New Twitch change lets all streamers make money right away, but there’s a catch

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Twitch is now giving all streamers ways to earn money from their broadcasts, even if they haven’t yet qualified for the platform’s Affiliate program.

So, Twitch just dropped some cool news on May 13th! They’re letting all streamers – not just Affiliates – use tools that used to be locked away. Basically, they’re trying to make it easier for everyone to build their communities, which is awesome for us smaller streamers!

Streamers on our platform will now have immediate access to tools like Channel Points, Bits, subscriptions, custom emotes, and badges.

I’m so excited about these new tools! Right now, though, it looks like only streamers in the US will get to try them out, but they’re saying they’ll be rolling them out to everyone over the next week.

Twitch announced it will roll out this way for streamers to earn money globally in late 2026. Streamers will be notified as soon as they have access to the new features.

Great news! Now all Twitch streamers can use Channel Points, emotes, subscriptions, Bits, and badges – you don’t need to be an Affiliate anymore! These features help you connect with and grow your community right away. Get started and set everything up in your dashboard today!

— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) May 13, 2026

Streamers need to be aware of a key limitation: only those in the Affiliate program will receive payouts. While streamers not yet in the program can’t get paid directly, they can still use their earnings to buy gift subscriptions and Bits.

Twitch monetization changes spark backlash from Affiliated streamers

This update has upset some streamers, who feel it’s unfair that they worked hard to become Affiliates to access features that are now available to everyone.

“What a slap in the face everyone that had to work for affiliate,” one wrote on X.

Someone asked, “I’m really not understanding the advantage of becoming an Affiliate right now.” They then suggested, “Wouldn’t it be easier to just offer some improvements to current Affiliates and Partners instead?”

What’s the benefit of being an affiliate now? I worked really hard for six months in 2022 to qualify for affiliate status so I could earn channel points and subscriptions, but then the requirements were lowered a few months ago. Now it seems like everything is available to all streamers without needing to be an affiliate… it feels like all that effort was for nothing.

— keyatron (@KEYATTRON) May 13, 2026

It’s currently unclear whether streamers who previously qualified for Affiliate status will get any special advantages compared to those who are becoming Affiliates now.

Previously, streamers needed to become Affiliates to access these features. Becoming an Affiliate required meeting four goals: gaining 25 followers, streaming for a total of four hours, streaming on four separate days, and averaging three viewers across those four days.

As a gamer and streamer, I was really excited when Twitch let us start making money directly through our streams! Things like Bits, badges, and custom emotes gave viewers a way to support their favorite channels, which was awesome. Now that pretty much anyone can do that, I’m curious to see if Twitch will offer anything extra for those of us who were already building communities and relying on those features.

TopMob has reached out to Twitch for comment.

Twitch recently made a major update: it’s now limiting how many viewers channels suspected of using viewbots can display. This follows the platform’s earlier efforts to prevent artificial inflation of viewership numbers.

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2026-05-14 01:19