Critical Role is expanding its nerd empire. One longtime partner is about to be left in the dust.

• Critical Role is taking another step toward reigning supreme over nerd world for years to come.
• They built a 1.3 million-strong following on Twitch. Now, they're launching their own subscription service.
• It's a daring gambit for one of Twitch's top earners — and potentially a huge loss for the platform.

In the not-too-distant future, we may look back on this day as the beginning of the end for Twitch — because it sure looks like Critical Role, one of the juggernaut streamers on the platform, won't need it for much longer.

For the uninitiated, Critical Role is a company co-founded and run by a crew of eight self-professed nerdy voice actors who built a geek empire off playing "Dungeons & Dragons" on Twitch.

They've been streaming on the platform for more than nine years now and have a 1.3-million-strong fanbase on the site.

Now, Critical Role is striking out on its own with the launch of Beacon, an in-house membership service.

Beacon essentially gives people what they get with a Twitch subscription — instant access to VODs of their livestreams, but with some additional perks.

The $5.99-a-month Beacon membership comes with exclusive access to additional Critical Role programs. Also on offer is the inside track to a private Discord server, discounts on the team's merch store, and early pre-sale dibs on tickets to their live events.

Viewers of the show on Twitch and YouTube can still watch the show for free, according to its regular release schedule.

It remains to be seen how much of its subscriber base Critical Role will be able to draw away from Twitch, which does give Amazon Prime users a free subscription to one channel.

Critical Role also made bank on Twitch, where it still has a massive viewer base. Going it alone is, by all estimates, a daring gambit.

That said, it would be unwise to bet against a crew that ran an $11.3 million fundraising run that smashed Kickstarter records, launched games that should make Hasbro nervous and sold out an arena in London.

Marisha Ray, Critical Role cast member and the company's creative director, was candid in a YouTube video announcing the service's launch about why the crew was making this move.

Speaking to fans, she called it "the most direct way that you can support us and everything we do" while not having "a portion of your hard-earned subscription dollars going to a massive third-party corporation."

"Over the years, it has become a huge priority for us to bring more and more of our business in-house. And it's no secret that video platforms have — let's just say they've been through their ups and downs," Ray said.

"It's not uncommon for our content to get demonetized because we all have the vocabulary of teenage sailors," she added. "Or on the extreme other end of the spectrum, we'll sometimes have ads run in front of our content that don't really vibe with our beliefs. That's not cool."

Critical Role CEO Travis Willingham added that with "every windfall," the team continues to "purposefully reinvest" in their company to make more content.

"The TL;DR is we kind of want to provide the best experience to you, our community," said Matthew Mercer, Critical Role's longtime game master and the company's chief creative officer. "It was through your support that we were even allowed to go independent in the first place."

And as if that wasn't enough Critical Role news for one day — fans can also join what's expected to be a mad scrum for tickets to their upcoming live show. Pre-sales for Beacon members go live on May 20, with general sales a day later, on May 21.

Representatives for Twitch did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.