Major Changes announced at TwitchCon 2025
- 5 Minute Read
Major Changes Coming to Twitch
Twitch announced several major updates at TwitchCon 2025 that are either already available or will be coming later this year. Here’s what you need to know:
2k or 1440p Streaming
Twitch is now allowing up to 2k or 1440p streaming — the previous max was 1080p. If you want to stream at this higher resolution, you just need to be a Twitch Affiliate or Partner and meet the following requirements in the table below, join the waitlist for the beta, once approved then you’ll need to enable “Enhanced Broadcasting” within the Multitrack Streaming settings in OBS Studio.
| System Requirements For Optimal 2k(1440p) Streaming | Broadcast Software | OBS Studio v31.0 (or newer) |
|---|---|
| GPU and Driver Version |
|
| Operating System | Windows 10/11, Linux, MacOS |
| Display | 2560x1440 at 60fps |
| Upstream Bandwidth Bitrate: | 20 Mbps |
Watch Streak Feature
The new watch streak feature rewards viewers with channel points for consistently watching a streamer’s broadcasts.
To maintain the streak, viewers need to watch at least 10 minutes of the stream, or can watch a clip or VOD from the stream if they missed the live.
If your stream crashes and you re-start the stream, it won’t count as a new stream though — there needs to be at least 30 minutes since the end of the previous stream for it to register as a new stream.
Major Update for Clips
Twitch will now suggest clips to streamers during their most engaging moments, making it easier to review, edit and publish content for other platforms like YouTube or TikTok — especially with new ability to create vertical clips straight in the clip editor.
There will be a clip leaderboard, likely encouraging viewers to make more clips during your stream, further helping to find re-usable content for other platforms. The new clip editor will pop up on screen instead of taking viewers to a new page, meaning that viewers won’t miss anything while trying to create a clip. And there will also be a react feature, allowing viewers to react to clips after stream.
New Sub Promotion Feature
This feature allows affiliates and partners to run temporary promotions on their channel where bundles of five or more Tier 1 single-month subs are 35% off. Streamers will receive 7 promotion tokens and 70 total hours each year to activate these discounts. Meaning you can either run 7 separate promotions, or consolidate them into fewer, but longer promotions. Subathons would be a great time to use these, as it’s likely to entice more people to gift subs during the event. However, you will make less money per sub during these promotions, as you will split the discounted price paid by the viewer — not the original price.
This feature allows affiliates and partners to run temporary promotions on their channel where bundles of five or more Tier 1 single-month subs are 35% off. Streamers will receive 7 promotion tokens and 70 total hours each year to activate these discounts. Meaning you can either run 7 separate promotions, or consolidate them into fewer, but longer promotions.
Subathons or special events like birthday streams would be a great time to use these promotions, as it will entice more users to gift subs during the event. However, you will make less money per sub, as you will split the discounted price paid by the viewer — not the original price.
There will also be a special type of Hype Train called a Treasure Train, where discounted gift subscriptions can be unlocked in a channel once a Hype Train reaches level 5. Then viewers can get the same 35% discount on five or more gift subs.
Twitch also now allows brands to sponsor promotions of recurring and gift subscriptions for individual channels, which can be activated any time of the year. Streamers will receive their standard payout from these discounted subscriptions, and also an additional payout from the sponsor for participating.
Rewind Playback Feature
Subscribers or Twitch Turbo users can now rewind live streams up to two minutes while the stream is still going. This enables viewers to rewatch awesome moments or rewind to watch something they may have missed. They can jump back to live at any time, and also control playback speed while rewinding or while watching the live content.
This feature can be disabled by the streamer, which is good news for content creators (especially those who stream outside of their home) whom may be concerned about viewers potentially using this feature to try to identify a streamer’s location or get other sensitive information.
It’s also behind a pay wall (subs or turbo), which will limit the number of trolls willing to use it, since often times their accounts get banned, so they’re typically not willing to sink money into their accounts.
Dual Format Streaming - Vertical and Horizontal Streaming
Later this year, Twitch will have a dual-format streaming feature, which allows streamers to broadcast their content in both horizontal (landscape) and vertical (portrait) orientations simultaneously.
This means viewers will be able to choose the format that best suits their device, optimizing the viewing experience for mobile users — whether they want to watch it vertically, or turn their device sideways and view it horizontally.
This feature is also intended to make it easier for mobile viewers to participate in interactive elements like Hype Trains, subs, gifts, and cheers while still being able to watch the stream in full screen.
Streamers can configure their streaming software (like OBS with the Aitum Vertical plugin) to send out two separate video streams to Twitch.
Major Changes for Twitch Affiliate
Previously, to obtain affiliate status streamers needed to reach 50 followers, stream on 7 different days for a minimum of 8 hours total, and reach an average viewership of 3 all within a 30-day period.
Now streamers will only need 25 followers, stream for 4 days for a minimum of 4 hours and have 3 average viewers across 4 streams. This means it’s much easier for someone to become a Twitch Affiliate than ever before!
| Twitch Affiliate Requirement Comparison | Old Requirements | New Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Followers | 50 | 25 |
| Number of Streaming Days | 7 | 4 |
| Number of Hours Streamed | 8 | 4 |
| Number of Average Viewers | 3 within the 30-day period | 3 over only 4 streams |
This is HUGE, as honestly, the average number of viewers requirement was the hurdle that would typically prolong someone’s ability to become an affiliate. However, the difference between affiliated and non-affiliated streamers is soon only going to be revenue based. Let me explain…
Previously, only affiliate and partner streamers would get access to emotes, badges, and the ability to monetize their channel by running ads, subscriptions and bits. But now, Twitch is going to be rolling out those features to all streamers. The only difference will be that affiliates and partners can cash out the revenue from their streams, while non-affiliates will only be able to use that money to purchase subs and bits on Twitch.
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