Twitch CEO Dan Clancy Says VTubing Is Still At An Early Stage
Twitch's CEO is publicly betting that cheaper character creation, not new platform features, is what widens the VTuber pipeline he wants streaming on his service.
Reporting from 1 source: GameBusiness.jp.
At Tokyo Game Show 2026, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy gave a keynote and then sat for a one-on-one interview. He said VTubing began in Japan and keeps growing outside it, but remains at an early stage because building a VTuber character has been expensive. He expects lower entry costs, more 3D models, and VTubers interacting with virtual environments.
Clancy's answer to the VTuber question was about cost, not culture. Building a character has been expensive, he said, and that is the part he expects to change. From there he listed three directions: more people drawn in as the barrier drops, a move from 2D models to 3D, and VTubers interacting with virtual environments that other people enter and leave.
He also rejected the premise that community means something different in Japan than elsewhere. What varies, in his account, is how the same underlying desire for shared experience shows up. Twitch is a platform where he still streams himself under the name DJClancy.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.