Twitch is eliminating a badge that signified game developers in a chat stream. The removal goes into effect today, October 21, (or “soon after”), and accounts with the badge will automatically lose it without any input required.
The badge was first introduced in 2022 as a way for developers “to be more visible and verifiable in chat,” said developer relations head Jon Bulava. He acknowledged the feature has been “beneficial,” but has been cut to “restore our Developer Organization review process.”
Bulava revealed that after the developer badge’s launch, it led to an increased volume of organization requests, both legitimate and not. In turn, Twitch had a “noticeable delay” in reviews and the queue became “increasingly difficult to manage.”
Developer Organizations let studios build extensions or collaborate with other Twitch developers, and get analytics on how a game performs on the streaming platform.
What changes with Twitch killing its developer badge
With the badge being decommissioned, the current organization queue is being wiped clean so Twitch can start fresh. Developers who sent an request (and included a game ownership claim) before November 1, 2024, will have a completed review by December 1.
Conversely, developers who made a request without a claim prior to November 1 will get an email denying the request, which will “reestablish” the review process.
According to Bulava, the badge’s current iteration has “challenges to overcome,” and there are “no plans” to bring it back.
More information on the Twitch badge and the aftermath of its loss can be read here.