Elon Musk Is Trying To Make A Twitter/X Twitch Clone, First Test Gets Roasted

Elon Musk is apparently trying to take some inspiration from his competitors at Meta and get gaming livestreaming on Twitter / X. As was the case with Meta's unlaunched "Super," expectations for a Musk-led video game streaming platform are mixed so far.

This is largely because yesterday, Musk himself tested X's video game streaming capabilities live on Twitter for an hour from his alternate handle, the unsurprisingly named "@cyb3rgam3r420."

Just a quick test of X video game streaming https://t.co/5NCsDczpT4

— Gamer (@cyb3rgam3r420) October 2, 2023

As far as tests for Elon's product ideas go, it wasn't quite an exploding rocket in a rapid unscheduled disassembly, but it wasn't great judging from the reactions to the Twitch-like service either.

Last night, many viewers noted that Musk's streaming setup was rather garish, as a bright light pointed directly at his face, making him impossible to see for much of the stream, while his game (Diablo 4) strobed continuously. His mic also had some issues cutting out early on.

The stream involved Musk working through these technical issues for the first 13 or so minutes, which were eventually improved upon. After this, he does start some actual gameplay, as his level 100 Druid named "IWILLNEVRDIE" dies four times. The stream had over 1.3 million live viewers, many of whom had plenty of jokes at Musk's expense alongside others who were more supportive.

Still, though Musk himself didn't look impressive in the demo in the eyes of many users, some were impressed that streaming on Twitter seemed on its way to being more functional, suggesting that perhaps Twitter might actually generate a streaming community in the future.

Twitch has also had myriad controversies throughout the year as Kick has simultaneously risen in the streaming space despite its own issues with public perception — meaning that Twitter could become a real competitor if it manages to pull it off.