Latest in a growing trend
Panda, a well-known fighting game streamer and commentator, has had his equipment and personal belongings stolen following the recent Texas Showdown tournament.
Panda, who has over 30,000 followers on Twitch.tv, made a series of tweets explaining that his car window has been smashed and all of the equipment he uses for streaming taken, bar the lighting and backdrop. That includes a laptop containing personal family photos.
Please rt this. Some scumbag broke into my car and stole all of my equipment. If you know ANYTHING tell me. pic.twitter.com/OrCUZNLPrJ
— PxG@TXS15 (@PandaxGamingUS) May 11, 2015
All of my stream equipment. Gone. Window busted. Why would someone do this? This was someone AT THE EVENT that saw me load up.
— PxG@TXS15 (@PandaxGamingUS) May 11, 2015
All of my life’s work. Everything I have put in for this community. Who ever did this scoped me out and waited.
— PxG@TXS15 (@PandaxGamingUS) May 11, 2015
My personal laptop. Gone. All of my kids birth videos, photos birthday parties. First bike rides. Gone I could care less about anything else
— PxG@TXS15 (@PandaxGamingUS) May 11, 2015
I could care less about the equipment. Just return the fucking laptop which has my kids life on it.
— PxG@TXS15 (@PandaxGamingUS) May 11, 2015
Police report was files for those asking. I appreciate everyone’s support.
— PxG@TXS15 (@PandaxGamingUS) May 11, 2015
Unfortunately, this seems to be part of an increasing trend of high-profile thefts at these kinds of events. Only last month, a large number of developers and guests at the A MAZE festival in Berlin reported laptops, phones and important documents being stolen.
MatCatz representative Mark ‘MarkMan’ Julio also had his car broken in to at the end of April. Not only was his expensive streaming equipment swiped, preview code for Tekken 7 was taken too, jeopardising the game’s presence at events pre-release.
The equipment required for streaming these events is incredibly expensive: high-power computers, sound equipment, lighting, backdrops and capture devices can all add up to being worth thousands of pounds (with some estimates from other event streamers hitting upwards of $15,000), making streamers valuable targets for thefts and burglaries.
Anyone who has any information about these thefts should get in contact with the people involved. Hopefully they will be able to get their equipment returned.
