369
submitted 8 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Amazon’s Twitch to Cut 500 Employees, About 35% of Staff::Move is designed to stem losses after two rounds of layoffs last year.

all 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 79 points 8 months ago

Could it be because it is dog shit? Ad ridden thot farm that killed APIs and exploits people on both ends of the video.

[-] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 97 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

They expected pandemic like growth to continue. Instead they made an absurd amount of money and are going to tone it down, socialise a bit of losses to realign the graph to something they can bullshit investors with.

(I was one of Unity's 1800, so I know the feeling).

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 24 points 8 months ago

(I was one of Unity's 1800, so I know the feeling).

Sorry mate. Keep your head up.

[-] Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 46 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

No no, It just means the market is shifting, people are now un-interested in streaming. It has utterly nothing to do with Twitch being run into the ground by the out of touch decrees of management.

Anyway, more firings for the workers and fluffier golden parachutes for company nobility.

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

That sounds like it would be right up Amazon's alley.

[-] porksoda@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

What's the API ordeal? I don't use Twitch but I'm curious.

[-] TheBat@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Ad ridden thot farm that killed APIs and exploits people on both ends of the video.

Try explaining this sentence to someone from 1980s.

#BackToTheFuture

[-] arandomthought@sh.itjust.works 70 points 8 months ago

Man, I forgot that Twitch is owned by Amazon...
We really do live in late-stage capitalism, don't we?

[-] scarabic@lemmy.world 25 points 8 months ago

Certainly a lot of once beloved online products are reaching late stage enshittification all together. Seems like the Internet is mostly that now, and you have to look hard for anything else.

[-] gastationsushi@lemmy.world 66 points 8 months ago

Twitch is run like a private equity acquisition. The rates they are forced to pay their parent company, Amazon, are above market value. Twitch's services will get worse and worse for both streamers and viewers until all the equity is sucked dry. Late stage capitalism y'all.

[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 25 points 8 months ago

Have you got a source on that?

I'd be shocked if this were the case, since internal rates at pretty much any tech company (source: I work there) are anything from 50-99% reduced.

[-] gastationsushi@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I heard from a bigger streamer. But I started believing it because feeds degrade lot more than YT. I constantly get connection issues more than any other streaming site.

I'm vested in some of these smaller streamers, so I don't want them to lose their income. It feels like twitch is exploiting this sentiment because I'm not alone.

[-] Haha@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago
[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

It's not internal information. It's pretty much common knowledge across tech that companies arrange a rate card with their provider. In the instance of Twitch, even though they're mostly a separate entity to the rest of Amazon, they'll almost definitely have a rate card set for AWS resources.

[-] Sarmyth@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago

I think they meant because 500 people who also work there are losing their jobs.

[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

Ah, my bad, thanks! To be honest, there is so much fear of layoffs at Amazon that most people are either totally numb to it, or are constantly just waiting for their turn/an opportunity to leave.

[-] ramblinguy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago

I feel ya man, I don't work at Amazon but at a fintech startup, and I've survived through so many rounds of layoffs, demotions, and "restructurings" that I'm kinda numb to it all and just waiting for my turn too haha

[-] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 57 points 8 months ago

It's a good thing we didn't raise their taxes/minimum wages/invest in infrastructure. Otherwise they might have fired a lot of people!

[-] simonced@lemmy.one 15 points 8 months ago

/s here, I think you dropped that :)

[-] wellee@lemmy.world 42 points 8 months ago

If only Amazon had enough money to keep these employees. Like maybe some extra revenue from ads added onto Prime Video or something.

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Lol, they just jacked up the amount of ads on twitch itself.

[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

All they had to do was not spunk half a billion on the LOTR show, and they'd have enough money to keep them enjoyed at above market rate for a decade...

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 37 points 8 months ago

Quick, quick, fire everyone before the shareholders realise the entire techbro industry is overvalued by at least 50%!

We're not a bubble, again, honest!

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago

This has more to do with interest rates and meeting year over year profit increases.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 11 points 8 months ago

(Sub)Companies like Twitch also have the added mess of being increasingly unmonetizable.

Everyone and their mother loves to mash "enshittification" into their keyboards and grin. But almost all of that is because those companies have been operating at a loss or near loss for years and need to actually find a way to monetize. And the "easy" routes like advertisements and subscription models tend to be rejected with entire communities and industries built around bypassing that.

Like, on reddit, people were actively paying third party randos to bypass the ads on reddit. And on twitch, people lose their minds over getting an ad during a streamer's sponsored stream that is a giant ad for a different company.

[-] guacupado@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

I literally just turned off Tyler1 after a 2:30 ad started. That's a fucking commercial break.

[-] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 30 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Not shocked at all. Things have gone way downhill since I started with the platform. Time was, I'd start up a stream, a dev would come and hang out and actively chat while they worked. Occasionally they'd ask about my opinion about things that were being developed. It felt like actual, meaningful stuff... That was back when it was still Justin.tv and just a little bit after twitch.tv released. When I stopped streaming regularly a couple years ago, even getting a straight answer from a rep on simple questions was like pulling teeth. Then I'd have times where I'd get several different and conflicting responses for simple stuff like if what we were planning for an event would be kosher. Even arranging for some site coverage felt like begging the mob for a favor. "Alright, we'll get you front page, but it'll be at 4am, and only for an hour!"

[-] EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago

So letting the camgirls strip didn't save things huh?

[-] Sami_Uso@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

"oh no, there's girls showing their bodies on my gaming app, they're taking viewers away from my 7 person stream!!!"

[-] scarabic@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago

I interviewed there once. They had permanent massage rooms set up and staffed full time. The people in the place were 80% gaming neckbeards, 10% a mix of regular people, and 10% hot nerd gamer babe types they’d hired as eye candy to run around in skimpy outfits. It was so obvious and pretty embarrassing.

[-] adrian783@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

... elaborate on the babes?

[-] gmtom@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Its a bit hard to feel bad for them given what an absolute cesspit Twitch is as a company.

Like I understand the people theyre firing wont be the ones making it a shit company, but you still enable it by working there.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 12 points 8 months ago

I don't like twitch streams so you fucking deserve unemployment

Jesus christ

[-] gmtom@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

yeah, no. That's literally not what im saying at all.

For one my criticism is of Twitch the company, not twitch streamers.

Secondly im not saying they deserve unemployment, just i struggle to feel bad for them.

But yeah if you want to completely change my argument to you can be outraged over it, go ahead.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Secondly im not saying they deserve unemployment, just i struggle to feel bad for them.

Argue about the specific degree all you want. You were still being an asshole.

Your response to 500 people losing their jobs in an ever increasingly dire job market was to say that twitch being bad is their fault and heavily implying they deserve to suffer. All you are doing is hemming and hawing to the degree because you got called out and realized what a massively shitty thing that is to do.

You can shit on a company without taking joy in the suffering of people just trying to survive in this end-stage capitalistic wasteland.

[-] guacupado@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Go outside and get some fresh air, dude.

[-] gmtom@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Your response to 500 people losing their jobs in an ever increasingly dire job market was to say that twitch being bad is their fault

Literally the exact opposite of what I said.

Like I understand the people theyre firing wont be the ones making it a shit company

Is what I said. I get I gave you full permission to just change my argument so you can be butthurt about it, but still.

You seem pretty desperate to start an argument here. May I recommend putting down your phone for a bit?

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 4 points 8 months ago

Its a bit hard to feel bad for them given what an absolute cesspit Twitch is as a company.

Like I understand the people theyre firing wont be the ones making it a shit company, but you still enable it by working there.

At least edit your comment before pretending you didn't say some "I am not saying they deserve it, but they deserve it" bullshit

[-] gmtom@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

You can try to will at as much as you like but that doesn't make it true. I never said they deserve it, I never said they are the reason it's shit. You can deny or accept the reality, either way I don't really care what you think...

[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

I don't buy it. Many people that work there are there because they want to work for a company with lots of users that enjoy their product/service. It shouldn't be a reflection on them as people, especially as they're losing their jobs/co-workers, and are now entering a harsh job market.

[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Headlines all day twitch... This is AMAZON

this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
369 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

58066 readers
2878 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS