Source: Pexels
If you’ve paid passing attention to the meteoric rise of the gaming industry, then you know the name Twitch. Twitch is the world’s most-used live streaming platform, which is highly focused on gaming. Back in 2014, Amazon bought this indie project from its original creators. Their funding, in turn, helped catapult popular streamers into the global limelight.
By the end of the 2010s, gaming was positioned to become the future of the entertainment industry. Added time spent at home in 2020 and 2021 paved the way for the sector. Though it has since shown signs of stabilizing, gaming will continue to be a major force within entertainment. And Twitch, despite celebrating its ten-year anniversary as an Amazon asset, is still in the center stage.
However, that doesn’t mean that Twitch is a static entity. As gaming interest expands, streamers, spectators, and fellow gamers are diversifying their interests. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most interesting live-streaming trends to hit the platform this year.
New Games Rise, Old Games Fall
The ebb and flow of game popularity is easily measured via Twitch. You can base your conclusions on metrics like total hours watched by game, total hours watched by streamer, and so on. Overwhelmingly, this year has seen a rise of more specialized streamers with niche followings.
One game that highlights this trend is poker. Part of the reason poker has performed well on Twitch is that streamers can help educate and teach the rules to newcomers. Those who have never played the game can learn poker basics by watching the pros, from strategies to hand rankings to tournament tactics. As with every other game, it’s partly an educational and partly an entertaining experience.
Meanwhile, Twitch hits like Fortnite and Dota 2 have both fallen in the rankings. These battle royale games partly helped put Twitch on the map. However, in 2024, it looks like audiences are more interested in other MOBAs like League of Legends, open-world adventures like GTA, and FPSs like Counter-Strike.
Source: Photo
Just Chatting, Interactive, & Special Events on the Rise
One of the biggest trends in Twitch this year isn’t an emphasis on certain types of games. In fact, it’s a move away from gaming and into more social territory. As of April 2024, the most popular category for Twitch streams is the Just Chatting feature, which claims up to 13% of the total site traffic.
Just Chatting is one of Twitch’s ‘IRL’ categories, which covers anything analog. This feature allows streamers to simply talk about anything, connecting with users via chats. Chats, as part of interactive streams, have taken off. Subscribers are now pushing for more in-depth social features that allow them to connect with streamers—chatting about breaking news, their favorite food, or any other topic.
Interactive and Just Chatting streams are partly correlated to the rise in Special Event streams. Like the title suggests, these are unique streams that are designed to go above and beyond the standard fare. Ninja’s first appearance with Drake, for example, helped put Twitch on the map for non-gamers—and helped usher in a new era of special events.
Mobile, AR & VR on the Horizon
Overwhelmingly, Twitch’s content has been focused on PC games and, more recently, console games. Much of this falls back to the old guard in streaming standards: the first heavily-streamed games were on PCs and, to this day, most streaming setups include a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. But this is set to change in the coming years.
As AR and VR become more popular for developers and gamers alike, Twitch will expand its live-streaming options to incorporate AR and VR tech more meaningfully. In fact, Twitch is already capable of hosting VR and AR-based live streams. Though there are bugs to address, Twitch looks positioned to usher in this new era in gaming.
The same is true for mobile streams. Already, some streamers have switched to focus on competitive mobile games like Free Fire and PUBG Mobile. However, as with AR and VR-based streamers, there are some crinkles to smooth out. Despite this, Twitch remains poised to hold on to the title of the world’s most-used game streaming platform.
