TwitchCon is planning a return to meatspace.
Thanks to COVID-19, Twitch’s normally biannual creator gathering was replaced by digital event GlitchCon in 2020, and was cancelled altogether in 2021. But, Twitch revealed today, it’s planning to bring TwitchCon back in 2022 with IRL conventions scheduled to take place in Amsterdam in July and San Diego in October.
“We’ve continued to prioritze the safety and well being of our community and staff, but believe us: we’re as eager as you to experience the magic of TwitchCon again,” the platform said in an official blog post.
Twitch didn’t announce specific dates for the conventions, and indicated that plans to hold them are tentative considering the ongoing pandemic.
“Of course, these are still uncertain times and our plans will remain flexible as needed,” it said. “Our top priority while planning TwitchCon is safety, and we will closely follow local health guidelines and recommendations.”
Twitch also took a moment to note how its creator and user community has grown during the past year’s content-making, content-watching boom. In 2020 alone, it added 8,550 new partner streamers, and 548,000 new affiliate streamers, plus experienced “the biggest growth in viewership we have ever seen in the history of Twitch,” it said.
The platform said it now has more than 50,000 partners and more than 1.2 million affiliates. (If you’re curious about what being a partner/affiliate entails and how the two categories differ, we wrote about that here.)
“With so many new creators, viewers, and moderators who have joined Twitch during this pandemic, many have not yet had the opportunity to meet the communities they’ve created or been welcomed into,” Twitch added. “This is why we’re especially excited to invite everyone to come celebrate, experience, and be a part of something so unique and special.”
TwitchCon’s last in-person iteration, its San Diego event in 2019, reportedly attracted more than 28,000 attendees.
