The Binding of Isaac is so ingrained in gaming culture that it inspired one of the most recognizable and popular emotes to ever spam a Twitch chat: BibleThump. It is the screaming/sobbing head of the villainous hero, often used to express complex emotions of horror, compassion, and sarcastic crocodile tears. And the Amazon-owned company says it will soon be deleted from the streaming network.
“The end of the BibleThump era (2013-2024) is near!” Twitch announced on September 25th. “On September 30th, the rights to our beloved emote expire. Although this is sad news, we know that all emotes are going to heaven. Speaking of sad, we need a new emote to spam those feelings…”
You could immediately feel a thousand BibleThumps entering the chat. “Terrible news” wrote Twitch streamer Christina “Tina” Kenyon. “Small indie companies can’t afford the licensing fees for a single emote” wrote
“For those wondering what happened to the Bible Thump emote, I am 100% okay with finding a good solution to keep or change the emote, but I have no control over the new Twitch guidelines, so it’s really up to them,” he said wrote in a follow-up later. The developer who also shipped Super Meat Boyclarified that he still owns the rights to the image and that he would be “100% fine” if Twitch seemingly renewed them at little to no cost.
For anyone who hasn’t spent much time in Twitch chats, the BibleThump emote has become so commonplace and ubiquitous over the years that it feels as inseparable from the streaming platform as anything else. The sobbing cup of Isaac, a small dough-like child fighting against horror Zelda-inspired dungeons beneath his house clog up the chats every time a video game presentation is disappointing, like when Hollow Knight: Silksong goes another Nintendo Direct without a release date.
Why is Twitch abolishing the iconic symbol? Some critics blame the company for being cheap declining income And a lack of clear direction. But Twitch also has a policy against emotes that “involve the unauthorized use of another person’s content, trademarks, images or other rights.” It could be that the company wants to purge its archive of anything that it doesn’t own rights to or that doesn’t fit into its future brand deals and marketing plans.
Whatever the reason, it sucks and seems easily preventable. There is now a community note regarding Twitch’s announcement of the BibleThump emote apocalypse. “Edmund McMillen, creator and current rights holder of The Binding of Isaac (the property the emote comes from) has publicly stated that he is willing to renew the rights and/or negotiate a deal. It is Twitch’s decision not to do this,” it said.
The company has until the end of the month to rescue screaming baby Isaac. The competing streaming platform Kick is now there already teasing plans to add your own BibleThump emoji instead of Twitch.
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