Twitch Sings has sung its last: Twitch announced today that the livestream karaoke platform co-developed by Rock Band studio Harmoix will be closed down at the end of the year.
"As we look to the future, we have decided to invest in broader tools and services that will help support and grow the entire music community on Twitch," it said in the closure announcement. "Because of this, we have made the difficult decision to close Twitch Sings on January 1, 2021. This community has inspired us with their talent and passion, and we thank you all for what you’ve given to Twitch Sings over the years."
Twitch has a general Music category with 3.6 million followers, and Twitch Sings represents a very small percentage of that, with just 161,000 followers. Friday afternoon may not be primo karaoke time, but it's not exactly banging right now either: The game currently has roughly 1800 viewers, good enough for second place in the Rhythm and Music Game category, ahead of Beat Saber but behind osu!. The top Twitch Sings stream currently has 157 viewers.
To wrap things up with something approximating a bang, Twitch is releasing its backlog of more than 400 new songs, although it will start pulling videos and clips on December 1, "per our contractual obligations." The whole thing, including VODs, past broadcasts, clips, and highlights, will disappear on January 1, 2021. Full details on the closure are available in the Twitch Sings FAQ.
