Cassie Gardner 
Nick “Nickmercs” Kolcheff is the latest prominent streamer to join streaming platform Kick after a big-money offer.
With more than a decade of streaming on Twitch under his belt, Nickmercs has now signed a non-exclusive contract with Twitch rival Kick. The deal starts in late October 2023 and runs for one year. This was confirmed on Kick’s Twitter on October 19th.
This isn’t the first time Kick has signed a big-name streamer from Twitch to a non-exclusive contract. The site has been throwing money at prominent Twitch streamers since its start in December 2022. This includes big names such as Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa and Hikaru “GMHikaru” Nakamura.
Kick is hoping to bring some of those streamers’ followers to their streaming service and get them to stick around afterward. The site has garnered mainstream attention due to the amount of money it has been spending on streamers as well as controversy for who it has chosen to pursue.
How much money is Nickmercs getting from Kick?
Nickmercs’ contract is reportedly worth an estimated $10 million over one year. That estimate comes via Matt Craig for Forbes, though no figure has been confirmed by Kick or Nickmercs.
Nickmercs made a name for himself on the streaming platform playing various battle royales. Most recently, he has been known for playing and his controversial presence around Call of Duty: Warzone.
In the 2021 income earnings leak from Twitch, Nickmercs was the fourth-highest-earning streamer, earning over $5 million across a 25-month span starting in 2019. This was only the money he made from ad revenue, subscriptions, and bit donations during that time, and Twitch’s user base grew from 2021 on. He also competed in esports and has been sponsored by FaZe Clan, so his bank account would have been even larger than that.
Is Nickmercs still on Twitch?
Yes, Nickmercs will still stream on Twitch after the contract with Kick starts.
Having a non-exclusive contract with Kick doesn’t stop Nickmercs from continuing to stream on Twitch. Many other big names in streaming have a similar deal, alternating which streaming site they appear on. It is not possible to stream to both Twitch and Kick at the same time, so it will be more likely that Nickmercs will create a schedule that divides where he streams.
Nickmercs’ jump into streaming on Kick comes at a time when Twitch has tightened its spending on top talent. Starting June 2023 the payout split for the highest earning streamers went from 70% to 50%, which took a significant amount of money from top streamers.
The decision to work with Kick could also be a way for the streamer to diversify his income streams after facing backlash for a homophobic comment made in June on Twitter. Relative to Twitch, Kick has less stringent rules when it comes to the behavior of its talent.
Fans of the streamer will have to keep an eye on the new Kick channel to see what Nickmercs is up to. There isn’t a confirmed start date for streams on Kick, but with the contract starting in late October it could be any time.
