Twitch Introduces ‘Combos’ & Overhauls Clips

What Streamers Need To Know About Twitch Combos

This week, Twitch announced some exciting product updates focused on community interaction and content sharing. The core news centered around a brand new feature called Combos and a suite of much-needed updates to Clips.

Let’s dive into what these changes mean for streamers.

Twitch Launches ‘Combos’: A New Way to Engage with Bits

After teasing a “community-driven version of Power Ups” last year, Twitch officially unveiled Combos. Described as “a bit powered update… a little bit hype train… a little bit cheering,” Combos aim to make spending Bits more fun and communal, especially for the growing mobile audience.

Here’s how Combos work:

1. Initiation: Viewers tap a new icon next to the chat bar to open the Combo tray.
2. Participation: Tapping a specific Combo (starting with Heart, Cat, and Dino themes) contributes to an on-screen counter or “pill” visible to everyone in the stream.
3. Community Effect: As more viewers tap and contribute, the counter increases, triggering progressively larger on-screen animations.
4. Goal: To create shared moments of celebration driven by the community, similar to Hype Trains but potentially for smaller, more frequent moments. As Twitch CEO Dan Clancy put it, “I think of these as mini hype trains because there are many moments where the community is coming together.”

Key Details for Streamers:

• Monetization: Combos use Bits. Streamers receive 100% of the value of the Bits spent (1 Bit = $0.01 USD), just like regular Cheers. Twitch takes its share when viewers purchase Bits, not when they are spent on a channel. The price per Combo tap will be fixed, though Twitch may iterate on this during the beta.
• Control: Streamers can adjust the “difficulty” (number of Bits/taps needed to trigger animation thresholds) and can toggle the entire feature on or off for specific streams or moments. Viewers will also have controls to limit the animations they see.
• Rollout: Combos are launching in a closed beta next week with a small group of streamers. A waitlist is available for creators interested in early access. Twitch aims for a full rollout by fall 2025, iterating based on community feedback.
• The Name: Yes, YouTube recently launched a feature with the exact same name. Mael Novat (Product Manager) suggested this might actually be positive, stating, “that just means that there’s a similar product, has the same name across different platform, makes it easier to talk about, makes it easier for adoption.”

Combos feel like a direct attempt to capture the communal energy of Hype Trains in a more accessible, mobile-friendly format. By tying visual flair directly to collective Bit usage, Twitch is clearly betting on shared experiences driving engagement and creator revenue. The success will likely depend on how well the animations are integrated, the effectiveness of streamer controls, and whether communities embrace it as a fun, spontaneous way to show support or a gimmick destined for Twitch’s feature graveyard.

Clips Get a Major Overhaul: Rewarding Clippers & Improving Workflow

Twitch also announced a cluster of updates focused on its Clips system, acknowledging the vital role viewers play in creating and sharing stream highlights.

Here are the key Clips updates rolling out:

• Clip Leaderboards: Channels with access to leaderboards will see a new Clips tab. This leaderboard will showcase the most-viewed clips created during a set cycle (daily, weekly, monthly, or all-time).
• Top Clipper Badge: Viewers whose clips land in the top 3 spots on the leaderboard will earn a temporary “Top Clipper” chat badge in that channel.
• /clip Chat Command: A simple quality-of-life update allowing users to initiate the clipping process by typing /clip in chat.
• Less Disruptive Clipping (Experiment): An upcoming experiment will test opening the clip editor next to the stream instead of in a new tab. This could significantly improve the user experience for clippers by allowing them to continue watching the live stream while editing.
• Improved Mobile Clip Manager: Rolling out to everyone soon, the mobile Clip Manager is getting a search bar and filters (by title, category, date, etc.), making it much easier to find and manage clips on the go.

These updates collectively represent a significant push to make clipping easier, more rewarding, and better integrated into the Twitch experience. Recognizing clippers with leaderboards and badges is a smart move to incentivize this valuable community activity. Furthermore, streamlining the creation process, especially the experiment to avoid navigating away from the live stream, addresses long-standing usability friction.

Final Thoughts

This month’s announcements delivered tangible updates aimed at enhancing community interaction and content sharing. Combos introduce a novel, visually engaging way for viewers to use Bits collectively, leaning into Twitch’s strength in shared live moments. The comprehensive Clips updates address multiple pain points, from discovery and management to rewarding the viewers who help creators capture their best moments.

Both initiatives show Twitch continuing to iterate on core features, focusing on mobile usability and fostering deeper community engagement – trends we’ll likely see continue throughout 2025.

🔥 Pete’s Content Corner

Delve into my weekly selection of content creation highlights—handpicked videos, podcasts, and tweets that promise to captivate, educate, and entertain.

1. TwitchCon Rotterdam 2025 revealed its 19 exhibitors and major sponsors including Logitech G Streamlabs and Elden Ring Nightreign.
2. Celebrating its 20th birthday, YouTube shared that an astounding average of over 20 million videos are uploaded to the platform daily.
3. Discord appointed former Activision Blizzard Vice Chairman Humam Sakhnini as its new CEO, with founder Jason Citron announcing the transition.