Twitch has dropped the popular BibleThump emoticon because the license expires, despite the fact that creator Edmund McMillen said he was '100% okay with them renewing rights'

The Twitch emote BibleThump will be discontinued at the end September. This doesn't seem to make sense. Twitch announced (via Kotaku), that the emote was being dropped due to expiring licenses. Rightsholder Edmund McMillen said he would be happy to renew the licence, but it is not up to him.

BibleThump is popular enough to be included in our 2020 rundown on Twitch emoticons, a guide for those who are confused by the influx of strange faces that appear on their screens.

We explained that "Roguelike players will recognize this emote as being from The Binding of Isaac." "That's baby Isaac, right there with tears streaming down his cheeks. When a deeply sad or deeply precious incident crosses the stream, stream viewers will break out BibleThump.

It won't last much longer, no matter how popular it is. "The BibleThump Era's (2013-2024), end is near!" Twitch posted on X. "On September 30, the rights to our beloved Emote expire. Although this is sad, we know all emotes will go to heaven. SPEAKING ABOUT SAD, we're going need a new emoticon to spam these emotions ..."

It's not a new thing for videogames to have content disappear due to expiring licenses. As the attached community note shows, the situation took an odd turn when Edmund McMillen said he would be open to extending The Binding of Isaac's deal.

McMillen wrote: "For those wondering about the Bible thump, I'm fine with coming up a good solution for keeping or modifying the emote. But I'm not the one in charge of the new Twitch policy so it's up to them." McMillen confirmed in separate posts that the emote was still his and that he would be "100% fine" if the rights were renewed.

Why isn't this happening? Some people on X said, ironically, Twitch couldn't afford a deal. Twitch, owned by Amazon (one of the largest and most valuable companies), has reportedly struggled with making a profit. This doesn't seem likely. I don't have a clue how much a license to use an emote from a classic indie game might cost, but it wouldn't be a large portion of Twitch revenue. Some have speculated that Twitch is looking to move to emotes that are made in-house and that it owns outright. This could be what McMillen meant when he mentioned "new Twitch Policies."

No sign has been seen that a new agreement might be reached. BibleThump may survive elsewhere. In response to Twitch’s message about the license expiring, streaming platform Kick posted an image of this emote with a message for McMillen.

Kick's Tweet was almost universally criticized, with many people asking McMillen to reject the offer. McMillen has not said whether he is interested in a possible deal. However, he did repost Kick’s message. Take that as you will.