Twitch is going to remove Host Mode feature

A useful feature to promote friends on the platform will soon disappear and the community is very upset. As we all know growing on Twitch is complicated and in many cases an impossible task. Usually, both small and medium-sized streamers need specific tools like Host Mode to stand out and gain an audience.

If you are not familiar with it, the feature allows content creators to highlight accounts of other personalities on their channels when they are offline. The goal is to redirect viewers visiting an offline channel to someone else's stream, sadly, this feature will disappear soon. The platform will remove the much-loved feature on October 3 of this year, a decision that generated mixed opinions on social networks.

Why twitch, whyyyy?!

In an update on its “How to Use Host Mode” page, the platform informed that the feature does not match the expectations of users when they use Twitch, in their own words: “Viewers want to interact with a streamer when they are live and host mode blocks this from happening.”

According to the statement, Host Mode also limits streamers’ growth potential because they cannot make meaningful connections with those new viewers.

While the feature allows users to watch a live stream from a disconnected person's channel, they can't interact in the chat unless they visit the hosted stream. Thus, the Raid feature, which allows content creators to transfer all of their viewers to another channel, became much more popular.

Raiding =\= Hosting, @Twitch.

I raid after I am immediately done streaming & want to continue the vibes elsewhere.

I host when I’m currently not live so my unused channel clicks to someone that IS live for more engagement.

This was a highly unnecessary decision. https://t.co/Ptk450Oy0a

— CB! (@CriticalBard) September 6, 2022

Users are not happy

The decision generated mixed opinions, on one hand, dozens of users and content creators have already expressed their discontent and concern on social networks over the closure of the feature, which has been active since 2014; on the other, many others agree that the feature didn’t offer enough interactivity. Nonetheless, we all agree that this was not the ideal solution.

We're witnessing the downfall of Twitch and rise of YouTube Gaming

— Revitalize (@Revitalize) September 6, 2022

Twitch, if viewers REALLY want to "build a connection" with a streamer when they ain't streamin', they can join a streamer's discord or interact with their other socials.

Host Mode has NOTHIN' to do with this AT ALL?????????????? pic.twitter.com/cS5zFy4Gpe

— ココ Koko ♛ENVTuber♛🐀 (@ButteryKoko) September 6, 2022

Is worth noting that Twitch will replace "Autohost" with a system known as Suggested Channels, which will allow streamers to share a list of recommended channels.

Source