Subscribing on Twitch is a lot of fun and shows your fave streamers that you support them; however, they're not priced in a way that reflects its global audience. Now, Twitch is working on adjusting its model so that people worldwide get prices that are more realistic to their living standards.
What Was Wrong With Twitch's Previous System?
Beforehand, Twitch's logic behind its pricing was pretty simple. Twitch is an American company, and a Tier 1 subscription is worth $4.99. Therefore, if someone outside of the US wanted to subscribe, Twitch would automatically convert the cost from US dollars to the user's native currency.
This works well on paper, but in practice, it has a major flaw. Different countries have different costs of living and conversion rates to the US dollar. For some countries, a Tier 1 sub has around the same financial impact as an American user; for others, it has a more drastic effect on their income.
On the official Twitch blog, the entertainment giant said that this isn't just a fancy theory:
The percentage of active users in Europe or Asia who support creators with a subscription is roughly 50 percent lower relative to North America. In Latin America, it’s nearly 80 percent lower.
Twitch wants to adjust the cost of subs for each country to reflect better the economy of the user buying them. Instead of simply converting $4.99 into other currencies, the company will work out the financial impact that a Tier 1 sub has on the average US resident, then adjust every country's price to bring it in line with that impact.
As Twitch claims, "the vast majority" of countries will see a price drop in the coming months. Unfortunately, the company cannot say how much a sub will be in each country for the time being; all you can do is look at the Local Subscription Pricing Countries list and see if Twitch has plans for your currency.
If your country is listed, it'll still be a little while until you see the prices reflect correctly on your standards of living. Twitch has confirmed that Mexico and Turkey are first up for adjustments, and they will go live on May 20, 2021.
Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe will all get their turn sometime "in Q3 2021." It's not an estimate you can set your calendar to by any means, but the company promises to keep the community updated on how the rollout is going and who's next.
Will Twitch Streamers Lose Money From This?
Keen-minded readers will realize that, with subs costing less in a lot of countries, there's a good chance that every Twitch streamer will see a massive dip in revenue as a result.
Twitch believes that the wave of new subscribers will balance out the dip. The company claims that it has run tests on the topic that suggest everything will be alright but admits that the tests may not 100 percent reflect reality.
To solve any potential issues, Twitch is introducing the "revenue adjustment incentive." This plan will pay the full subscription price for three months after an adjustment happens. Twitch will then slowly reduce this bonus over a year until it's equal to the actual value.
If a streamer gets lucky, the price drop may bring in an inundation of new subscriptions and spike their revenue above their monthly average. If this happens, Twitch will disable the revenue adjustment incentive for that month, but it'll come back again if the streamer earns less in the future.
As such, both subscribers and Twitch streamers should benefit from this price drop. As such, only one question remains; what will the new prices look like? We'll have to wait and find out.
Cheaper Prices on Twitch? I Can Subscribe to That
Subscribing on Twitch is fun, but it's hard for some countries to pay $4.99 for one. Fortunately, Twitch is working on making a subscription more affordable for a global market without burning content creators at the same time.
If you're in one of the affected countries, this news may encourage you to hop back into Twitch again. In fact, when the sub prices drop, you can equip yourself with some of the best emotes that Twitch has to offer for less.
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