Earlier this year, when Kick co-founder Eddie Craven sat down for a chat with streamer Jake Lucky in June, Craven had discussed his platform’s business model and also the creators who declined to join Kick. Among other things, Craven also revealed how he would love to have popular YouTube Streamer Dr. Disrespect, also known simply as the “Doc”, onboard Kick and later also went on to sign a rather less famous streamer, xQC for a whopping $100 Million. With a rise in streamers quitting other popular streaming platforms like Twitch, Kick is gaining more popularity.
While the deal with the Doc might have looked exactly what the platform would have needed to pull in more viewers, there has not been any news of progressive talks after the Doc publicly revealed his demands to join the platform.
Dr. Disrespect was Banned from Twitch, Demanded $50 Million to Join Kick
The Doc was banned from the popular streaming platform, Twitch, back in 2020, with the platform mentioning the cause as the streamer having “acted in violation” of Twitch rules. The Doc did not agree to have done any wrongdoings in the platform so it was quite unclear why the multi-year deal collapsed between the two parties. The Doc has since continued to stream on YouTube, garnering 4.5 Million subscribers so far. When word came from Kick co-founder of having an interest in signing the Doc, it piqued the interest of many Kick fans who were waiting to see the deal go forward.
Shortly after the announcement showing interest in the Doc, Kick signed a two-year deal with xQC. The agreement with the popular streamer was kept under wraps for a long time until Kick eventually revealed the news with many fans noticing some hints on the platform long before the confirmation. The Doc then went public with his demands to join Kick by posting his asking price on his social media platform.
https://twitter.com/DrDisrespect/status/1671899915340120064
Apart from xQC, Kick has recently signed a number of high-profile streamers including Amouranth and Adin Ross, but when asked by Jake Lucky on the Doc’s demand, Craven did not comment directly on it.
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Kick CEO Eddie Craven Looking to Sign More Streamers, Big Fan of Dr. Disrespect
Eddie Craven mentioned his plans on signing more streamers and how he has an “open line communication” with most of the well-known streamers. He went on to mention how he’s an ardent fan of many popular streamers and a long-time fan of Dr. Disrespect. He felt it would be quite cool to have him on board his platform, but did not directly comment on the Doc’s demand of $50 Million to make a deal happen.
Craven mentioned he would work with the streamers and “give them what they’re worth”. This has led many to assume the cause of the delay in finalizing an agreement might come down to whether or not Craven thinks if the Doc is worth the asking price. If the deal does end up not going through, it might not hurt either party as much as Kick is signing more streamers, and the Doc did mention he might take a break soon to develop his studio.
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The Doc vs. xQC – Stats Compared
Not many might know that xQc is a former Overwatch League pro player, and the Doc launched his video game development studio, Midnight Society with former veterans in the gaming industry. The two have always had a huge following for their respective streams. A look at their stats reveals they’re quite neck and neck.
The all-time Twitch stats for xQC:
The all-time Twitch stats for Dr. Disrespect:
Dr. Disrespect started streaming long before xQc had started, so the stats below are from the time when they were both outright popular streamers back in Twitch before the Doc’s eventual ban.
In terms of Followers, Hours streamed and average viewers of their streams, xQC has been steadily gaining fame and followers with a higher percentage of growth, even if the Doc did end up gaining a lot more followers.
Going by the stats, xQC would have won a stream-off on Twitch between the two by gaining more followers rather quickly compared to Doc’s percentage of growth. The Doc is now only streaming on YouTube after his ban on Twitch, and it looks like there’s no coming back to Twitch for the Doc for now. Even as xQC might not be as popular as the Doc, the deal with Kick has catapulted his reputation after the record-breaking deal of $100M.
As the Doc continues to work on his studio, a collapsed deal with Kick shouldn’t worry the two-time champion as much. Just last month, Dr. Disrespect hinted at an extended break from streaming to concentrate on further development of his studio’s free-to-play AAA game, Deadrop. Signing on with Kick might not allow him to take that break at least for another few years, but it will allow him to get the capital he needs to fund his studio and the development of his game. It’s all to play for at the moment, and any further announcements by either the Doc or Kick might be the only way to know for sure where the deal might end up.
Source: DOT ESPORTS
