Pokimane
Anys in 2019
Personal information
Born
Imane Anys

(1996-05-14) 14 May 1996
Morocco
Nationality
  • Moroccan
  • Canadian
Other names
  • Pokimanelol
  • Poki
Occupations
Twitch information
Years active2013–present
Twitch information
Channel
GenreGaming
Games
Followers9.33 million
Associated acts
YouTube information
Channel
Genres
Subscribers6.64 million[2]
Total views411.40 million[2]
100,000 subscribers2016, 2017, 2020
1,000,000 subscribers2018
Last updated: 28 September 2023

Imane Anys (/ˌiːˈmɑːn ˈæniːs/;[3][4] Arabic: إِيمَان أَنِيس, born 14 May 1996), better known as Pokimane (/ˈpoʊkimɑːn/ or /ˈpoʊkimeɪn/[3]), is a Moroccan-Canadian internet personality, Twitch streamer and YouTuber. She is best known for her live streams on Twitch, where she broadcasts video game content, most notably in League of Legends and Fortnite. She is currently the most-followed female streamer on the platform. She is a co-founder of OfflineTV, an online social entertainment group of content creators. She left the organization on May 19, 2023.[5]

Early life

Imane Anys was born in Morocco on 14 May 1996.[6][7] Her parents were academics who immigrated to Quebec, Canada.[6][8] She grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario.[9] Her brother Mo, who is three years older than her, passed down his old games and cartridges from the Game Boy, Nintendo DS and Wii to her. In middle school, Anys began playing massively multiplayer online games such as MapleStory and Endless Online, where she focused on customization and socializing with other players. Anys studied chemical engineering at McMaster University but later dropped out to pursue her streaming career full-time.[6][8]

Career

Twitch streaming

Anys created her Twitch account in June 2013. She began streaming later that year with a $250 PC she bought off a classified website after she reached Platinum rank in League of Legends. The name Pokimane is a portmanteau of Pokémon and her name, Imane.[8]

She gained 450,000 followers on Twitch in 2017, earning her account a place within the 100 most followed on the platform.[10] As a result of her account's rise on the platform in 2017, the Shorty Awards named her as the Best Twitch Streamer of the year.[10] The Shorty Awards detailed that her gameplay and commentary on the popular game League of Legends propelled her to popularity on Twitch.[10] Anys had a cameo appearance in a League of Legends trailer announcing a new game mode.[11]

Anys has been known to stream gameplay and commentary of Fortnite, which she first streamed as part of a sponsorship.[12] At E3 in 2018, Epic Games, the developers of Fortnite, arranged a pro–am event.[13][14] The event paired streamers with mainstream celebrities in a match of Fortnite's Battle Royale mode; Anys was paired with rapper Desiigner but shortly before the event, he was replaced with basketball player Josh Hart.[13][14] In mid-March 2019, Anys addressed her declining amount of Fortnite streams, stating that she needed to "think about what I like or dislike about the content that I've been making."[15]

Tech news website Digital Trends detailed that Anys frequently interacts with her audience and described her "laidback but enthusiastic personality" as "perfectly suited to long-form streams."[16] Aside from streaming gaming content, Anys also podcasts and streams miscellaneous real-world moments.[16]

Pokimane at TwitchCon Berlin in 2019

As one of the more popular streamers on the platform, Twitch has directly partnered with Anys. In July 2018, Twitch selected her as one of 15 ambassadors for the 2018 iteration of their TwitchCon event.[17] Later that month, Twitch also scheduled Anys as a partner for their Twitch Creator Camp, a series of broadcasts and articles designed to help content creators build successful channels.[18] In March 2020, Anys signed a multi-year exclusivity with Twitch.[19] Social Blade listed Anys as the 9th most followed user on Twitch, with over 8.5 million followers as of 21 December 2021.[20]

In late October 2020, Anys collaborated with U.S. representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar along with several other notable streamers including Disguised Toast and HasanAbi for a session of Among Us as part of a get-out-the-vote initiative for the 2020 United States presidential election.[21][22]

Anys was named a featured honoree in the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 under the category of "Games", which noted her prominence as the largest female streamer on Twitch and as one of the founders of OfflineTV.[23] She had 8.5 million followers on Twitch as of July 2021.[8]

On 8 January 2022, Anys' Twitch account was suspended for 48 hours midway through an Avatar: The Last Airbender watch stream following a DMCA claim from ViacomCBS.[24][25] Later in the month, Anys' stream was raided by viewers of JiDion. He was later banned, which received the attention of streamer Ninja, who stated he would use his connections to get the ban reversed. Anys criticized this response from Ninja, particularly calling out Ninja's use of the word bitches when speaking on the issue.[26][27][28]

In February 2022, Anys re-signed with Twitch.[29]

YouTube

In addition to streaming on the Twitch platform, Anys also has multiple YouTube channels: Pokimane, Pokimane Too, Pokimane VODS, Poki ASMR, and imane.[30][31] The Pokimane channel features edited gaming clips from streams while Pokimane Too includes unrelated clips of her gaming content, vlogs, and podcast. On the Pokimane VODS channel, full unedited VOD clips of streams are uploaded. The Poki ASMR channel featured videos that are part of a broader YouTube community of ASMR content, though Anys has ceased uploading on the channel.[32] In 2021, Anys launched a new channel entitled simply 'imane' which covers more personal topics and vlogs rather than gaming-related topics.

Anys was also a member of OfflineTV, a collaborative YouTube channel made up of content creators.[33][34] Speaking about the channel, Anys stated, "it's not fun being a streamer and living alone, so we decided to come together in a way so we not only keep each other company but we can also collab and actually do good work and content for everyone else."[34]

Other ventures and criticisms

In October 2019, it was announced that Anys, among a number of other internet personalities, would appear in the film Free Guy, directed by Shawn Levy,[35] which was released in August 2021.[36] She also appeared in the music video for Bella Poarch's song "Inferno", released in August 2021.[37]

In October 2021, it was announced that Anys had helped launch a talent management and brand consulting firm called RTS, where she will serve as the Chief Creative Officer.[38]

On November 13, 2023, Pokimane announced she launched Myna, a company that sells "healthy snack alternative" cookies.[39] One four-pack of the company's midnight mini cookies product were sold for $28, drawing criticism from some calling the cookies overpriced. On November 18, during a livestream, she responded to the criticism stating, "When people are like 'oh my god $28 for cookies'. It's four bags, that's $7 per bag. I know, I know math is hard when you're an idiot. But, if you're a broke boy just say so". Her usage of "broke" as an insult attracted further backlash.[40][41][39]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2021 Free Guy Herself Cameo appearance [35]

Music videos

Year Title Artist(s) Ref.
2021 "Inferno" Bella Poarch and Sub Urban [37]
"Break Out" MaiR [42]

Awards and nominations

Ceremony Year Category Result Ref.
The Game Awards 2018 Content Creator of the Year Nominated [43]
Shorty Awards 2018 Twitch Streamer of the Year Won [10]
The Streamer Awards 2022 Best Valorant Streamer Nominated [44]
Legacy Award Won
Streamy Awards 2018 Live Streamer Nominated [45]
2020 Nominated [46]
2022 Streamer of the Year Nominated [47]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kharif, Olga (13 May 2021). "Female streamers are conquering Twitch". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. Bloomberg. pp. B8. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 "About Pokimane". YouTube.
  3. 1 2 Padilla, Daniel Anthony (13 May 2022). I spent a day with POKIMANE: "Streaming Under Scrutiny". AnthonyPadilla. Event occurs at 0:40. Retrieved 29 August 2022 – via YouTube.
  4. ↑ Anys, Imane (9 December 2019). this is my last name... Pokimane Too. Event occurs at 0:45. Retrieved 14 May 2022 – via YouTube.
  5. ↑ THANK YOU POKIMANE, retrieved 19 May 2023
  6. 1 2 3 Spangler, Todd (19 April 2021). "Game Streamer Pokimane on Twitch's New Safety Policies, Favorite Games and Her Upcoming Film Debut". Variety. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  7. ↑ @pokimanelol (14 May 2021). "25! 🥳" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 November 2021 – via Twitter.
  8. 1 2 3 4 D'Anastasio, Cecilia (26 August 2021). "Pokimane Has Done Enough—and Has So Much Left to Do". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  9. ↑ Marchese, David (21 April 2023). "The Queen of Twitch Wonders What Turns Teenage Fans Into Trolls". The New York Times Magazine. Photograph by Doumbouya, Mamadi. ISSN 1553-8095. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Pokimane – The Shorty Awards". Shorty Awards. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  11. ↑ Dedmon, Tanner (20 May 2018). "League of Legends' New Clash Trailer Offers Advice From Faker". Comic Book. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  12. ↑ Nicol, Will; Winn, Riley (15 June 2018). "Twitch streamer Pokimane on playing 'Fortnite' full-time, building a community". Digital Trends. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  13. 1 2 Bishop, Sam (24 May 2018). "Fortnite's Celebrity Pro-Am gets more details". Gamereactor. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  14. 1 2 Goslin, Austen (1 June 2018). "Here's everyone playing in Epic's major Fortnite E3 tournament". Polygon. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  15. ↑ Bonfiglio, Nahlia (4 April 2019). "Pokimane explains why she stopped doing Fortnite streams". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  16. 1 2 Gurwin, Gabe (19 April 2018). "Here are 8 fun Twitch streamers you should start watching". Digital Trends. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  17. ↑ Weiss, Geoff (6 July 2018). "Pokimane, Avajaijai, Djarii Named First-Ever 'Ambassadors' For Twitch's TwitchCon". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  18. ↑ Chan, Stephanie (24 July 2018). "Twitch Creator Camp has both crash-courses and master classes for streamers". GamesBeat. VentureBeat. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  19. ↑ Asarch, Steven (5 March 2020). "Pokimane will be streaming on Twitch for at least a few more years". Newsweek. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  20. ↑ "Top 100 Twitch Streamers Sorted by Followers". Social Blade. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  21. ↑ Stephen, Bijan (20 October 2020). "Watch AOC play Among Us live on Twitch with HasanAbi and Pokimane". The Verge. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  22. ↑ Fudge, James (20 October 2020). "U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar to Join Pokimane in Among Us Twitch Stream to Promote Voting". The Esports Observer. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  23. ↑ "Forbes 30 Under 30 2021: Games". Forbes.
  24. ↑ Diaz, Ana (7 January 2022). "Pokimane banned on Twitch after streaming Avatar: The Last Airbender". Polygon. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  25. ↑ Zwiezen, Zack (8 January 2022). "Pokimane Receives First Twitch Ban, But It's Only Temporary". Kotaku. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  26. ↑ Arshad, Sahar (19 January 2022). "3 gaming influencers are embroiled in a messy feud involving accusations of harassment, misogyny, and lies". Insider. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  27. ↑ Asarch, Steven (25 January 2022). "Pokimane and Ninja controversy reveals one thing Twitch must change". Inverse. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  28. ↑ Winslow, Jeremy (18 January 2022). "Twitch Star Ninja Threatens Pokimane With Legal Action For Alleged 'Harassment'". Kotaku. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  29. ↑ Garcia, Ethan (8 February 2022). "Pokimane re-signs with Twitch". Dot Esports. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  30. ↑ "Pokimane – about page". Pokimane. YouTube. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  31. ↑ "Poki ASMR – about page". Poki ASMR. YouTube. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  32. ↑ Gutelle, Sam (23 June 2018). "ASMR Creators Rustle Up Some Revenue On YouTube And Beyond". Tubefilter. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  33. ↑ Grayson, Nathan (23 December 2021). "Twitch streamers and McDonald's joined metaverse then it got weird". Sun-Journal. Lewiston, Maine. Washington Post. pp. C12. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  34. 1 2 Lee, Julia (14 July 2017). "Pokimane on Offline TV, trying new things and why Scarra is most like Zilean". The Rift Herald. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  35. 1 2 Walker, Ben (4 October 2019). "Ninja, Jacksepticeye, Pokimane and more will co-star in Ryan Reynolds' Free Guy". Dot Esports. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  36. ↑ Kit, Borys (28 September 2018). "Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy Team for Action Comedy 'Free Guy'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  37. 1 2 Haylock, Zoe (13 August 2021). "Bella Poarch Welcomes You to Her Tower of Terror in the 'Inferno' Video". Vulture. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  38. ↑ "Pokimane is starting a talent management company for streamers". Engadget. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  39. 1 2 Winslow, Levi (20 November 2023). "The Pokimane Cookie Apology Tour Has Officially Begun". Kotaku. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  40. ↑ Tsiaoussidis, Alex (19 November 2023). "Pokimane under fire for roasting 'broke' fans who criticised the cost of her cookies". Dot Esports. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  41. ↑ Abraham, Ellie (20 November 2023). "Streamer Pokimane hits back at 'broke' viewers who criticised price of her cookies". Indy100. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  42. ↑ OfflineTV (2 October 2021). OFFLINETV 「 BREAK OUT 」 Official Music Video. YouTube. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  43. ↑ Wade, Jessie (6 December 2018). "The Game Awards 2018 Nominations Announced". IGN. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  44. ↑ Miceli, Max (22 February 2022). "All nominees for QTCinderella's Streamer Awards". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group.
  45. ↑ "8th Annual Nominees & Winners". Streamy Awards. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  46. ↑ "10th Annual Streamy Nominees". The Streamy Awards. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  47. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (27 October 2022). "Streamy Awards Nominations: MrBeast Tops List Again". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
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