The US Army has ordered a tactical withdrawal from Twitch

Field reports from the Twitch battlefield indicated that a US Army offensive into live-streaming would result in an easy victory. Having their very own esports team reporting for duty, America’s military muscle was looking to win hearts, minds and a few new recruits for wherever their next war would take them. The only problem?

Dodgy intel of the environment didn’t prepare the streaming troops for a rise in insurgent viewers, who bombarded the streams with a never-ending barrage of IEDs: Improvised Explosive Debates. US army troops had to fend off numerous viewers consistently asking them about the many many war crimes that America’s armed forces have committed over the years, with their only effective weapon being an instant banning for anyone who dared raise such questions on a stream.

From there, the US Army pushed forward with a giveaway campaign, albeit one that would redirect their audience to a recruitment page that the top brass said would totally earn them prizes if they signed up. You get PTSD, everyone gets PTSD! Faced with an overwhelming backlash from Twitch’s militia, the US Army has now ordered a tactical retreat on its not so suitable recruitment efforts.

According to esports consultant and journalist Rod “Slasher” Breslau said, this withdrawal might be temporary as the US Army looks to regroup and launch a more focused offensive on Twitch in 2021:

If the US Army does return, they’ll need a completely different strategy for dealing with viewers who want to know about their war crimes, as banning such questions may be a violation of the American first amendment to free speech. More on that, at PC Gamer. Also getting in on the act? U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who’ll be channelling some of her energy towards preventing the US Army from spending funds on recruitment drives via Twitch according to Vice.

The US Army may be out for the count. but the US Navy is still in this streaming fight and is currently maintaining a presence on Twitch despite the fact that they’ve received heavy backlash from the fighting front as well for their use of heavy-handed moderation. War…war never changes, but the recruitment efforts certainly do.

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Last Updated: July 23, 2020