Leaked Twitch Data Reveals ‘Critical Role’ Is Top Paid Streamer At $9.6 Million
A recent hack of Twitch reveals source codes and creator payouts according to data leaked to the internet yesterday. Critical Role tops the charts.
If you have a Twitch account, you may want to reset your passwords and enable two-factor authentication. Yesterday, a data breach at the Amazon-owned live-streaming platform was leaked to 4chan with the hopes of ‘hurting Twitch’s business’. The user who allegedly posted the data claimed to have access to information including Twitch’s source code, security tools, and creator payouts.
Twitch later confirmed the breach, though some former employees have come out to say that the source code and security tools are based on older versions of Twitch’s data. However, the data on creator payouts seems to be accurate, according to multiple streamers on social media. The leaked data, which has been circulating on whatever social platform you care to check, revealed the highest paid Twitch streamers from August 2019-October 2021. At the top of the charts: popular D&D stream-turned-multimedia empire, Critical Role.
The gross payouts of the top 100 highest-paid Twitch streamers from August 2019 until October 2021: pic.twitter.com/3Lj9pb2aBl
— KnowSomething (@KnowS0mething) October 6, 2021
Critical Role beats out popular streamers like ludwig, xQcOW, and HasanAbi. Hasan recently came under fire for purchasing a multi-million dollar home in West Hollywood. According to the most recent financial data regarding median income, this means that Critical Role received a gross payout of three average lifetimes’ worth of income from Twitch in the last two years. Not bad, for a group of friends playing D&D.
Of course, the data does not take into account individual donations, merchandising deals, or sponsorships. So it’s likely that the streamers listed here make more than this data indicates, but it is surprising to see just how popular the popular D&D stream has become. Critical Role began life on Geek & Sundry, which “hasn’t exactly been operational”, as an original content producer in 2019. Critical Role spun into an independent company and has since opened its own publishing imprint.
At present time, it’s unclear whether the data breach contained more personal information about Twitch users. No personal details have been revealed as of yet, but again, if you use the platform you’ll likely want to enable 2FA and reset your password.
