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Sidekick, a platform that allows users to pay gamers to play and socialise with them, has announced changes following safeguarding concerns.
Sidekick – which has similar branding to and links with UK-based gaming cafe chain SideQuest Gamers Hub – first came under fire late last year.
In December 2024, this video was published by the ‘No Text To Speech’ (NTTS) YouTube channel, titled ‘Investigating a Discord “E-Girl Dating” Business…’ and was later followed by this video, titled ‘Exposing a Discord “E-Girl Dating” Business…’
Sidekick is billed as ‘a social platform that connects users (Sidekickers) with companions (Kickers) worldwide, transforming social interactions and gaming passions into real, monetisable opportunities’. Sidekick says that Kickers ‘offer services such as game companionship, coaching, chatting, crypto education, and rank boosting’.
However, the YouTuber pointed out that Sidekick’s age verification checks were not stringent enough, with some minors seemingly being allowed to register as Kickers.
At one point (4:32 in the second video), alleged leaked Sidekick team messages appeared to show one team member (known as Yuki) respond to concerns that one potential Kicker was only 16 years old, to which they apparently responded: “Just let her write 18 in profile.”
Aside from these concerns around child safety laws, the YouTuber videos also highlighted Sidekick’s monetisation options, including the system around its virtual tokens and prizes.
Sidekick has since made changes to its processes, including the release of the aforementioned staff member, and has published several statements on the matter below. It has also removed the Kickers channel from its Discord server.
Sidekick apologises for ‘lapse in review process’ and lets go of assistant manager
On February 6th, Sidekick posted an update in its Discord server, saying: “We acknowledge a lapse in our Kicker review process and sincerely apologise to everyone. Sidekick has terminated Yuki, Assistant Manager of the Reviewing Team, due to misconduct, and reserves the right to take legal action if necessary.
“We remain committed to full compliance with regulations. To ensure compliance and improve our processes, we are taking the following actions:
- Temporarily suspending our current service to conduct a comprehensive internal review.
- Investigating the entire reviewing team to identify and address any oversight.
- Implementing team-wide training programs to strengthen our review standards and prevent future lapses.
“We deeply appreciate your continued support and understanding as we work to improve our processes and uphold the trust you place in us.”
Sidekick
Sidekick previously responded to the concerns raised in the first YouTube video through a long public statement on December 20th 2024 available in the announcements section of the Sidekick Discord server. However, this statement mainly focused on what the platform does, and didn’t address the age concerns.
Sidekick’s previous age requirements stated ‘you must be 13-40 years old to participate in this server’, but it has published new statements clarifying its rules.
Then, on January 30th 2025, Sidekick published another long statement in its Discord server, stressing the following: “Sidekick is designed exclusively for users who meet the legal age of majority in their respective jurisdictions. To ensure this, we have implemented a rigorous review system to verify that only legally eligible users can access our platform and services. This includes individuals who are 18 years or older or those who have reached the legal working age in their country.”
As mentioned, Sidekick is currently reviewing its processes.
Update (February 16th 2025): Sidekick has unveiled new branding and details about its livestream web3 trading platform:
It has also announced changes to its digital gachapon offering:
A few days ago, Sidekick also retweeted the following tweet by ‘Sidekick | Intern’, reaffirming its plans to make changes: “Sidekick is entering a new chapter soon. During this time, there will be updates in our community and Discord Server. The “Sidekick” Discord domain will no longer be connected to us. New things will come, so get ready. Stay tuned.”
The Sidekick website currently displays the text: “New chapter coming soon.”
‘We take the topic of child safety seriously’ – SideQuest Gamers Hub
Given the links between Sidekick and SideQuest Gamers Hub, a chain of gaming cafes that run grassroots esports tournaments and events, Esports News UK reached out to SideQuest about the concerns.
SideQuest Gamers Hub issued the following statement to Esports News UK: “Since the [YouTube] video’s release, we have received a high volume of aggressive messages and calls, which have raised security concerns for our in-store staff. Due to this, we have decided not to publish the statement on our other social media channels at this time to prevent further escalation.
“SideQuest and Sidekick are separate entities, with no operational or managerial connection. While we previously collaborated, SideQuest is not responsible for Sidekick’s actions, and we are actively evaluating further distinctions in branding and IP usage to avoid any confusion.
“On the topic of child safety, we take this matter seriously and have previously established clear policies to ensure a safe environment:
- Children under 13 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian in our stores at all times.
- Children aged 13 to 16 may only create accounts and stay in our locations with parental consent.
- We also maintain surveillance systems in all our locations as well as security personnel during peak times and major events.
“Furthermore, SideQuest Gamers Hub has never hosted any gambling activities, either in-store or on our website/app.
“We remain committed to our scheduled events, including Riot Play Club, Cosy Quest and more and we believe these activities should not be affected.”
Update: A few days after we received the above statement, SideQuest posted a tweet saying that Riot Play Club events in its stores are ‘taking a pause’.
Esports News UK has reached out to Riot Games for comment and will update this article if we hear back.
Further steps have been taken to separate Sidekick from SideQuest, including the removal of old tweets that SideQuest had previously posted promoting Sidekick.
Previous cross-promotion activities include this post on the SideQuest website promoting Sidekick, saying: “Sidekick is a social platform built into the SideQuest app and website designed to bring players together, whether you are a skilled veteran or a complete newbie.”
And according to an article based on a press release published on the Esports Insider website, “SideKick is a sibling to SideQuest Gamers Hub, a gaming and esports cafe chain located in the United Kingdom, with branches across Coventry, Canterbury and London.”
As mentioned, Sidekick is currently undergoing changes. We’ll aim to update this article with any major announcements made around this in the future.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
