The Web3 version of Twitch (how it works / how it could go wrong).
We know Twitch is best described as a live streaming platform focused on gamers, but we've always looked at it as 'Gen Z's MTV.'
They're both home to different forms of reality TV.
Instead of watching kids from Jersey get into fist fights on the beach (ah, those were the days), Twitch kids get their fix by watching people battle it out in massive multiplayer online games.
Twitch pretty much has a strangle hold on the online video game streaming market - but Alex Lin reckons his new startup, Stacked, can use Web3 to dethrone them.
Here's the idea:
Stacked rewards creators for streaming on their service with 'Stacked Governance Tokens,' which give them an owning share of the company.
The more viewers they bring in, the greater their ownership of Stacked becomes.
If they want to cash out, they can sell their tokens.
Here's where it could all go wrong:
We have ourselves a 'chicken or egg' situation here.
The Stacked token needs to be valuable in order to attract content creators, but it can't be valuable without first accruing a wide range of content.
So essentially, in the early stages, Stacked can't offer instant value to streamers making the jump.
Instead, they're asking them to take a risk on the platform, in the hopes it will pay off in the long term.
Which can work.
But they have stiff competition in Twitch:
Twitch have contracts with many of the big streamers → who bring in new viewers → who attract new streamers → who can then grow a following → who can then get a contract from Twitch...
It's a tough cycle to break!
...but we can admire big, hairy, audacious goals like this.
So break a leg, Stacked.
