBS while also filing a trademark for the name.
At the moment of this writing, Streamlabs hasn't made any comments about these allegations.
What Does This Mean for Streamlabs?
Right now, it's hard to tell how much these allegations will affect Streamlabs as a whole, but it seems like the company will face a lot of backlash for these issues.
Because of these allegations, many streamers have stopped using Streamlabs altogether. Popular streamer Pokimane also said that if Streamlabs didn't resolve these problems, she would ask the company to take her face off the platform and "look to use another donation service."
Streamlabs has made no statements about this situation other than apologizing to Lightstream earlier this week. We still have to wait and see when or if the company will address any of these other allegations in the upcoming days.
The Future Of Streamlabs
As of right now, no one knows what the future holds for Streamlabs. Whether you're a streamer or looking to become one, you might want to start looking for some live streaming software alternatives to help you stream your favorite games.