Imane Anys, or Pokimane to many of her nine million followers sprung a surprise by announcing she is to leave Amazon’s Twitch platform after a decade and concentrate on other, as yet unconfirmed things.

In a tweet to her followers, Pokimane simply said, “The end of an era. twitch has been my home for a decade..but it’s time to say thank you for all the memories and love during my League, Fortnite, & Among Us days.”

Pokimane is one of the most famous streamers on the planet and shot to fame streaming Fortnite, League of Legends, and other popular games such as Minecraft. Her departure from Twitch will be another blow to the platform that recently “had” to lay off a large portion of its staff to keep profitable.

Pokimane has “left” Twitch before, in fact, I have covered her leaving Twitch before, although Twitch managed to hang on to her talent and re-sign her, but this time it seems more final, even though the streamer has often found herself on the edge of controversy despite her popularity. 

the end of an era

twitch has been my home for a decade..

but it’s time to say thank you for all the memories and love during my League, Fortnite, & Among us days pic.twitter.com/S8FMp6G3I8

— pokimane (@pokimanelol) January 30, 2024

Why has Pokimane quit Twitch?

The stream queen has not given her reasons yet but she has increasing been taking on other opportunities and increasing her workload. It’s possible she now needs more time on these projects than a full-time streaming career allows.

Starting out at 17 in the streaming game, the Morrocan-Canadian Anys is now 27 and soon grew to be the most followed female streamer on the platform. Her popularity helped her land a role in the 2021 movie Free Guy, directed by Shawn Levy. She has also appeared in music videos.

However, in November last year Poki also launched a “healthy snack alternative cookie” company, Myna which was widely criticized for being expensive and provoked a tirade from her calling those complainers “broke boys”, which sparked further backlash.

Anys also helped launch brand consulting and talent management firm RTS in 2021 where she is still listed as Chief Creative Officer.

It is unlikely we are seeing the end of the Pokimane brand, just that it is moving into other profitable spheres, which we will doubtless hear more of soon.

Featured Image: Pokimane on X

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