Reports claim Twitch is planning huge layoffs with up to 500 people affected

Well, it looks like more Switch successor rumors are swirling. A new report has emerged today stating that the Switch 2 (or whatever it ends up being called) is indeed targeting a 2024 release, and with an LCD screen.

The development team behind Blizzard's now-cancelled survival game, reportedly called Odyssey, is seemingly among the teams dramatically impacted by the layoffs at Microsoft today.

Twitch has announced a major change to its Partner Program set to start later this year, expanding the qualifications for the site's lucrative revenue split. The streaming platform's partnership program has undergone a plethora of major changes throughout recent years, both adjusting its revenue splits and changing its partnership contracts. Last year saw Twitch introduce a new 50/50 revenue split with partnered creators, which was met with significant controversy and later saw a 70/30 revenue split introduced through its Partner Plus Program. Now, Twitch is set to expand its highest partnership tier.

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A bunch of companies in the technology sector have been laying off some of their employees recently after quickly ramping up hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic while people spent more time and money online. Now, many of them are making job cuts to help lower costs and bolster their bottom lines. Here's some of the companies that have laid of employees of late:

Twitch has reportedly issued a 30-day suspension to popular streamer Boggles1, following an on-stream stunt that saw the content creator gain plenty of notoriety throughout recent weeks. The Amazon-owned streaming platform has been no stranger to doling out bans to some of the biggest content creators using the platform, often garnering criticism for its policies. Popular streamers like IShowSpeed and Amouranth have been on the receiving end of Twitch's disciplinary action, with the former banned for nearly two years. Now, Boggles1 has become the newest streamer to receive a temporary ban.

Twitch is expanding its Partner Plus programme to allow more streamers to benefit from its higher revenue share.

Pokémon-style survival game Palworld launched its early access version on Friday and is already a huge hit.

Last year was a fantastic year for games, with standout triple-A releases like Baldur's Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and great independent games like Jusant, Sea of Stars, and countless others. But in 2023 alone, more than 10,000 developers and people in games-adjacent industries were laid off. Plus, the unchecked rise of A.I. continued, and Unity burned developers with its controversial new game engine policies, not to name a few other not-so-great parts about 2023 – it was a great year for games but one of the worst for those who make them. 

Twitch has released details of its next TwitchCon events in both Europe and the US.

Amazon-owned Twitch is preparing to lay off 35 percent of its employees or a little over 500 people. The news was first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday and confirmed a day later by Twitchin a blog post signed by CEO Dan Clancy. Employees will learn today via email whether they are or aren't losing their jobs.

In a follow-up livestream after a recent layoff announcement, CEO Dan Clancy confessed that Twitch is not profitable and has been relying heavily on support from parent company Amazon to sustain itself. Twitch just announced a massive round of layoffs, with roughly 500 people affected, and this subsequent statement regarding Twitch's financial stability has left many wondering if the platform's future is in jeopardy.