I saw one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen on Linkedin earlier today–and that’s saying something–when I saw people posting in earnest about a story called “Jynxzi slams Supercell over ‘spit in the face’ Clash Royale statement”.
“This can’t be a real news item”, I thought, before checking all those words were actually in order and meant something. But hey, it turns out this was definitely a thing, and it was a thing so degrading to the medium of video games and the people who cover it that it caused me spiritual damage, to the extent that if I had to see it, now you all have to see it.
The basic summary of events is: Supercell, the developers of mobile juggernaut Clash Royale, released their annual roundup of how the game’s been going the other day, and in doing so thanked, you know, the people who made and are working on the game.
This led to a tweet by streamer and YouTuber Jynxi, in which he quoted a section of the roundup with the words “Probably the biggest spit in the face i’ve ever seen”, suggesting that he, a content creator streaming video games for money, should have also been thanked by Supercell for contributing to that success, because by streaming the game he had led to an increase in the playerbase.
He later went on Twitch and said “Don’t you dare take credit for 2025 being the best year that that game’s had since 2016, let’s not do that, because now you’re fucking rage-baiting.”
As Dexerto report, this was not an isolated sentiment! Mr. Beast himself replied to Jynxi’s tweet, saying many people had “only started playing again because of you”, while other big streamers and content creators agreed.
The fact these creators, who exist in an economy of their own, where they’re paid via ads and deals and subs in their own space, feel so entitled to official thanks from the makers of the actual video games they’re playing seemed absolutely absurd to me, a strain of entitlement so virulent it crosses over into delusion. Like yeah, content creators can affect sales, we’ve known that since the dawn of streaming, but streamers have their own rewards and spaces for achievement, just like we do as media. Your audience is your business; nobody should be expecting pats on the head from developers just because you happened to play their game and not someone else’s.
Imagine my horror, then, when not long after reading that news I saw the headline “Supercell CEO sorry for failure to acknowledge role of content creators in Clash Royale’s success”, in which the CEO of Supercell Ilkka Paananen says:
I failed to acknowledge the role that creators, pro players, and the broader community played in Clash Royale’s resurgence. That was my mistake — no one else’s — and it runs counter to everything I believe about the impact creators have on our games and our business. I am sorry.The intent was never to diminish anyone’s contribution, but intent doesn’t matter when the impact is real. I understand why it hurts, and that’s on me.
I don’t know Paananen, but man, if I had woken up one day and felt compelled to write a grovelling apology to a streamer because I didn’t show them enough deference in my company’s reports to thank them for helping boost income from my cash-grab mobile game that’s built on a succession of ‘dark pattern’ design elements, I would maybe look in the mirror and wonder what it was, exactly, I was doing with my life.