Emmett Shear, CEO of uber-popular streaming platform Twitch, is resigning from his position after more than 16 years at the helm.
Shear announced his departure in a Twitter thread today. According to screenshots of his blog post, the birth of his son made him pause and reflect on his future at Twitch. He compared its growth from a 24/7 reality show to a site where streamers can broadcast their gameplay to millions of people to raising a child — his first child.
“Twitch often feels to me like a child I’ve been raising as well,” Shear said. “And while I will always want to be there if Twitch needs me, at 16 years old it feels to me that Twitch is ready to move out of the house and venture alone. So it is with great poignancy that I share my decision to resign from Twitch as CEO.”
In October 2006 we started working on live video for the internet. That became Twitch. More than 16 years later, I’m now a father and ready to move to my next phase of life. I wrote a blog post, but the short version is: thank you so much to everyone who built this with me.
— Emmett Shear (@eshear) March 16, 2023
Dan Clancy, the current president of Twitch, will now serve as CEO effective immediately. Shear will continue working at Twitch in an advisory role.
Growing pains
Shear founded Twitch in October 2006 as a 24/7 reality show named Justin.tv, named after one of his co-founders, Justin Kan, and made to document Kan’s life.
As the years passed, Shear said he didn’t think a round-the-clock reality series focusing on one person was the best idea, so in 2013, Justin.tv grew and transformed into Twitch, a site where streamers can broadcast gameplay of their favorite games for millions of people to watch.
In the last decade, it put Fortnite on the map, turned Ninja and Pokimane into stars, and became a fully-owned subsidiary of Amazon. It’s also dealt with no shortage of controversies, including a deepfake scandal and more. Either way, Twitch’s influence on the gaming community is undeniable, attracting millions of users per day.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
