Tencent already has its fingers on a plethora of gaming industry cakes, and it looks like the mega-corporation is now gearing up to take on Twitch. A mysterious new service called Trovo Live has been slowly rolled out with the backing of Tencent, and while it is now making small numbers, it is receiving a $ 30 million investment to lure creators to the platform.
Trovo Live is currently in beta and hosts multiple creators with double-digit audiences. The service’s most popular titles include Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile, though there are also multiplayer PC game streams including Valorant, Fortnite, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Call of Duty: Warzone.
The service was once branded as Madcat, and has been in operation for at least a few months, as Bloomberg reports. Trovo’s terms of service include a single reference to being “an affiliate of Tencent Holdings Limited”, but Trovo’s address listed there is consistent with Tencent’s North American office.
On June 22, just a few hours after Microsoft announced the end of Mixer’s operations, Trovo announced its Creator Partnership Program, a $ 30 million effort to attract more broadcasters. Trovo will reward its top 500 creators for meeting certain audience targets to see the time: Core incentives start at $ 600 and go up to $ 4,200.
We understand what it is like to start from scratch.
Introducing # Trovo500
$ 30 million will be available to creators of small / large streaming in Trovo. Our focus is to provide a fair, welcoming and caring community for all. https://t.co/MzCxFJeTWs🦎 pic.twitter.com/rcgKu24AQ7
– Trovo Live (@trovolive) June 23, 2020
The service is also promoting a $ 100 per 100 initiative, where streamers get a $ 100 bonus for reaching 100 followers on the platform.
Hello Trovers! Don’t forget, our $ 100 per 100 follower event is still going on! Who is next to reach this milestone? 👀😉 pic.twitter.com/2xtqxC8QGe
– Trovo Live (@trovolive) June 24, 2020
For now, Trovo hardly compares to Twitch, or Facebook Gaming and Mixer, when it comes to viewer count, but the company is clearly investing heavily in attracting new content creators.
