The popular Twitch emote BibleThump is going away at the end of September, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Twitch said in an announcement (via Kotaku) that the emote is being dropped because of expiring licenses, but rightsholder Edmund McMillen says he’d be happy to renew the license, but it’s not up to him.
BibleThump was popular enough to earn a place in our 2020 rundown of Twitch emote meanings, a handy guide for anyone baffled by the flood of weird faces floating across their screens.
“Roguelike fans will recognize this emote from The Binding of Isaac,” we helpfully explained. “That is baby Isaac right there, with tears streaming down his face. Stream viewers bust out BibleThump when a profoundly sad, or profoundly precious incident crosses through the stream.”
Popular though it may be, it won’t be around for much longer. “The end of the BibleThump Era (2013-2024) is nigh!” Twitch wrote on X. “On 9/30, the rights to our beloved emote expire. While this is sad news, we know that all emotes go to heaven. SPEAKING OF SAD – we’re going to need a new emote to spam these feelings…”
The end of the BibleThump Era (2013-2024) is nigh! On 9/30, the rights to our beloved emote expire. 😭 While this is sad news, we know that all emotes go to heaven. SPEAKING OF SAD – we’re going to need a new emote to spam these feelings…September 25, 2024
Well, that happens—content disappearing because of expiring licences is nothing new in the world of videogames. But as the attached community note indicates, the situation took a weird twist when Edmund McMillen, the creator of The Binding of Isaac, said he was open to extending the deal.
“For those wondering what happened with the Bible thump emote, I’m 100% fine with coming up with a good solution to keep or modify the emote but I’m not in control of the new Twitch policies so it’s really up to them,” McMillen posted. He confirmed in separate posts that he still owns the rights to the emote, and reiterated that he “would be 100% fine with them renewing the rights.”
So, why isn’t that happening? Some on X suggested, presumably ironically, that Twitch can’t afford a new deal: Twitch is owned by Amazon, one of the biggest and most valuable companies in the world, but has reportedly struggled to turn a profit. That doesn’t strike me as likely. I don’t know how much a license for a single emote based on an old indie game would cost, but I can’t imagine it would be a very big slice of Twitch’s revenues. Others have speculated that Twitch wants to shift to emotes made in-house that it owns outright, which could be what McMillen was alluding to in his reference to “new Twitch policies.”
Whatever the reason, there’s been no sign that a new deal might be made. It’s possible that BibleThump could live on elsewhere, though. In response to Twitch’s message about the expiring license, streaming platform Kick, the place that pays guys like xQc and Nickmercs mountains of money to do gambling streams and recently hosted notorious former Twitch streamer (he was banned for life in 2023 for “hateful conduct) Adin Ross in a bizarre, baffling stream with Donald Trump, posted an image of the emote and a message to McMillen: “We cooking?”
The reaction to Kick’s tweet was almost universally negative, with multiple respondents asking McMillen not to take the deal. McMillen himself hasn’t indicated whether or not he might be interested in a deal, but he did repost Kick’s message. Make of that what you will.
