According to an official announcement from Twitch, this partnership with Duolingo ended up giving gamers three months of free Super Duolingo subscription and a rare chat badge of the GamerDuo whenever they subscribed to any streamer on the platform by October 16th. The community reaction? Let’s just say that positivity was probably the last thing they expected.
Well, this really looks pretty straightforward: sub to your favorite creator, get an elegant badge that lights up your chat presence, and have fun for three months learning an excellent language for real. Support your favorite streamer and level up your IRL stats. Then begins a whole new era of the replies section on Twitch, full of confused, furious, and very strong opinions.
Most of the backlash stemmed from Duolingo going the AI way. Several users immediately called out the $10 million deal with an individual named LinkinBreak with outright statements such as “No thanks. I don’t support Duolingo as they put AI over humans.” Another user by the name of cosmicquarts disclosed that they were “neutralizing” their channel points drops just in protest because, “I don’t like to promote brands/companies that utilize genAI. Thanks but no thanks respectfully!” This was echoed by an array of others such as WaddlesToddles who said, “Didn’t they use A.I? I’m good.” So for some players, the very use of AI is an enormous roadblock. The roadblock stops them from ever accepting a freebie.
The other drama. Various responses moved into sordid waters and were off-topic from language learning. Let me tell you, very serious and unjustified accusations started flying around labeling Twitch a “terrorist recruiting platform.” This was served in between complaints on platform direction. Laphin Hyena wrote a whole paragraph pleading, “You guys should really concentrate on actually fixing the platform, rather than marketing this type of mess. Take the platform back to how it was in 2014-2018.” For what it seems, to some, this agreement is just an afterthought to something much graver happening on Twitch proper, including messed-up view counts and snatch of privileges once given.
Wait, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Duolingo stuff. A bunch of downright insane and funny reactions were posted. Several users referred to the Duolingo owl mascot; GeneralGEEGA asked, “didn’t this guy get ol’ yeller’d,” in reference to the famous meme regarding the character’s fate. MartinezOnChain chimed in: “Didn’t duo pass away from a Tesla truck ?” The inscrutable hilarity of the reactions will never leave the web, and that’s a good thing.
But it wasn’t all opposition. Several held quite an optimistic view of it. SonicDAO, it’ll seem, was for it, tweeting, “Free Duolingo and a badge? So basically we’re leveling up in Twitch and in life?” Maybe SBMadeitX is more pragmatic: “Thanks for the freebee.” And one hopefully named wuestenigel.eth affirmed the presence of the promo with screenshots, so it definitely worked for some users.
Yet monetized swag just couldn’t create an enormous buzz in the community. The AI matter gnaws violently at the hearts and minds of this unusually large contingent of gamers, drowning any good that the promotions could do. And when such is mixed with the ongoing disgruntlement with Twitch itself, promotions landed with a dull thud for once. If you were thinking of jumping on this offer, check if your favorite streamer has enabled it, but you already know that you’re thereby supporting a company that is attracting the wrath of a part of the gaming community for its AI stance. A so-called ‘free’ offer with baggage just getting hurled at you.
