Top Rising and Falling on Twitch: 3/2-3/8

Which games are rising on the Twitch charts? Which titles are sliding? We bring you the hard numbers and reaction, every week, in the GAMESIGHT power rankings!

Note: The following rankings are based on a combination of both gross and percentage change to viewership and total streams. As such, dominant and stable titles near the top of the charts will not always, or often, appear.

Top 5 Rising New Releases

1. Devil May Cry 5

Fans of the Devil May Cry series have been waiting more than 11 years for a proper sequel to the last entry in the story of Dante, Nero, and a boatload of demons, and they showed up in droves to make Devil May Cry 5 the biggest new game on Twitch last week. Over the last two days of that period, it was watched for nearly 3 million hours by an average of 18,421 viewers across 54,255 streams by 15,162 creators.

As we often discuss in these rankings, story-driven experiences tend to have a relatively short lifespan on Twitch and other platforms, which means that while these numbers will decline, they're a great indicator that the title is selling well and building a strong community following. But, this series has also always attracted creators focused on challenging themselves, reaching higher scores or faster times, so the possibility of it carving a niche out for itself in the speedrunning community might change things. In a few months, it'll be interesting to check back in and see where the title stands.

2. Satisfactory (Closed Alpha)

This Epic Game Store title isn't due to be released into early access until the 19th, but recently held its open alpha weekend, which began on the final day of last week and still managed to accrue big enough numbers to make it the second biggest new arrival to the Twitch scene for the week.

The first person FPS "build a mysterious factory on an alien planet" simulator was viewed for a total of 242,066 hours across 8713 streams on 2812 channels in the first twenty-four hours alone. By the end of the weekend, the alpha had averaged 13,765 viewers on 5368 channels. There's a lot to like here, from a streaming perspective. It's an open play-space with tons of room for creativity and chat or community interaction; I could see creators dumping hundreds of hours into this game with their fans, the way others have adopted strategic construction games like Factorio and Cities: Skyline. At the same time, it's an interesting test of the reach of Epic's game store. This past weekend seems to indicate that interest in this game is real, and its initial audience will be sizable, but does the ubiquity of Fortnite mean that another title exclusive to the store can become a big hit long term? This could be one to watch for answers.

3. Half Dead 2

Onto smaller titles now, this multiplayer deathtrap competition released into early access at the beginning of the week, and over the next seven days was streamed 509 times on 290 channels, reaching an average of 1,148 viewers for a total of 182,936 hours watched.

Titles like these provide an opportunity for groups of streamers to try something new and weird together, but tend not to command the attention of the community for very long. You can see in the chart above that viewership was highly punctuated, with 80% of the total viewership coming from only four channels, and a dramatic decline as the week went on. If those same creators keep the game in their rotation, it could stick around for a while, but only one of them played the game more than once, so that seems unlikely.

4. Intruder

Intruder achieved slightly lower numbers in its first week than Half Dead 2 in its first week, but seems to have a more stable community of players, judging by the graph to the left. With 436 streams across 203 channels, you've already got a healthy number of streamers playing the game multiple times throughout the week.

Cooperative team shooters have a long and storied history on Twitch, so it's no surprise to see something new in the genre clicking with a group of creators, albeit a small one. It too is an early access title, so it has plenty of room and time to grow. If it can continue to impress those playing it now, and begin to grow its audience beyond, it might be able to able to achieve a nice little success story for itself.

5. The Occupation

One of the bigger surprises of the week, investigative thriller The Occupation was released on March 5th, and reached a peak of nearly 9000 viewers across 27 channels. Over the week, it was streamed 604 times and was viewed a collective 88,527 hours.

A small title with little to no marketing behind it, it's unusual to see these sorts of experiences achieve much success on Twitch, with the experience tending to be more quiet and slow. And yet, it also can be viewed as a sort of movie, a quicker experience that audiences won't come back to, but still acts as a quick diversion that entertains the streamer and their fans for an evening or two. In this case, that was enough to enjoy a solid first week, and a position on our top rising new games.

Top 5 Rising Non-New Releases

1. Path of Exile

The release of Synthesis, the latest expansion for Path of Exile which introduced a new game mode. a balance overhaul, and a bunch more, caused the game's Twitch footprint to explode towards the end of last week, giving it the largest gross increase in viewership on the platform. Across 30,814 streams on 5612 channels, the title was viewed for over 1.5 million hours, all if it concentrated in the final day of the week after the expansion was released.

This is another example of how effectively you can constantly reinvigorate your Twitch footprint by having a strong, supportive long-term plan for your game. Every content release is an opportunity to get back in the spotlight, and the team behind Path of Exile have delivered something that immediately grabbed its player-bases attention and pulled them back in. Its performance over the next week will tell us just how much juice they'll be able to squeeze out of this latest release, and we'll be watching to see how far it can go.

2. Pogostuck: Rage With Your Friends

One of our fastest rising new titles last week, Pogostuck has struck a cord with the streaming community and only grown its audience. Viewed for nearly 1.2 million hours on 4390 streams across 1432 channels, the game's combination of highly difficult and frustrating game-play with social elements has been absolutely perfect fodder for streamers large and small. That's led to this little game drawing in numbers comparable to much larger, more expensive titles.

This success can't last forever, but it's hard to overstate just how impressive it is. Most titles never come close to this level of viewership on the platform, much less smaller games released with little to know marketing push, but Pogostuck is pushing itself into the top 10 games on Twitch with regularity. We are endlessly impressed by what it's accomplished, and it should serve as a measuring stick by which similar games should judge their own success in the future.

3. H1Z1

H1Z1 was reinvented itself yet again, now titled Z1 Battle Royale as it released its season three updated, entitled The Return of the King. With a new team taking over the title this past September, the update was pitched as a return to form for the title, with the developer saying they wanted to "Bring back the game that so many of you fell in love with . . . at the end of 2016 and in early 2017."

It would seem that the game's audience was happy to take that step back in time, as the game accrued 453,378 hours of viewership across 14,107 streams on 5284 channels. One of the original progenitors of the Battle Royale genre, it's been a long time since H1Z1 has competed alongside its newer, more ubiquitous competitors. This release won't change that, but it has clearly reinvigorated the game's community, at least for the time being. Holding on to these returning players will be key.

4. Destiny 2

Last week's release of expansion Season of the Drifter has been a strong addition for Destiny 2 as it continued to enjoy a boost in streams and viewership since it came out. Over seven days, the title was streamed 70,122 times across 16,515 channels for a total of 1.1 million hours viewed. That's a solid increase, and the impact on the title's Twitch footprint has been consistent, rather than punctuated by the biggest streamers.

Other titles look to the success of Destiny as a blueprint for their own looter shooters, many of which are being worked on or released right now. This latest period of growth is just the latest example in a long line of updates, expansions, and tweaks that the team at Bungie has used to keep the game fresh and on its players' minds. It's no surprise to find it on this list, and I have no doubt it will be back again.

5. Dawn of Man

Another of our fastest rising new titles from last week, Dawn of Man has followed up its release with another solid seven days of viewership, carving out a niche for itself among the city/society simulation community. Accruing 462,681 hours of viewership across 7878 streams on 1769 channels, the game has seemingly scratched a very specific itch for a large number of streamers and their communities.

It's worth noting that, looking at the graph above, it would seem that the actual base of streamers picking up the game is trending downward, so it might be a surprise if we find it on this list again, barring an expansion or update. Still, another small title from a smaller team, it's gratifying to see a title like this building up a community of followers. It's a real positive example of how Twitch isn't just there to support the biggest games on the marketplace, it's important for every game of any size.

Honorable Mention: Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Remastered and The Witness

Both The Witness and Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Remastered just barely missed making our top five this week, as both saw huge upticks in viewership and total streams as a result of being included in this months free games through PS Plus. It's been interesting to watch, and demonstrates how games that have seemingly fallen off the map on Twitch can be brought roaring back through giveaways, sales, and similar events.

Top 5 Falling Games

1. Anthem

There's no sugarcoating it: Anthem had a really rough week. We covered the diverse number of issues and controversies experienced by the title here, but suffice to say that they have, collectively, damaged the game's reputation to the point of legitimately shrinking its audience and player-base. At this point, Anthem is averaging a peak of approximately 500 streamers each day, less than the current draw of Destiny 2, a game that was released in 2017. Anthem has a roadmap for the future, involving expansions and updates and everything else a game in this genre needs, so there will be ample opportunities to grow moving forward. But, for now, it's clear that Anthem is struggling to find its legs.

2. Devotion

Last week, Devotion's positive momentum was crushed by controversy, with the game eventually being removed from the Steam store. While it would seem that, for some, that extra attention actually drew players to the title, at least the ones who could find it, this past week has seen the streaming and viewership numbers drop to nearly nothing. It's been really unfortunate to see a game with potential and positive buzz hurt so seriously by something so minor, but, after the issues it went through, this fall was inevitable.

3. Far Cry: New Dawn

This week's single-player title taking its inevitable fall down to earth is Far Cry: New Dawn. While the open sandbox of its world has given it a longer lifespan on Twitch than similar titles like Metro Exodus, it would seem audience attention for this title is running dry. The first direct-sequel in the series's history, the game received positive reviews and enjoyed a healthy period of time near the top of the Twitch charts, so the team behind it can feel secure that, while its days on Twitch are numbered, Far Cry was a successful title enjoyed by streamer and viewer alike, and they can take many positive lessons forward to their next project.

4. Jump Force

The bell might be tolling for Jump Force on Twitch, as the title saw its largest retraction of audience and player-base on the platform since release. It's interesting to note that, as Jump Force is both a pointedly Japanese title and a fighting game, its recently been confronted by new competition in the form of both Dead or Alive 6 and Devil May Cry 5. It's unclear that players are leaving the former for these new games, but its fall has coincided with their rise, so it makes for an interesting contrast. New fighters and further expansions might be enough, in the future, to get Jump Force back into the conversation, but, for now, it looks to be on its way out.

5. Apex Legends

Once again, while it remains one of the most played and watched titles on Twitch, we have to include Apex Legends in our falling titles for the week, as it once again, saw dramatic reductions in its raw viewership and stream numbers. Over the last week, the title's total hours streamed dropped by 17.68%, with its viewership falling by nearly a quarter. These numbers don't mean Apex is in trouble. It remains a constant presence in the Twitch top 3, and is still being viewed by an average of 102,000 people at any given moment. But, it's clear that the initial explosive period of endless growth has come to an end. What happens from this point on is going to be about maintaining this enormous player-base so they stick around. They've done a good job so far, but if this trend gets worse, there might be cause for alarm.

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