Twitch Rivals’ International Women’s Day event sparks backlash for featuring cooking game

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Twitch Rivals marked International Women’s Day with a special event for women’s gaming guilds. However, the choice of game – Overcooked 2 – caused some disagreement, as many felt it reinforced stereotypes.

To mark International Women’s Day, Twitch Rivals is planning a special event on March 8, 2026. The event will focus on celebrating women in the Twitch community, bringing together members of the Twitch Women’s Guild and highlighting popular female creators on the platform.

Things didn’t unfold exactly as expected with the announcement on March 3rd. The Twitch Rivals event will feature the chosen female streamers competing in the cooking game, Overcooked 2.

I was really surprised when they announced the game! Turns out the Women’s Guild actually voted for it, which is cool, but the reveal still caused a huge stir online. The announcement video already has over 17 million views, which just shows how much people were talking about it!

International Women’s Day Twitch Rivals events draws criticism

I was so excited to hear from streamer MimiLena that Overcooked 2 was actually chosen by the women of the Women’s Guild! Apparently, it was a full vote among them, and she was one of the ones who helped pick it – which is awesome!

Streamer Kayzie let their community vote on four games: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hollow Knight, Ultimate Chicken Horse, and Overcooked 2. Overcooked 2 was the clear winner, based on reports from multiple sources.

Kayzie mentioned she wished there had been a wider variety of games available, but it seemed the selection was limited.

Our Women’s Guild members chose Overcooked 2 as our game – it wasn’t a random decision! We voted two months ago, and the vast majority favored it. It was frustrating that Twitch didn’t clearly communicate that the choice came directly from our group of women.

— Primroze (@PrimrozeTV) March 3, 2026

Some people saw voting for Overcooked 2 as a way to make a statement. MimiLena explained that it showed women should be able to enjoy and compete in cooking games without facing criticism.

However, social media didn’t seem to share that same feeling. On X (formerly Twitter), thousands of people responded and shared their thoughts, questioning the idea. Even well-known creators like Rubius offered their opinions.

Rubius expressed his surprise that, with so many games to choose from, a cooking game was selected for Women’s Day.

One person joked about the obvious issues with a cooking game for International Women’s Day, saying, “The humor is just built-in.” Another user questioned whether the idea had been fully considered, asking, “Did anyone actually think this through?”

Twitch Rivals responds to International Women’s Day event drama

After a huge reaction from the community, the Twitch Rivals team released a statement. They explained that the event was designed to celebrate the gaming community and showcase the talents of women in a game focused on collaboration, flexibility, and leading together.

Twitch Rivals and the Women’s Guild intentionally chose to avoid limiting women to games traditionally considered ‘for them,’ challenging common stereotypes about gaming preferences.

We realize we should have explained our decision-making process more clearly, and we also needed to do a better job of recognizing the creators and everyone who collaborated to make the show happen.

Addressing the Women’s Guild United Twitch Rivals show.

— Twitch Rivals (@TwitchRivals) March 3, 2026

The event is still planned for March 8th at 2 PM Pacific Time on Twitch, where it will be held to celebrate International Women’s Day.

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2026-03-04 03:49