Twitch is a live streaming video platform owned by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.com. The site mainly centers on video gaming, introduced in June 2011 as a by-product of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. Recently, Twitch announces good news to its users. They now have the option to change usernames or handles for free. This is a feature many streamers have been waiting on for years.

How To Keep The Stats

Twitch's new feature was announced in the afternoon of February 24 and instantly went live. Not only that, users can do so every 60 days. Once the username is changed, the abandoned one will be held by the company for a minimum of six months. Subsequently, they will decide to return it to the pool of available usernames for the community and new users, however, this is not automatic, writes Emily Haplin on Twitch blog.

In this note, Haplin also says that after changing their names, some streamers will lose access to their stats. To avoid that, streamers will have to export stats ahead of time. Twitch likewise pointed out that outdated URLs will not redirect to new account names. Therefore, anyone marketing their page externally should be certain to update that, shares Polygon.

How To Change The Username

Twitch makes the method of changing usernames pretty simple. The selection is found in the Profile Settings page of streamer's account. Beside the existing name is the highlighted portion where one can replace the old one. Now, users can change their ID to match their gamertag or Youtube account.

So, whatever random thing users came up with when signing up, there is now a chance to do something about it. Whether WakeMeUpBeforeYouGoGo handle is a bit too much or user wants a more updated WakeMeUpWhenSeptemberEnds ID sounds more cool, the choice is now theirs. Many users may not bother changing Twitch usernames, but it's good to know there is an option to reverse any unfortunate naming decisions in the past. Furthermore, with more than 1.5 million broadcasters, there's probably a number who are glad this option now exists.