#Top5OnTwitch for September 14th - 20th

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 Five Rising

1. Borderlands 3

Increase Viewership: 3,776,845 Hours (69.57%)

Increase Channels: 24,161 Creators (56.40%)

Last week, in just the final two days of our rankings period, Borderlands 3 accrued enough viewership on Twitch to become the fastest rising new title on the platform, and this week that momentum continued as its further growth made it the fastest growing game in streaming. Only two titles, Fortnite and the beta for the upcoming  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, acquired more new contributing creators, and its overall increase in viewership was the sixth largest increase for the week.

What happens next is where things get interesting. As you can see from the graph above, the initial hype of release-day has somewhat faded, and we're about to see whether the game can achieve an equilibrium in terms of viewership, or whether players are going to quickly move on to something new. As it stands, it's still averaging daily peak viewership of more than 60,000 viewers, and if it remains in generally that range for the time being, it will continue to be one of the most popular titles on the platform. With its nigh-infinite number of weapons and tons of replayability, Borderlands is the sort of title players tend to enjoy for a long time. The next few weeks will tell the tale in regards to whether this latest game in the series can stick around, or slowly fade away as new titles take its place.

2. Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Increase Viewership: 5,068,012 Hours (70.02%)

Increase Channels: 17,176 Creators (31.72%)

Just above Borderlands 3 in terms of increased viewership is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which finds itself in the number two spot on the strength of its already substantial platform of players and audience-members.

CS:GO has one of the most active competitive communities in gaming, and weeks without competition tend to be few and far between. This week, the eighth season of the FACEIT ECS, or Esports Championship Series, began with its first knockout brackets, being held from September 16th - 19th in both North America and the EU. The impact these competitions had on the game's overall Twitch presence is clearly visible above, with peak viewership increasing on each subsequent day of the events. We've repeatedly discussed just how important esports can be when it comes to cultivating a long lifespan for your game. CS:GO is one of the premier examples of how this can be the case, with myriad tournaments and leagues constantly keeping the title in the spotlight. This is just the latest example, and we're sure we'll see the game back in the top five again very soon.

3. Risk of Rain 2

Increase Viewership: 122,029 Hours (619.94%)

Increase Channels: 2478 Creators (182.74%)

One of the benefits of having a title in Early Access on Steam, provided you support your game properly, is the ability to repeatedly reinvigorate the game's community through substantial updates that alter or even redefine how players enjoy the experience. Risk of Rain 2 has been available on PC since March, and it quickly became a runaway success, its "buy one get one free" promotion in the first few days leading to over 650,000 active players. Since that time, however, its Twitch presence has been steadily fading.

Players were drawn back in large numbers, however, when the team at Hopoo games released their "Skills 2.0" content update, the second such major release since the game first became available. The new content adds a large amount of customization and skill specialization that wasn't present before, in addition to other new content like new challenges, bosses, and items, and sweeping changes to gameplay itself. The result has been an enormous influx of returning streamers, by percentage one of the largest overall increases of qualifying titles on the entire Twitch platform. This is a strong indicator that the long-term support plan put in place by the team behind Risk of Rain 2 is doing a great job keeping the game's community healthy. It should serve as a lesson to other small studios looking for similar levels of success.

4. Sea of Thieves

Increase Viewership: 244,244 Hours (132.45%)

Increase Channels: 3672 Creators (94.81%)

September 19th was the annual 'International Talk Like a Pirate Day," a parodic holiday celebrated since 1995, and to commemorate the occasion, the team behind Sea of Thieves partnered with individual streamers for a promotion wherein watching particular creators with a linked account won viewers an in-game bonus, the "Obsidian Cannons" items. Players were able to earn the reward by watching one of the participating streamers for at least 30 minutes with a linked account. As you can see above, the promotion was popular enough with viewers to make Sea of Thieves one of the fastest growing titles on all of Twitch.

This is an interesting strategy, in terms of building a specific activation around participating streamers. Rare has built a feedback loop wherein people who are already playing the game are encouraged to watch the game, as opposed to the other way around. It's particularly intriguing in that this promotion actually out-performed the addition of pets and the "Smugglers Fortune" update a week earlier. This seems to indicate that the team understands how important good streaming numbers are to their overall community, that it's important not only to get players back into the game world with updates, but to encourage people to interact with the game in other ways, as much as possible. This week, it resulted in the title being one of our top rising titles on Twitch.

5. Dead by Daylight

Increase Viewership: 1,423,376 Hours (90.60%)

Increase Channels: 9692 Creators (51.17%)

This week, asymmetric horror title Dead by Daylight introduced a new expansion, a cross-promotion with Netflix's Stranger Things which includes a new map, monster, and set of heroes all from the universe of the hit show. The result is clearly visible above, with a huge spike in viewership on the day of release, hitting a peak of nearly 50,000 viewers compared to the game's previous average of just over 15,000.

It's important to note that, in the days that followed, it seems viewership returned to its normal levels. This seems to indicate that the additional hype this update has ushered in is short lived. In the days ahead, it seems likely that the game will completely return to its original levels of viewership. Even so, this new update brought in a large number of new viewers, enough to make the game the last of our top rising games on the platform.

Top Five New Releases

1. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch)

Total Viewership: 1,773,089 Hours, 25th Overall

Total Channels: 6893 Creators, 33rd Overall

Zelda and Nintendo fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of this completely rebuilt version of the classic Game Boy title since it was first announced during a Nintendo Direct event this past February, and in just two days of availability it performed well enough to become the top trending new release on the entire Twitch platform.

This is just the latest in a string of Nintendo Switch titles to make our rankings upon release, and it really speaks to how successful the console has become. There's a reason that PC titles make up the bulk of the content viewed on Twitch; streaming from a console doesn't give a creator the control over quality and content that many streamers prefer. Despite this, exclusives to the Switch console, from the instant classic Breath of the Wild to the more recent smash hit Fire Emblem: Three Houses, regularly climb to the top of the charts.

Link's Awakening is just the latest example, and it really demonstrates not only the success the console and its titles have enjoyed, but also the benefits of Nintendo's more relaxed stance on content creation. The elimination of their creator program and relaxing of their content restrictions have made the Switch as relevant to streaming as any other platform, and it has made their games even more successful, building strong online communities around their great titles. This week, it once again landed them the top spot.

2. Untitled Goose Game

Total Viewership: 427,920 Hours, 59th Overall

Total Channel: 2051 Creators, 102nd Overall

With one less day of availability, Untitled Goose Game still managed to have such a successful launch on Twitch that it took a top spot in our rankings in spite of the meager 24 hours it had to do so. Developed by House House and published by Panic Inc., this title leverages a similar brand of weirdness and novelty to that of previous games like Goat Simulator, though the former doesn't leverage glitches and "brokenness" in the same manner as the latter. In the game, players control the eponymous goose as they undertake a series of challenges, seemingly all built around annoying and irritating human beings.

Beyond that, there's not much to say other than it's clear the game has struck a chord with players, and their definitely enjoying sharing it with their viewers. As a single-player puzzle title, it's unlikely to enjoy the kind of extended lifespan we see from live-service and competitive titles. Players will enjoy this game for a bit, then likely move on once the novelty has worn away. That being said, it was very important that the game sell well up front, when they hype was real, and it seems they've done so successfully. The result is a top spot in this week's rankings of new releases on Twitch.

3. Daymare: 1998

Total Viewership: 323,755 Hours, 70th Overall

Total Channels: 854 Creators, 216th Overall

Daymare: 1998 is a throwback survival-horror title from developer Invader Studios that aims to recapture the experience and mood of classic genre titles of the 90s like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, featuring a story-driven narrative experience with jump scares, exploration, cutscenes, and stressful difficult combat systems. It's peak viewership of over 25,000 audience members upon release was good enough to capture the third spot in our list of trending new titles.

Horror has long been the bread and butter of many variety streamers. Since the days when Pewdiepie burst onto the scene by playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent, creators have known the genre and a streamers' reactions to it can make for great content, even though the titles tend to be single-player experiences. Daymare is a small title, but it taps into that same appeal, while also leveraging the sense of nostalgia older players have for the classic titles of their youth. At least this week, that resulted in a healthy number of creators picking up the title for their channels, and a spot in our list of the trending new titles on the platform.

4. Little Misfortune

Total Viewership: 135,730 Hours, 118th Overall

Total Channels: 564 Creators, 298th Overall

This new point-and-click adventure game from the creators of cult classic Fran Bow features a beautiful hand-drawn-like art-style and a dynamic story that adjusts to your choices, and it enjoyed a brilliant first day on Twitch after it released on September 18th. A small-studio title in a niche genre, games of this type generally don't lend themselves to the world of streaming, featuring a limited amount of content which is generally the same from player to player, but you can tell when one is doing well because all of the streamers who dabble in those types of titles will rush to it and complete it in one or two sittings. That's what seems to have happened with Little Misfortune, which takes the fourth spot in our rankings an the strength of that one day of streaming.

5. AI: The Somnium Files

Total Viewership: 191,629 Hours, 100th Overall

Total Channels: 317 Creators, 448th Overall

AI: Somnium Files is a mystery-puzzle adventure from Spike Chunsoft, and it released on the PC, PS4, and Switch on September 17th. It actually accrued more total viewership hours than the previous title, Little Misfortune, in spite of featuring nearly half the total creators. This means that while the title isn't necessarily drawing in the same number of creators, those that are playing it seem to have larger or more engaged audiences. Another single-player story-driven title, this title won't have a long lifespan on Twitch, but its strong initial showing and positive critical response indicates the releases has been very successful.

Top Five Overall by Viewership

1. League of Legends

Total Viewership: 25,312,875 Hours (+44.42%)

Total Channels: 99,620 Creators (+30.34%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. Riot Games - 902,000 Hours

2. Loltyler1 - 835,000 Hours

3. Doublelift - 535,000 Hours

4. Handongsuk - 487,000 Hours

5. Mandiocaa1 - 358,000 Hours

2. World of Warcraft

Total Viewership: 23,149,567 Hours Hours (+6.72%)

Total Channels: 61,419 Creators (+2.29%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. Asmongold - 4.5 Million Hours

2. EsfandTV - 1.1 Million Hours

3. Sodapoppin - 617,000 Hours

4. MoonMoon Ow - 606,000 Hours

5. Shroud - 559,000 Hours

3. Fortnite

Total Viewership: 19,328,620 Hours (+47.49%)

Total Channels: 237,029 Creators (+26.76%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. NICKMERCS - 613,000 Hours

2. NickEh30 -- 580,000 Hours

3. Bugha - 529,000 Hours

4. Mongraal - 435,000 Hours

5. MrFreshAsian- 368,000 Hours

4. CS:GO

Total Viewership: 12,304,973 Hours (+70.02%)

Total Channels: 71,331 Creators (+31.72%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. Gaules - 1.3 Million Hours

2. StarLadder5 - 647,000 Hours

3. FACEIT TV - 385,000 Hours

4. Mibrtv - 335,000 Hours Hours

5. OMENbyHPEurope - 310,000 Hours

5. Grand Theft Auto V/Online

Total Viewership: 12,519,908 Hours (9.81%)

Total Channels: 35,005 Creators (6.79%)

Top 5 Channels Overall By Viewership

1. Lord Kebun - 818,000 Hours

2. Vader - 417,000 Hours

3. Kyle - 218,000 Hours

4. MarcaoRX - 205,000 Hours

5. PENTA - 199,000 Hours

Be sure to see our breakdown of the most viewed eSports on Twitch during the month of August, and to read our breakdown of the potential reasons why World Of Warcraft is once again the biggest game in streaming. Also follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for all the latest blogs, announcements, and game marketing news from the team at GAMESIGHT!