Thread by @Shannon_Liao

NEW: Under Elon Musk, Twitter Gaming cut all five marketing employees. “The end of an era,” said a former Twitter employee with knowledge of how Twitter Gaming worked. “Bird ain’t gonna be the same.”

Gamers say they'll stay on the new, chaotic Twitter:

washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

If you've never heard of Twitter Gaming, that was on purpose, a source told me. Gamers hate when brands are shoved down their throats. The social media account has over a million followers and would help promote events like E3, Summer Game Fest and Game Awards.

When asked if Game Awards still plans to continue its partnership with Twitter Gaming (whose employees kept their jobs), Geoff Keighley declined to say. The Game Awards announced yesterday a partnership with Discord, where it plans to use a Twitter Spaces-like feature.

Riot Games said it has not paid Twitter since last November. It usually receives a cut of advertising revenue from Twitter on esports videos. The #Worlds2022 hashtag had an emoji at the end, which must have been included by Twitter as a freebie during promotion.

Gaming creators told @Vahn16, who contributed reporting, that @shiraz who ran the Twitter Gaming social account helped boost their viewership and that the marketing team being let go is a loss to the industry. washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

Twitter has laid off over 3,700 employees. Gaming partnerships is still standing. In May, the head of the team told me, "You can’t forget what Twitter is doing. Twitter’s been that home for conversation and it’s been silently there.” washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

The story has many twists and turns. Elon Musk has coyly said he's looking into adding game design elements to Twitter. The $8 blue checkmark is a start. Musk has also proposed a PvP version of Twitter with "full contact battle" to advertisers. (7/?) washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

A PvP version of Twitter could look a lot like Reddit or Discord, professor of gaming and media studies @MaxwellFoxman told me. In an environment like that, gamers accustomed to online harassment could stay on. More on that: washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

Some gamers will not stay. Last week, @GenePark wrote about Nibellion, who was a major source of gaming news on Twitter, leaving the platform to focus his energy elsewhere. Nibellion declined an interview for the Twitter Gaming article. washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

“The sad part is that when Nibellion leaves, somebody is gonna slide up to take his place,” @ModernWarzone told me. “If I were gone tomorrow from Twitter, somebody would slide in to do my job. That’s the reality of the capitalist world we live in." washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

Thank you to my tech colleague @faizsays for doing such an incredible job staying ontop of this coverage. He reported on Twitter internal documents stating the number of heavy tweeters declined over the last two years, including in esports/creators. washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

While the numbers of heavy tweets declined, the popularity of creators like Dream and MrBeast exploded, according to Twitter documents. I interviewed @Asmongold who said he thinks MrBeast appeals to people looking for nice, non-controversial videos. washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

I also asked @XboxP3 Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer during a panel on Tuesday evening what he thought of Twitter's changes under Elon Musk. He said, "We always think about where our brands and communities show up. It’s an important consideration for us."

As Twitter changes chaotically, like adding an $8 checkmark then disabling it today after tons of fake accounts appeared, gamers we spoke to said they will stay put for now. washingtonpost.com/video-games/20…

As @ModernWarzone puts it, if Twitter users "were going to leave, they would already be gone. It reminds me of the 2016 election when people said if Trump won, they would move to Canada. Nobody moved to Canada.”