#Top5OnTwitch for January 25th - February 1st

Which games are rising on the Twitch charts? Which streamers are dominating the most popular titles? Check out our official 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. Check out last week’s rankings.

Graphs for Top Rising titles show previous two weeks for context.

Top Five Trending

1. Plague Inc.: Evolved

Increase Viewership: 669,218 Hours (7408.66%)

Increase Channels: 1125 Creators (562.50%)

It’s rare that a title can rise up the Twitch rankings for reasons that, really, have nothing to do with the game itself, but this week we see the incredible impact that current events can have as Plague Inc: Evolved saw enormous increases in viewership and participating broadcasters as players and audiences are drawn to the experience due to the current very real epidemic currently dominating the headlines.

Plague Inc tasks players with creating and evolving a global superbug, with the goal being to spread the infection across the entire planet. When news about the Wuhan coronavirus began to spread, creators flocked to the plague simulator, with many trying to “simulate” the current real-life virus, and the result was the sixth largest raw increase in viewership of any title on Twitch.

This is, obviously, not a scenario the developers would have predicted or wanted, nor is it an example of a marketing strategy that can be replicated. It is, however, a fascinating demonstration of the interaction between the world of streaming and the greater cultural zeitgeist, of how real-world events can have an outsized impact on gaming trends, sometimes in very unexpected ways. The world of streaming doesn’t exist in a vacuum; this is illustrative of that fact.

2. Warcraft III

Increase Viewership: 2,770,116 Hours (626.72%)

Increase Channels: 6327 Creators (465.22%)

Remasters of classic titles are all the rage, these days, and this past week saw a major addition to this growing category of updated games as Warcraft III Reforged was released after months of build up. The result was the second largest increase in total viewership and participating streamers of any title on Twitch.

Critical reception has been a mixed bag. The game itself is a classic, of course, and everything that made the original great has returned, but a fair number of players are upset at what they see as a lack of substantive updates to the title, a problematic user agreement that seems to give Blizzard complete ownership of any and all modifications or custom game modes, and cutscenes that appear to have been dramatically scaled back from what was initially revealed in the rerelease’s original announcement. As a result, conversation about the game has been dominated by disappointed players, allegations of dishonesty directed at the developers, and a torrent of refund requests.

This puts the game in a very interesting position, when it comes to our rankings. There’s no question it was one of the biggest titles of the week, with the controversy doing little to hold back the game on Twitch, but can it maintain this momentum in the face of such negative press? Blizzard has announced their intentions to update the title, but not in a way that would fulfill the promises players feel they’d made. This will make next week fascinating; will the game maintain its presence near the top of the charts, or will this negativity send it back down the rankings? We’ll be watching closely to see how it all plays out.

3. Legends of Runeterra

Increase Viewership: 1,594,661 Hours (161.96%)

Increase Channels: 7331 Creators (60.88%)

The new collectible card game from Riot Games and set in the League of Legends universe followed up its stellar debut, last week, with even bigger numbers in its first full seven days of availability, enjoying the largest increase in participating broadcasters of any title on Twitch, along with the fourth largest increase in overall viewership.The former is really important for a title in this genre, as a healthy population of active players, constantly competing, is what keeps a card game’s community alive and growing.

Runeterra’s primary competition is Hearthstone, which has remained one of the most watched titles in streaming for years thanks to a dedicated community of players, competitors, and viewers, enjoying one of the most consistent and well-defined ecosystems in the gaming space. Legends of Runeterra, meanwhile, is already outpacing the vaunted title from Blizzard in terms of active streamers (19,372 vs. 6260), while it still has room to improve in terms of viewership, accruing just over 62% of Hearthstone’s total this past week.

The last bit seems to indicate that, while Runterra is drawing in tons of creators, it has yet to attract the large-audience streamers that really make a title one of the top games in streaming. We’re still very early in the title’s lifecycle, though, so there’s still going to be plenty of opportunity to climb higher up the charts, and all it really takes is one major creator to help a game turn the corner. For now, it’s been a stellar debut for a game that is just getting started.

4. NHL 20

Increase Viewership: 80,355 Hours (936.09%)

Increase Channels: 1137 Creators (192.06%)

The NHL held its all-star weekend on January 24th and 25th, and the real-world game made thousands of creators return to EA’s NHL 20, with the one-day surge large enough to make the game one of the fastest rising titles for the week on Twitch. Viewership, meanwhile, increased largely thanks to the NHL itself, which hosted the Chel Gaming Challenge, featuring NHL players, esports competitors, and athletes from other sports competing in the simulation title from EA. The resulting stream drew in an average of 24,000 viewers over two hours of competition, and was responsible for the large spike visible above.

5. Mortal Kombat 11

Increase Viewership: 241,227 Hours (215.87%)

Increase Channels: 1273 Creators (50.50%)

Mortal Kombat 11 has maintained its spot in the spotlight for months and months thanks to a regular release schedule of new and exciting characters with which to play, and this week it surged back up the charts thanks to the addition of classic DC and Batman villain The Joker. Each new addition to the roster pulls players back in, with competitors anxious to get their hands on new movesets and implement new strategies, and viewers excited to see the new moves, fatalities, arenas, and any other ancillary content a new fighter brings with them. With this update having the additional appeal of featuring a popular character from comics, film, and television, it held even more appeal to players and viewers, and the results speak for themselves. Long after releases, this update helped MK11 return to our list of the fastest rising games on Twitch.

Top Five New Releases

1. Journey to the Savage Planet

Total Viewership: 662,583 Hours (47th Overall)

Total Channels: 1518 Creators (151st Overall)

Journey to the Savage Planet is a first-person exploration and survival title from developer Typhoon Studios, and it was easily the most popular new title on Twitch this week, with its over 1500 creators clocking in as the eighth largest influx of players on the platform. Featuring a vibrant and colorful world and a distinct and strong sense of humor, Savage Planet has many of the elements that make single-player adventures work on Twitch. The constant jokes keep things light and fun, while the open world and captivating visual style makes the gameplay loops of travelling, researching, exploring, and progressing exciting for the viewer.

It isn’t just a single-player game, though, with robust co-op options allowing creators to team up, cross-pollinate their audiences, and create even more interesting and dynamic content. All of this combines to create an experience that’s as much fun to watch as it is to play, and the result is a strong debut for the title.

At the moment, viewership is somewhat top-heavy, with only two creators having accrued at least 100,000 hours of total viewership, and only ten reaching the 10,000 hour threshold. This seems to indicate that, should any of the larger creators move on, the game will proceed to fall down the charts relatively quickly. Still, its more than 1500 creators means that a foundation of players still exists that could help sustain the game’s following with smaller audiences. It remains to be seen just how the weeks ahead will play out, but this week, Journey to the Savage Planet was far and away the most popular new title in streaming.

2. Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!

Total Viewership: 97,139 Hours (165th Overall)

Total Channels: 203 Creators (608th Overall)

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! is a restaurant simulation title set in a post apocalyptic world ravaged by war… seriously. Players are tasked with getting the restaurant through successful business days, preparing a menu, then moving and manning a food truck as it serves awaiting customers. It is a sequel to the previous title of the same name, first released in September of 2017.

More than one third of the game’s total viewership came from a single channel, mistermv, while only an additional 11 creators managed to accrue at least 1000 hours of total viewership, indicating that its Twitch presence is very much reliant on these top creators. Additionally, the top three creators each only broadcast the game a single time. We remain near the beginning the the year, which means fewer big-studio releases and increased opportunity for smaller titles to make noise near the top of the charts. So, while this isn’t an enormous debut for the team from Vertigo Gaming, it remains a successful release for a smaller, more niche title.

3. Not For Broadcast

Total Viewership: 61,482 Hours (232nd Overall)

Total Channels: 190 Creators (627th Overall)

Not For Broadcast is a propaganda simulator, tasking players with running the control room of the nightly news in a chaotic and dystopian world. Featuring FMV style videos with real actors, the game leverages myriad pieces of video content to create a chaotic simulation experience packed with nervous energy and sardonic humor.

Released into early access near the end of the week, the game makes our list of the top ranked new releases on Twitch thanks to the contributions of two creators, xQcOW (25,000 hours viewed) and Cellbit (22,000 hours viewed), who are collectively responsible for more than 75% of the game’s total viewership across just four hours of content. In these early months of the year, smaller titles need larger audience creators to help bring them to the top of the charts, even if it’s only for a small number of streams. These two creators dramatically raised the profile of this new title, and it’s hard to say just what kind of impact that has had on sales. Regardless, these creators got the title in front of thousands of audience members who would not otherwise have known it existed. That’s a big deal, and something of which  the team at developer NotGames should be proud.

4. Coffee Talk

Total Viewership: 46,065 Hours (279th Overall)

Total Channels: 190 Creators (628th Overall)

Coffee Talk is a conversation simulator featuring fantasy-inspired characters discussing typical day-to-day problems. While it pulled in less viewership than the previous title, the old-school art-style and novel gameplay loop attracted nearly 200 creators, firmly landing it in the fourth spot of this week’s rankings.

With only one streamer accruing more than 10,000 hours of viewership, the game’s audience is actually well distributed across its population of streamers, so while its platform isn’t large enough for it to climb up the charts in the weeks ahead, it’s also not so fragile that losing a single creator would completely tank its numbers. Again, this is a small title that wouldn’t typically make our rankings during a busier time of year, but it took advantage of the season and made its way into this week’s top five.

5. Simulacra 2

Total Viewership: 314,161 Hours (72nd Overall)

Total Channels: 102 Creators (912th Overall)

Simulacra 2, a sort of detective-horror game in which you interact with a dead influencer’s cell phone, had the second largest viewership total of any new title on Twitch, this week, landing lower in our rankings only due to its relatively small number of participating creators. Only four streamers managed to accrue more than 10,000 hours of viewership, but of those four, two were what most would consider “major creators,” with GRONKH leading the pack at just under 190,000 hours of total viewership, followed by xQcOW with over 63,000 hours. These two are solely responsible for the game’s spectacular viewership numbers, and showed off the game to thousands of viewers who would not otherwise have seen it. It might not be yielding the kind of participation on Twitch you’d like to see from a title with that kind of viewership, but it remains a spectacular accomplishment, and more than enough for the title to take the final spot in this week’s rankings.

Top Five Most Watched Overall

1. League of Legends

Total Viewership: 25,611,173 Hours (+10.58%)

Total Channels: 109,868 Creators (-4.15%)

Top Creators by Total Viewership

1. loltyler1 - 2,025,702 Hours

2. LCS - 1,471,357 Hours

3. LEC - 1,059,141 Hours

4. RiotGamesBrazil - 559,196 Hours

5. OgamingLOL - 550,171 Hours

2. Escape from Tarkov

Total Viewership: 13,677,323 Hours (+10.98%)

Total Channels: 31,263 Creators (+5.29%)

Top Creators by Total Viewership

1. summit1G - 3,101,399 Hours

2. Sacriel - 1,116,809 Hours

3. LIRIK - 567,043 Hours

4. DrLupo - 474,885 Hours

5. DrDisrespect - 401,863 Hours

3. World of Warcraft

Total Viewership: 11,487,913 Hours (+103.53%)

Total Channels: 32,841 Creators (No Change)

Top Creators by Total Viewership

1. Method - 3,815,570 Hours

2. limit maximum - 1,079,363 Hours

3. Complexity - 724,153 Hours

4. Sco - 527,918 Hours

5. GingiTV - 228,011 Hours

4. Fortnite

Total Viewership: 10,973,740 Hours (-13.44%)

Total Channels: 270,707 Creators (6.50%)

Top Creators by Total Viewership

1. Tfue - 430,262 Hours

2. NICKMERCS - 356,397 Hours

3. TwitchRivals - 248,963 Hours

4. dakotaz - 232,231 Hours

5. SypherPK - 223,452 Hours

5. Dota 2

Total Viewership: 10,280,980 Hours (-31.10%)

Total Channels: 14,547 Creators (+3.83%)

Top Creators by Total Viewership

1. dota2mc ru - 2,097,662 Hours

2. DreamLeague - 2,019,391 Hours

3. Stray228 - 371,123 Hours

4. ybicanooooboy - 327,826 Hours

5. uccleague4 - 314,414 Hours

Check out last week’s rankings, and our breakdown of 2019’s fastest growing games on Twitch. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for all the latest blogs, announcements, and game marketing news from the team at GAMESIGHT!