NICKMERCS explains why he’s staying well clear of Twitch’s controversial TV meta

Isaac McIntyre
NICKMERCS shocked on his Twitch stream.

Nicholas “NICKMERCS” Kolcheff has knocked back calls for him to join Twitch’s controversial TV meta and made it very clear that, despite fan demands, he’s only going to be playing games on-stream for the foreseeable future.

Twitch’s latest “meta” has been a fairly controversial one, with top streamers simply watching popular TV shows and reality programs alongside their viewers.

Some of the website’s biggest names, including xQc, Hasan, and Pokimane, have been involved in the controversial meta recently. Watching shows even earned Pokimane a platform suspension, while Hasan had a DMCA strike scare that was actually proven fake days later.

One star that won’t ever join, though, is NICKMERCS.

“Nah, everything is DMCA these days,” the streamer said after his Twitch fans demanded he flick on shows. “I literally just sit here all day and play video games.”

NICKMERCS revealed he’s been watching the explosion of “react” streams across Twitch these past few months and told his fans he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“These dudes are just f**king sending it!” he laughed.

“I don’t even try, no,” NICKMERCS then said in response to trying to find ways around the looming threat DMCA strikes. “[Getting pinged] is rare, but you can get live DMCAs, even if you’re careful, and that would just really suck.

“[In the past], I had two strikes, so I was playing everything super carefully. That’s my life now. Those strikes are gone, I’m free, but I still don’t want to risk it.”

And so, NICKMERCS is going to be sticking to his usual wheelhouse: Apex Legends, splashes of Fortnite, and even (on those rare occasions) Warzone returns, all of which stick to his well-crafted battle royale persona.

While Kolcheff spicing shows into his streams wouldn’t have been the biggest shock, especially considering how popular it’s become, the star already has big plans, including going pro in Apex Legends, and returning to Fortnite ⁠— all of which means he can’t risk getting banned right now.

“What if I got strikes. It would be crazy. I would literally f**king cry, getting banned, for months,” he concluded, before adding, “Imagine the comeback stream though!”

About The Author

Isaac was formerly the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. Isaac began his writing career as a sports journalist at Fairfax Media, before falling in love with all things esports and gaming. Since then he's covered Oceanic and global League of Legends for Upcomer, Hotspawn, and Snowball Esports.