Topline<\/p>\n
Twitch reported major outages to several of its services Thursday, revealing the issues about an hour after the highly anticipated gameplay trailer for \u201cGrand Theft Auto VI\u201d was released.<\/p>\n
Twitch reported the outages around 4 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n
Photo by Silas Stein\/picture alliance via Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n
Twitch said<\/a> the outages impacted its web, chat and video viewing services, noting it was looking into the issue.<\/p>\n Reports of issues for Twitch on Downdetector.com<\/a> spiked, with over 17,000 users reporting problems with its website, app and servers.<\/p>\n The trailer was exclusively released on Netflix, though top streamers like IShowSpeed and Kai Cenat streamed their live reactions to it on Twitch, giving people without a Netflix subscription the ability to view the trailer right when it released at 3 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n Cenat and IShowSpeed\u2019s livestreams and profiles were unavailable as of 4:45 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n Netflix outage reports on Downdetector briefly spiked when the 26-minute trailer was released.<\/p>\n Tangent<\/p>\n The trailer briefly tanked shares of Take-Two, the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar Games, before the stock quickly surged into the positive. Take-Two shares are down 9% on the year. <\/p>\n Big Number<\/p>\n 21.7 million. That is how many followers Cenat has amassed on Twitch, becoming the most-followed streamer on the platform. He has averaged around 75,000 viewers per livestream this month, according to twitchtracker.com<\/a>, though his livestream of the GTA VI trailer likely dwarfed that number.<\/p>\n What Did The Trailer Show?<\/p>\n The trailer, which marks the first gameplay shown of the video game since its first cinematic trailer released in 2023, showed playable missions involving high-speed getaways, robbery, armed and unarmed combat and more across a large map, which The New York Times<\/a> notes will be three times larger than Rockstar\u2019s last hit game, \u201cRed Dead Redemption 2.\u201d The trailer also showed highly polished graphics and lighting, which has become a staple of Rockstar releases.<\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n The latest GTA installment, which has undergone two delays that pushed back its initial planned release of fall 2025, will come to consoles Nov. 19. Controversially, Rockstar initiated pre-orders for the game before any gameplay was shown, creating backlash from gamers who thought it was unethical to expect purchases to be made before the main part of the product was even revealed. However, the decision appeared to pay off, as Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said in an earnings call earlier this month that Take-Two recorded an \u201cexceptional start\u201d to pre-orders, more of which were made for GTA VI\u2019s $100 ultimate edition than the standard $80 version. The game\u2019s lead-up was shrouded in even more controversy last week when gameplay leaks spread across social media. Take-Two then subpoenaed Microsoft and Discord<\/a> for information on the supposed leakers, who framed the action as a protest of Rockstar not releasing GTA VI with physical discs. Consumers have criticized the larger gaming industry for prioritizing digital releases over physical ones, arguing digital downloads of games are licenses that can be pulled from platforms and gamers at a moment\u2019s notice. Rockstar said in a statement<\/a> this week the leaks were \u201cheartbreaking for our team\u201d and apologized for how long it took to release the game and share details around it.<\/p>\n Further Reading<\/p>\n