Twitch Top 10 Games 2017–2/2
Hello and welcome to part 2 of my review of Twitch’ Top 10 Games of 2017, in which I’ll analyze games ranking 5th to 1st. For games 6–10, you may head here.
So let’s go back to that grind, shall we?
#5 COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE
Valve’s shooter dropped 3 spots year-on-year (not 4 as stated on the graph), the biggest drop among top 10 games. In terms of viewership volume, we’re looking at a somewhat concerning -20%.
The fact that 2 professional esports leagues, ESL Pro League and FaceIT’s ECS, moved exclusively out of Twitch towards Youtube in 2017 obviously has to be one of the main factors behind this change. Still 20% is a lot on the back of just 2 leagues when you consider how plethoric the CSGO pro scene is: there were almost 40 top tier pro tournaments in 2017.
In any case, 2017 numbers show once more how heavily esports-reliant CSGO is.
And in that regard the pro scene is indeed extremely well developed in all kinds of ways, both on Valve’s and the community’s side. Actually in CSGO, the upper levels of the community have turned into a cluster of very focused small to mid-sized companies servicing various kinds of needs in CSGO’s eco-system.
In my opinion, CSGO’s problem lies at the casual level. The fan base needs to grow and the #1 factor for this metric to go up is the number of people playing the game on a regular basis.
Valve’s challenge here is not a small one: to make CS exciting again at the casual level, to get new people involved in the game’s core fun and culture.
#4 HEARTHSTONE
After several years of Twitch growth, Blizzard’s live viewership miracle started going down a bit in 2017 in terms of Hours Watched volume, but still kept its 4th spot.
The game dropped “only” 10% throughout the year but it could have been way worse considering the winter and spring months started the year really low.
All this happened while 3 expansion sets were released throughout 2017, just like in 2015 and 2016. At the same time, the game’s esports scene was going through its usual cycle.
Here it is to be noted that among historical Twitch leaders, Hearthstone is the game that has the smallest esports potential because of its high levels of randomness.
As more new serious competitors are looming in the CCG space, I do wonder what Blizzard will try to get the game back to its growing ways in 2018.
#3 DOTA 2
And another one.
Here’s for another Twitch top 5 regular dropping. With less than 4% drop Y-o-Y though, it must be said DOTA 2 is the one, among leaders going down, that managed to keep its head up high the most.
Valve’s title is still way up there. While flagship tournament The International beat viewership and cash prize all-time highs last August, Valve also announced in 2017 a very dense circuit of pro esports events filled with top-tier “Majors” leading up to TI 2018.
It’s too early to say precisely how the new circuit will impact viewership in the long run as it barely started in the Fall. On paper though, it definitely looks like it could bring positive things to the game’s pro scene.
For now, one can see that DOTA 2 still is a top 3 game on Twitch, which is in itself a major performance considering how tough the competition has been recently, especially with the new Battle Royale games popping left and right.
#2 PLAYER UNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS
In 2017, PUBG brought a wind of fresh air and expectations all over Steam, Twitch, the world of esports and even gaming as a whole.
While it’s still unclear to many how big of an esports potential PUBG clearly has, I think personnally it is huge, what this game has shown is that new ways to generate excitement through multiplayer games can be explored, discovered and turned into millions and millions playing and watching… and the revenue coming along with them.
PUBG is a creative breakthrough that has been nurtured in the dark, yet very openly at the same time, for years. It’s very rare that studios can put in place that kind of groundbreaking creative R&D process, and as matter of fact the creative story behind PUBG is a very chaotic one involving several studios and one man carrying his ideas around them.
The results are baffling as the game has, in just 8 months of early-access availability, broken, shattered and dwarfed all kinds of major gaming milestones including a handful of Steam’s all-time highs.
During that time, and without an esports scene or a proper spectator mode to rely on, PUBG rushed to Twitch frozen heights, claiming the #1 spot on some days, a few weeks, and even for one entire month last August.
With great success comes great responsibility for Korean-based developing studio Bluehole. One of the many daunting tasks in their now Herculean to-do list is the tuning of the game into a more spectator-friendly experience, for professionnal esports to blossom at full potential. If that proves successful, we could be in for one hell of a ride.
#1 LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
League of Legends on Twitch looks like an old King… that can still move live a young warrior, and has found a new sparring partner in PUBG.
All in all, despite the new competition and while the LCS have been losing a bit of their shine this year, pro esports viewerships have sometimes been poor on Twitch in 2017, League of Legends has kept its head up high as a live streamed game.
We currently don’t have full data on the topic but I estimate that a case could be made that, in 2017 League of Legends pro esports viewerships went down, while the total viewership for the game did go up.
Talking about an 8-year-old game possibly growing on Twitch while its #1 marketing tool, pro esports, is on somewhat of a slump, says a lot about this game’s quality.
League of Legends definetely has been showing lately that it’s the game itself that supports the esports phenomenon, and not the contrary. In other words, even if the LCS disappeared tomorrow, the game would still be a serious contender on Twitch.
Interestingly enough, a new Twitch viewership high for a solo channel was established just a few days ago: it was on League of Legends… but it’s not even remotely related to esports.
Too often people don’t get the kind of creative achievements, masterpieces of a new kind, the games that allow esports to simply exist are. What kind of magic has had League of Legends catching the imagination and attention and time of millions and millions of players daily for more than 8 years now?
That’s it for a very eventful and entertaining year on Twitch. To conclude, I’ll give a prediction for 2018.
Will League of Legends keep its #1 spot?!
I can see 2 scenarios:
1 — If PUBG or Fortnite, or both, find a recipe for pro esports before mid-year, which would equate to either updates to game modes or significantly improved spectator experiences, then League will lose its leadership throughout the year.
2 — If neither PUBG nor Fortnite find the breakthrough for pro esports early enough in 2018, then League will keep the throne for itself.
Thanks for reading! See you on Gamoloco in 2018 to follow the race on top of Twitch.
