Former professional Super Smash Bros. player Gonzalo ‘ZeRo’ Barrios has entered a partnership with streaming platform Facebook Gaming.
The deal will see Barrios stream exclusively on Facebook Gaming, leaving his 520,000 Twitch followers behind. The partnership news arrives just a matter of weeks after the platform signed its first major exclusivity deal with Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang.
RELATED: ESL and Facebook expand partnership on non-exclusive basis
“I’m going to be moving over to Facebook Gaming as my main streaming platform,” Barrios said in an announcement. “Facebook is going to allow me to do other things and explore other options.”
As part of his introductory stream on Facebook Gaming, the Smash star will participate in a charity stream with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). “I always wanted to provide more support to charities that I believe in.” Barrios said in regards to the upcoming charity stream on December 3rd.
As a competitor, Barrios set an unprecedented record by winning 56 tournaments in succession. Since retiring from tournament play in 2018, the Chilean player has zeroed in on streaming and content creation.
RELATED: Mixer inks exclusive streaming deal with Ninja
“I want to give a big thank you to the previous platform that really allowed me to just change my life,” Barrios said, referring to Twitch. “I’m always going to be forever thankful, especially because I was one of the very first partners for what I do.”
Barrios claims the arrangement will allow him to “explore other options” while partnered with Facebook Gaming, possibly suggesting he is able to maintain other avenues of content creation such as YouTube.
Esports Insider says: We’re currently witnessing a huge shift in the power dynamic between streaming platforms and content creators. Big exclusivity deals such as ZeRo’s are demonopolizing the live-streaming industry and its exciting to see where it’s headed.