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Twitch confirms data breach reportedly containing streamer payouts and source code

The massive trove of data was posted online Wednesday morning.

The Twitch logo on a phone

Twitch has confirmed the hack, though it has yet to comment on the apparent contents of the leak.

Photo: Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Twitch has confirmed a significant data breach on Wednesday that reportedly contains payouts to top streamers, source code, information related to an unreleased Amazon-owned Steam competitor and other sensitive company information. News of the leak began circulating earlier this morning after a user posted a link to the data dump on online message board 4Chan.

"We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available. Thank you for bearing with us," the company wrote on Twitter.

The anonymous poster of the 135GB compressed file, which when uncompressed contains a much larger trove of Twitch data, said their goal was to "foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space," including the hashtag #DoBetterTwitch that began as a movement to protest the company's handling of online harassment against streamers.

Among the most sensitive data in the leak includes payouts to top Twitch streamers, including apparent earnings between August 2019 and October 2021. Some streamers have verified that the data included in the leak is indeed accurate, including Vice's own Waypoint gaming channel, though it paints an incomplete picture of a streamer's annual earnings because it does not include any sponsorships, donations or other financial considerations such as taxes, talent agency or esports organization cuts, and marketing.

Another sensitive element of the leak is information related to an Amazon Games digital marketplace designed as a competitor to Valve's Steam, codenamed Vapor. Twitch has yet to comment on whether the leak contains sensitive user information, such as usernames or passwords.

Nick Statt

Nick Statt is Protocol's video game reporter. Prior to joining Protocol, he was news editor at The Verge covering the gaming industry, mobile apps and antitrust out of San Francisco, in addition to managing coverage of Silicon Valley tech giants and startups. He now resides in Rochester, New York, home of the garbage plate and, completely coincidentally, the World Video Game Hall of Fame. He can be reached at nstatt@protocol.com.

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