#Top5OnTwitch for July 20th - 26th

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. To compare to last week's rankings, click here.

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

Top 5 Rising

1. Fortnite

Increase Viewership: 15,946,308 Hours (+88.74%)

Increase Channels: 64,193 Creators (+21.74%)

Only one day of this past weekend's Fortnite World Cup took place during the time period of these rankings, but it and the excitement leading up to it brought in so many viewers creators that it made the game, without question, the fastest growing title of the week on Twitch. The $30 million event was, in many respects, one of the biggest competitions in streaming history, pulling in peak viewership in its first day of over half a million audience members, and its winners being featured in myriad news pieces from non-endemic sources, like CNN and the New York Times. It was a defining moment for the biggest game in the world, a celebration of everything they've accomplished but also a manifestation of just how big the game has become.

As we've said, Fortnite is already the biggest game on the planet. More people stream the game than any other, week in and week out, and it's achieved an unmatched level of cultural ubiquity, being featured in movies like The Avengers: Endgame and being visibly played by celebrities from the worlds of sports, movies, and elsewhere. The World Cup was a demonstration of how, even when you're already at the top of the streaming ecosystem, competitions and community-galvanizing events bring with them a level of enthusiasm and engagement that simply cannot be matched. We often talk about how important focusing on that competitive element of your player-base can be, and even here, when a game is already the most successful in the space, it's clear just how much this event has infused the community with energy and excitement. It's probably the biggest moment in Fortnite history, so far, and one the community and audience won't forget for a long, long time. Epic Games isn't sitting on their hands, they're continuing to move forward and build new experiences to enhance what they've already accomplished. There's lessons there for every game developer and publisher.

2. Overwatch

Increase Viewership: 5,193,621 Hours (+93.04%)

Increase Channels: 11,162 Creators (+29.79%)

Most weeks, a game like Overwatch nearly doubling its total viewership would be enough to get it the top spot in our rankings, but the explosive Fortnite World Cup and everything it brought with it made it no ordinary week. Still, the continued attention brought by the stiff competition of the Overwatch League made for another big week of growth for the colorful shooter, enough to bring it near the top of the charts in this week's list of the fastest rising titles on Twitch.

Stage four of this year's OWL season began on Thursday, July 25th, and continued through the end of the weekend, with four matches each day. As you can see above, this resulted in the biggest jump in viewership since the conclusion of the previous stage, with the stage playoffs concluding on July 14th. The game's performance between these events is nothing at which to turn up your nose, of course, but it's clear that the competitions lead to the biggest days for the title on Twitch, and that's a testament to what Blizzard has built in the OWL, a legitimate league with top-shelf competitors and a dedicated, focused audience. The world around Overwatch is only becoming more competitive, with games like Teamfight Tactics constantly emerging and pulling in huge numbers of their own. It's quite an accomplishment, then, that they've built something so sustainable in their competitive space, something that does an excellent job supporting the title, and keeping its community alive.

3. Sea of Thieves

Increase Viewership: 513,331 Hours (+129.37%)

Increase Channels: 1278 Creators (+29.64%)

On July 17th, Sea of Thieves released their 'Black Powder Stashes' update, revolving around a series of missions focused on explosive barrels of gunpowder, and while it led to a brief uptick in viewership, that increase quickly fell away. This week, however, the announcement of even further improvements either becoming available on test servers or planned for the future led to a huge increase in its Twitch audience, one that Rare is hoping is a sign of things to come.

A developer update on July 23rd revealed that myriad new improvements are on the horizon, the biggest of which is the introduction of pets and emotes, which will be available for purchase once they go live. Sea of Thieves is one of the best supported "live service" titles out there, the team behind it constantly updating and improving the game to keep players coming back. The massive swing in viewership that these announcements brought is just further evidence of how important that feedback loop between development and audience has become. Again, this was just the announcement of new content, not the release. The resulting increases in viewership are a result of these new updates simply being revealed, and tested by a select few creators. The indication, thus, is that many of these viewers will return to being players themselves when they can get their hands on this new content. This game has survived a long time, constantly building its audience up, because of how dedicated the team is to giving that audience new things to see and with which to play. This is just the latest example of how pivotal that strategy has been.

Minecraft

Increase Viewership: 1,809,900 Hours (+44.70%)

Increase Channels: 18,708 Creators (+25.07%)

Sometimes, it's really obvious why a title is climbing up the Twitch charts. Whether it's the release of a new content update, or tweaks to gameplay, or sudden engagement from a major content creator, there's typically a clear reason why games are gaining traction in the world of streaming. This week, though, with Minecraft, there's no clear cause for its sudden climb on the rankings. It's increase of over 18,000 participating streamers was the second largest on the entire platform, this week, and the resulting increase in total viewership was substantial, again one of the largest raw increases on Twitch. And yet, there was no real substantial update to the game itself. Java edition update 1.14.4 did, indeed, bring with it bug fixes and improvements to villager behavior, but it wasn't filled with the the sort of sweeping changes that typically bring people back to the game in large numbers.

So, we have one of the most substantial improvements on Twitch, but no clear explanation as to where it came from. It could be increased hype as Minecon approaches, to be held this September. It could be natural ebb and flow, as larger creators simply returned to the game at the same time. It's not clear. What we do know, though, is that the improvements made this week are some of the largest on the platform, and enough to make Minecraft the fourth fastest growing title on Twitch.

5. Beyond: Two Souls

Increase Viewership: 169,724 Hours (+1701.41%)

Increase Channels: 627 Creators (+409.80%)

Beyond: Two Souls came out all the way back in 2013 as an exclusive to the Playstation 3 console, eventually being ported to the Playstation 4 as well. This past week, the title was finally released onto the PC via the Epic Games store, and the infusion of new participating streamers this brought was enough to land it in the final spot of our rankings for the fastest growing titles in streaming. This rise is so extreme, from a relative perspective, because it began at a point of near zero engagement, which really speaks to how successful this PC launch may have been. The game didn't receive an extra boost of promotion of marketing to make this happen, but it simply becoming available to this new audience was enough to create a healthy population of streamers and audience members interested in consuming the title. That kind of success draws into clarity something we've discussed before: it's never a bad idea to get onto as many platforms as possible. The more players who can get their hands on your title, the more will feel compelled to share it with others via stream.

Top 5 New Releases

1. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Released July 25th)

Total Viewership: 1,552,282 Hours, 23rd Overall

Total Channels: 4328 Creators, 54th Overall

The Fire Emblem series has a diehard, dedicated fanbase, and while it only was available for the final two days of our rankings period, it was such a big draw in those two days that it became the fastest growing new title on the platform for the week.

Traditional JRPGs are not exactly ideal for Twitch. There's a ton, here, for a creator to leverage into exciting and captivating stories, particularly because you can permanently lose characters via combat, as in classic titles like XCom. The way players and audiences can get attached to individual characters makes the combat have much higher stakes, and the level of investment makes watching what unfolds much more exciting. Still, as a single-player, story-focused game, it doesn't feature many of the elements that top-performing titles in the streaming space tend to have; there's no multiplayer or base-building, no jumpscares or extreme levels of frustration. That means that it's success depends on its dedicated fanbase, on whether they can deliver the game their fans have been waiting for, and all indications are that they knocked it out of the park. The result has been that the audience they knew they already had have come out in droves to engage with this latest title. The team can be proud of the success they've achieved thus far.

2. Wolfenstein: Youngblood (Released July 25th)

Total Viewership: 1,051,705 Hours, 33rd Overall

Total Channels: 4772 Creators, 45th Overall

Wolfenstein: Youngblood, meanwhile, seems like it was built with streaming in mind. Previous entries in the series have been wildly successful, but, again, not entirely designed to be perfect streaming experiences. The previous games have been focused on delivering interesting stories, populated by compelling characters, mixed with fast-twitch, hyper-violent combat, and while that's led to a great deal of commercial and critical success, it's also manifested in games that are mostly enjoyed alone. Youngblood, meanwhile, introduces co-op to the series, and the result is an experience that is slightly more "stream-ready."

Being able to team up with even one other player greatly improves the game's potential in the streaming space. Not only can streamers team up with other popular personalities, cross-pollinating their audiences and letting their interactions and banter improve the quality of their content, but they can also use coop as a means with which to engage their audience, letting them play together. Does this mean it will last as long as shooters with competitive multiplayer? Probably not. But, the huge debut seems to indicate an audience ready to consume this new title, and the new format opens up all sorts of new possibilities of which streamers can take advantage. It's exciting to see how these experiments play out, and how they might impact the inevitable release of Wolfenstein 3.

3. Iratus: Lord of the Dead

Total Viewership: 383,283 Hours, 65th Overall

Total Channels: 854 Creators, 406th Overall

Iratus is a tactical, roguelike RPG in the vein of Darkest Dungeon, featuring dynamic gameplay and a fun, dark art style, and after releasing into early access on July 24th, it reached peak viewership of nearly 18,000 audience members, becoming one of the fastest rising new titles on Twitch and one of the top 70 games overall. There's a lot to like, here, in terms of streaming. The roguelike elements make every game a little different, so there's tons of replayability and, as a viewer, it stays interesting from game to game. The tactical, deliberate nature of the combat and the open-ended experience of updating and expanding your lair both create opportunities for interactions with your audience, letting them contribute their opinions, and really go along with the creator to experience everything with them, to know the thinking behind their decisions. As a smaller title, we won't likely see it this far up in our lists again, but this is still a very impressive debut for a title that's still growing, and one worth keeping an eye on moving forward.

4. Swords & Souls: Neverseen

Total Viewership: 57,976 Hours, 248th Overall

Total Channels: 200 Creators, 608th Overall

Another more traditional RPG experience, Sword & Souls: Neverseen features turn-based combat reminiscent of classics like older Final Fantasy titles or Super Mario RPG. Released on July 22nd, it had the most time to accrue viewership of the titles making this week's rankings, and while it may not have achieved the same level of success as the titles above it, it was a strong enough debut to make it one of the fastest growing new titles on the platform. Titles like this don't last long on Twitch, given its focus on single-player mechanics and narrative. Still, this is a lot of attention for a title that would not otherwise have received it, and it's likely that it resulted in more players picking up the title, even if they don't stream it themselves. The teams at SoulGame Studio and Armor Games Studios should be proud of what they've accomplished so far.

5. Kill la Kill the Game: IF

Total Viewership: 47,064 Hours, 280th Overall

Total Channels: 328 Creators, 458th Overall

Kill la Kill is a 2013-2014 anime series focused on Ryuko Matoi and her search for her father's killer, and it has a rabidly dedicated fanbase, both in Japan and the West. The release of its first official video game adaptation was thus anxiously awaited by its audience, and the title from Arc System Works, originally announced in July of last year, was finally released on July 25th in Japan, and other markets the following day. Available on the Switch, Playstation 4, and PC, the fighting title also leverages storytelling inspired by the anime, with its narrative providing an alternate perspective on that told via the original show.

The results, so far, have been mixed. While the game was reasonably successful in its first day on Twitch, it's unclear if that can be sustained, as the audience isn't as large as the team behind the game likely hoped. Given the narrative focus of the title, even though it is a fighting game, it might be that fans of the series would rather experience the title alone, rather than on Twitch, so they can experience the game much as they did the show. We'll have to keep watching into next week to really know for sure whether there's a larger audience for the game to find, or whether this is as high as it will climb. Still, its viewership numbers were enough to take the final spot in this week's list of the fastest climbing new releases.

Top 5 Overall by Viewership

1. Fortnite (Same Rank)

Total Viewership: 33,915,625 Hours (+88.74%)

Total Channels: 359,494 Creators (+21.74%)

Top Five Channels By Viewership

1. Tfue - 2,159,713 Hours

2. Ninja - 1,526,894 Hours

3. Fortnite - 1,208,566 Hours

4. SolaryFortnite - 1,137,313 Hours

5. TimTheTatman - 655,524 Hours

2. League Of Legends (↑ 1)

Total Viewership: 21,860,708 Hours (+36.95%)

Total Channels: 88,534 Creators (+13.38%)

Top Five Channels By Viewership

1. Riot Games - 1,943,337 Hours

2. LCK Korea - 750,746 Hours

3. Solary - 409,271 Hours

4. 앰비션_ (lol_ambition) - 400,807 Hours

5. Riot Games Brazil - 370,799 Hours

3. Teamfight Tactics (↓ 1)

Total Viewership: 19,114,963 Hours (+7.11%)

Total Channels: 51629 (+11.89%)

Top Five Channels By Viewership

1. Disguised Toast - 977,314 Hours

2. Dogdog - 950,904 Hours

3. 한동숙 (handongsuk) - 742,549 Hours

4. itsHafu - 656,643 Hours

5. Scarra - 604,588 Hours

4. Grand Theft Auto V (Same Rank)

Total Viewership: 18,715,284 Hours (+33.40%)

Total Channels: 62,389 Creators (+71.96%)

Top Five Channels By Viewership

1. Lord Kebun - 692,022 Hours

2. Vader - 426,598 Hours

3. TheKAIRI78 - 406,544 Hours

4. dasMEDHI - 365,844 Hours

5. MarcaoRX - 312,325 Hours

5. World of Warcraft (↑ 2)

Total Viewership: 15,926,343 Hours (+63.98%)

Total Channels: 26,453 Creators (+10.38%)

Top Five Channels By Viewership

1. Method - 4,771,295 Hours

2. Limit maximum - 1,328,446 Hours

3. Redbull - 1,170,591 Hours

4. Sco - 679,505 Hours

5. Asmongold - 576,443 Hours

Want to compare the above to last week's rankings and see how things have changed? Check them out here! And be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for all the latest blogs, announcements, and game marketing news from the team at GAMESIGHT!