Massive Twitch leak reveals source code, creator payouts

Amazon’s streaming site Twitch was the victim of a major data breach on Wednesday when a 4chan user published leaked information. The information shared as part of the 125 GB torrent file includes streamer payout information and totals, source code for Twitch clients, Twitch security tools, and an “unreleased Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios,” The Verge reported.

Video Games Chronicle, a news website covering video games, published the first details of the leaked information this morning. The Verge confirmed that the breach was legitimate. Twitch has not responded to Polygon’s request for more information.

Wednesday’s leak is intended to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space,” the 4chan user posted on the message board. The poster also called the Twitch community a “disgusting toxic cesspool.”

Labeled as “part one,” the hacker implies they have more information than what’s already been shared. Three years of creator payout data — which lists out gross earnings for the site’s top streamers — was published. Numerous streamers claimed on Twitter that the payout data leaked as part of the leak corresponds to their analytics. According to the leak, payout information has been released for over 10,000 streams, and top channels are earning thousands each month.

Source code for Twitch clients on mobile, desktop, and game consoles are also part of that leak, as well as “the entirety of twitch.tv,” The Verge said, “with commit history going back to its early beginnings.” Commit history is a compiled archive of changes and revisions made to the site.

The Verge also reported that “code related to proprietary SDKs and internal AWS services used by Twitch,” an Amazon Game Studios Steam competitor, data on other Twitch-owned properties, and security tools have been published as part of the leak. Reddit users are scouring the leaky information to find out more, including data about a Twitch Easter egg which awards players a golden Kappa emotive.

User information does not appear to be part of the published leak, but we’ve reached out to Twitch for confirmation.