Video game live streamers on Rooter and Loco face steep pay cuts

The honeymoon period for video game streamers in India may be coming to an end, as the platforms Loco and Rooter have steeply cut payments to several creators and have also let go of some of them. Entrackr spoke to over half a dozen creators across both platforms, who said their pay has been slashed to more than half of what they used to make. 

Rooter and Loco streamers told Entrackr their payments were cut by as much as 50–60% starting July. Both are two of India’s leading online game streaming platforms with millions of daily users, flush with recent funding. 

Around the time Battlegrounds Mobile India — the replacement for PUBG Mobile — got banned in July, multiple creators received information from their companies about the pay cuts; while some received texts on WhatsApp, a few were informed over phone calls from their managers.

Pay cuts and contract terminations

Video game live streaming was touted as a way for Indian creators to “earn millions,” while pursuing what was supposedly becoming a “serious professional choice” as platforms like Loco and Rooter lured streamers with lucrative contracts. Despite having raised a good amount of funding earlier this year, the platforms are renegotiating and changing the pay system with its creators. Rooter raised $25 million and Loco mopped up $42 million in their Series A funding rounds earlier this year. 

In two separate interviews with Entrackr, founders of both platforms said they were renegotiating contracts with streamers based on their performance. The companies also denied that they were undergoing a cash crunch, raising further questions on choosing to cut pay for several streamers.

Recently, game streaming platforms globally have seen a slump. Twitch announced in September that its premium partners would be receiving a 70% cut on payouts, and all other streamers would receive half of what they were previously receiving. This downturn seems to now be manifesting in India, too.

One Rooter streamer said that in July, creators were told that their performance on the platform would be ‘evaluated’ for three months, following which their remuneration would be adjusted.  

“Prior to the [evaluation period] notification, the platform had about 150-200 female streamers, which was cut down to 50 streamers because they [Rooter] had issues regarding payments,” the streamer told Entrackr, requesting anonymity as they were not allowed to speak with the media. Previously the streamer’s earnings worked out to over Rs 3,000 a week; the monthly earning was reduced to half of the previous number after the changes were made. 

Another streamer who had been working with the platform for over a year told Entrackr that a bottom list was created which included creators who did not gain a certain cut-off number of views. Many of the creators from this list were asked to leave without any prior notice, and some others faced a pay cut. 

Although the termination letter gave a two-day notice period, the creator received this intimation much later. During this time they worked for a week on the platform without getting paid. The streamer said that they were never given a proper explanation as to why this was happening. 

Long-term streamers affected

These streamers were allowed to continue to work on Rooter on a non-partnership basis, but the pay would be a meagre Rs 150–200 a week, three streamers Entrackr spoke with said. 

The streamers have been directed to stream a minimum of three hours a day on the platform, failing which a part of their payment would be deducted. This puts an additional burden on some creators who are not exclusively streaming on these platforms due to the current payment situation. After fulfilling the 3-hour demand, many move to other platforms like YouTube for additional income. 

Rooter founder and CEO Piyush Kumar claimed that the company gave its creators three months to deliver the value promised in their contracts to focus on strengthening its supply side of content. Stating that they have retained 60–70% of their esports teams, Kumar added that the financial situation of the company had nothing to do with the renegotiations. He said the company was merely doing justice to the money put in by the investors and shareholders by optimising and rationalising costs. 

Another Rooter streamer mentioned that the new streamers onboarded by the platform were not facing such issues and that it only affected the streamers who were with the platform for a longer time. 

A Loco streamer who has been with the platform for two years said that in July, the platform introduced a new payment system that cut down hourly viewer stream-based payments. 

Initially, streamers on Loco were receiving Rs 10 per watch hour for the first 5,000 hours they streamed, after which they would receive Rs 6 per watch hour. Through the new payment system, creators would receive Rs 4 for the first 10,000 watch hours after which it would be as low as Rs 2 per watch hour.

The streamer also mentioned that they had put in place a system that categorises creators according to the number of fake views they receive. Those who received 0–2% fake views would undergo a small pay cut while those who received above 25% fake views would not receive their payments for that particular month.

The streamer said that the low 2% tolerance rate for fake views has led to many streamers getting falsely flagged and losing out on revenue. “If they continue with this payment system, many streamers will leave the platform,” the creator said.

Lost revenue

Loco founder Ashwin Suresh, meanwhile, told Entrackr that the company was well capitalised and that they have made all their payments fully and on time. Suresh told Entrackr, “In the last 6 months, our local competitors had also raised money so the prices had gone up a lot; a lot of streamers and tournament organisers had hyped their prices…but over the last two months our competitors have run out of money and those prices have come down.” 

Meanwhile, the community of Indian streamers continues to face a bit of unrest with the companies giving them little to no proper explanation and not providing them with a new contract stating the changed payment systems and rules.