#Top5OnTwitch for October 12th-18th

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.

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

Top 5 Rising

1. Fortnite

Increase Viewership: 22,842,316 Hours (220.98%)

Increase Channels: 75,349 Creators (42.65%)

The biggest game on the planet underwent its biggest makeover ever, this past week, as the black hole which swallowed the game-world and left players everywhere unable to play finally gave way to an entirely new map, and what Epic Games is calling Fortnite Chapter 2, with the next season of content being referred to as Season One of this new era. The new play area comes along with all the usual content, including challenges and a new battle pass. Considering the game was temporarily unavailable between seasons, this season’s increase in relative viewership as greater than that of a typical content drop, and easily made it the most trending title on Twitch.

Fortnite has become the industry cornerstone that it is by never being afraid to evolve. Constant releases of new content, gameplay updates, and even events like the digital concert from musician Marshmello, keep Fortnite players constantly engaged by an ever changing ecosystem and community. This latest event though, the new map and the “Black Hole” that preceded it, demonstrate just how unwilling the team at Epic Games is to stand still. They know that big changes are a part of what made the game what it is today, and maintaining that momentum means continuing to take big risks; to make big changes. This week, it rewarded them with another week at the top of the mountain. We expect it to stay there in the weeks ahead.

2. Archeage

Total Viewership: 785,061 Hours (426.98%)

Total Channels: 3444 Creators (201.93%)

ArcheAge: Unchained is a stand-alone, for-purchase version of the XL Games developed MMO that includes every piece of content ever released. The standard version of the game functions very much in the same way as others in the genre, with everything from individual items and cosmetics to new packs of content available for purchase from within the base game. Unchained allows any player, old or new, to come into the game and be able to experience everything without having to worry about any additional cost. It’s essentially an all-access pass, and its release on October 17th made it one of the fastest rising games on the whole Twitch platform.

This is a very interesting strategy for an MMO, in terms of drawing in new players. We’ve seen similar moves before, most frequently when titles shift from a paid to free-to-play model, things that could be interpreted as dramatically changing the long-term structure of the game to draw in greater numbers of players, but this “pay for everything upfront” approach is somewhat unique. In the short term, it’s very clearly pulled in a large number of new creators, and some with sizable audiences. These are good signs that this new experiment is going well. We’ll keep an eye on whether it continues to grow on the Twitch platform.

3. Hell Let Loose

Increase Viewership: 118,061 Hours (316.70%)

Increase Channels: 780 Creators (123.81%)

Hell Let Loose, the WWII shooter with large-scale battles and an emphasis on strategy, held a free weekend on Steam from October 12th-14th, bringing in huge numbers of new players and a significant increase in its performance on Twitch. For online titles, free weekends are a tried-and-true method for getting your game into new willing hands, ensuring there are tons of players online for other potential future purchasers to try the game alongside and enjoy it under the best of circumstances. Hell Let Loose enjoyed those benefits, then capitalized by having the game go on sale through several online outlets, ensuring that those who were considering the game after their sample had every reason to pull the trigger. As an early access title, the game is still building its community, iterating based on player feedback, and growing their ecosystem of players and viewers organically. This recent promotion was a very strong sign that things are headed in the right direction.

4. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2

Increase Viewership: 76,907 Hours (234.97%)

Increase Channels: 1221 Creators (73.38%)

Speaking of free weekends, that’s exactly what brought Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 onto this week’s list, as it held its own from October 17th-21st in celebration of their “Episode 2” update. The latest content release features a plethora of improvements and changes, including new missions, weapons, cosmetics, game-modes, and even a new onboarding experience for new players. That last element was what was on full display during the free weekend, with changes to balancing during a characters first ten or so levels making the game more inviting to all of those trying out the game for the first time. The result was a big explosion of streamers, and a resulting increase in overall viewership. Looking forward, keep an eye on how well the title holds on to these new streamers. Whether or not the upcoming decrease in viewership and streamership matches what we typically see during a content drop will indicate just how much this boost came from the new content, and how much from the free weekend. We’ll be watching to draw our own conclusions.

5. Sea of Thieves

Increase Viewership: 254,845 Hours (140.89%)

Increase Channels: 534 Creators (13.35%)

Sea of Thieves has been keeping its modest but stable community alive with a steady stream of content updates, and the “Fort of the Damned,” a spooky new area and challenge to coincide with the Halloween season. The online pirating title from Rare isn’t always one of the most watched games on the platform, but when they launch new content, their players always come back, ready to enjoy the game again for ready and willing audiences. It’s a testament to the impact the team’s long-term support for the title has had, and how not every game has to be the biggest cultural event on the planet to be considered a success. It rounds out our top five for the week.

Top 5 New Releases

Note: We do not include betas in our lists of new releases. It is for this reason that Legends of Runeterra, the new collectible card game from Riot Games, does not take this week’s top spot. It would, however, have easily been the fastest rising new title on Twitch if it had qualified.

1. The Beast Inside

Total Viewership: 651,375 Hours (34th Overall)

Total Channels: 820 Creators (185th Overall)

Narrative-focused adventures are never the biggest thing in streaming, as the experience is built around novelty, around the slow revealing of the plot and the unraveling of the mysteries within. But, variety streamers, those who avoid focusing on just one single title or genre, can find that such games give them what they need to create quality content. The experience as an audience member of watching your favorite streamer play through a story from start to finish is still very much the draw for a lot of the Twitch audience. This week, The Beast Inside captured the attention of a significant swath of streamers, making it the fastest rising new title for the week.

2. The Jackbox Party Pack 6

Total Viewership: 248,694 Hours (65th Overall)

Total Channels: 1251 Creators (131st Overall)

Everybody likes party games! The Jackbox Party Pack has seen an annual release every year since 2014, featuring myriad games to be played by groups of people on many different platforms. In addition to being easy to play in person (players can use their phones as controllers, no matter the platform), the games are designed to easily integrate with Twitch, and are often enjoyed by groups of streamers simultaneously across their channels. It’s this easy opportunity for collaboration with other creators that often makes the game rise up the Twitch ranks. Upon release, the game was streamed by creators like xQcOW, Forsen, and Northernlion, sizable creators with strong followings, which gave it all the momentum it needed to surprise us and take the second spot in our list of the fastest trending titles on Twitch.

3. Chernobylite

Total Viewership: 230,053 Hours (69th Overall)

Total Channels: 745 Creators (198th Overall)

Survival Horror titles are often the bread-and-butter for variety streamers, and this week’s new unsettling first-person adventure was Chernobylite, a supernatural jaunt through the notorious exclusion zone. The game has slick graphics and a timely historical hook, which is part of the reason it was picked up by Forsen, CohhCarnage, and DansGaming, creators with audiences big enough to make it one of the fastest rising titles on Twitch. All three creators, though, played the game just a single time. In fact, most of the game’s top ten creators only streamed the game for two or fewer hours. It could be that they want to enjoy the game slowly, or it could be that they’ll never return. Only time will tell. For now, it’s performance was strong enough to take one of the top spots in this week’s rankings.

4. Autonauts

Total Viewership: 68,065 Hours (186th)

Total Channels: 252 Creators (456th Overall)

Autonauts is an automation-focused base-building and simulation game featuring cartoonish graphics and a Minecraft-like aesthetic. All of those elements add up to a game which can deliver a large amount of varied content, and in a slower week for new releases, its 252 participating creators were enough to make it one of the fastest rising new games on Twitch.

Without any large-audience creators currently streaming the title, it remains to be seen whether this can be leveraged into a significant Twitch presence, moving forward. If it gets into the right hands, it could shoot up the charts.

5. Driven Out

Total Viewership: 112,800 Hours (127th)

Total Channels: 31 Creators (1551st Overall)

Driven Out was viewed for nearly twice as many hours as the title above it, while only being streamed by 31 creators. The 2D side-scroller with old-school graphics made it onto our list by virtue of it being picked up by Korean streamers hanryang1125 and sonycast_, who accounted for nearly all of its viewership. It’s rare to see larger streamers be some of the only creators to pick up a game, so we might be seeing larger numbers for the title moving forward, just because these two got it in front of so many fresh eyeballs. But, even if that occurs, it seems we won’t see this title on our lists again.  

Top 5 Overall by Viewership

1. League of Legends

Total Viewership: 35,917,082 Hours (+62.48%)

Total Channels: 87,946 Creators (+0.49%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. Riot Games - 9.7 Million Hours

2. LCK Korea - 2.2 Million Hours

3. OgamingLoL - 1.9 Million Hours

4. LVPes - 1.9 Million Hours

5. GarenaTW - 1.5 Million Hours

2. Fortnite

Total Viewership: 33,177,429 Hours (+220.98%)

Total Channels: 252,001 Creators (+42.65%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. Tfue - 2.7 Million Hours

2. Fortnite (Official) - 2.5 Million Hours

3. SypherPK - 1.9 Million Hours

4. NICKMERCS - 1.4 Million Hours

5. TimTheTatman - 1 Million Hours

3. Grand Theft Auto Online

Total Viewership: 8,925,778 Hours (+2.68%)

Total Channels: 25,421 Creators (+1.48%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. Lord Kebun - 580,000 Hours

2. Summit1G - 500,000 Hours

3. Vader – 400,000 Hours

4. dasMEHDI - 225,000 Hours

5. Shlorox - 225,000 Hours

4. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Total Viewership: 8,635,369 Hours (-18.85%)

Total Channels: 59,865 Creators (+2.34%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. ESL CSGO - 2.2 Million Hours

2. Gaules - 825,000 Hours

3. CSRuHub - 600,000 Hours

4. FACEIT TV - 300,000 Hours

5. ESL CSGOb  175,000 Hours

5. World of Warcraft

Total Viewership: 7,523,804 Hours (-18.63%)

Total Channels: 37,217 Creators (-8.75%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. Asmongold - 1.2 Million Hours

2. EsfandTV - 300,000 Hours

3. Sodapoppin - 250,000 Hours

4. Tipsoutbaby - 250,000 Hours

5. cdewx - 225,000 Hours

Check out our rankings of the most watched esports on Twitch for the month of September. Also, be sure follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for all the latest blogs, announcements, and game marketing news from the team at GAMESIGHT!