Big game releases are enjoying as much popularity on streaming platforms as esports disciplines. We've only recently celebrated the success of Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök, and now it's time to think about what we'll be playing (and watching) in 2023. Streams Charts has compiled a short list with titles you should definitely pay attention to. We're sure you'll see them on Twitch and YouTube many times over.
Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy is one of the most discussed releases of 2023. This open-world RPG is awaited not only by fans of the Harry Potter franchise, but also by ordinary Muggles who don't know how to hold the magic wand. The developers from Avalanche Software (Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Cars 2) say that Hogwarts Legacy will allow users to create their own unique character and experience with him or her a lot of interesting adventures in the school of witchcraft and wizardry Hogwarts of the 1800s. You will be able to attend classes, brew potions, learn spells, search for fantastic animals, comprehend the secrets of the magic castle, and, of course, fight evil wizards.
There are quite a few games in the Harry Potter franchise, and they all appear on Twitch from time to time. More often than not, streamers play them at the request of their viewers or during some themed streaming marathons. None of these titles, however, have a large audience reach. In 2022, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix reached 13.9K Peak Viewers, and the leader in the total Hours Watched was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone — 678K HW.
Release: February 10
on PS 5, Xbox X|S and PC; April 4 on PS4 and Xbox One.
Skull & Bones
The tactical action game Skull & Bones has long been nicknamed the "long-delayed". Usbisoft had announced the game about pirates back in 2017 — since then the project's release has been repeatedly postponed, and gamers even started to speculate that the game may be canceled at all. Fortunately, these predictions have not come true.
The developers didn't hide the fact that this project was inspired by Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. There are all the attributes of interesting pirate life in Skull & Bones too: naval battles on ships, robbing traders, searching for treasures, sieging of forts, crew's recruiting, fulfilling of contracts, etc. They have come up with resource gathering and crafting for the sake of variety, as well as deep customization of the character and the ship. You can have fun with all of this on your own or with friends, completing cooperative missions or participating in various seasonal events.
Skull & Bones has a good chance of gaining a large audience on Twitch. Streamers love pirate games because they allow them to have fun themselves and entertain viewers. For example, the Sea of Thieves category on Twitch accumulated 57.9 million HW in 2022, with 131.8K PV. The game was also streamed by popular content creators such as summit1g, Gaules, and others.
Release: March 9
on PS5, Xbox X|S and PC.
Diablo IV
Diablo IV was officially announced in 2019 during BlizzCon, and since then, fans of the franchise have been literally collecting every piece of information about the project. Fortunately, very soon the long-awaited RPG with an open world will finally see the release. The game's storyline will take place 60 years after the events of the third installment, and the main antagonist will be the succubus queen Lilith, daughter of Mephisto. There will be five classes in Diablo IV: Rogue, Barbarian, Sorceress, Druid and Necromancer. The game will include completely redesigned talent tree systems, procedurally generated dungeons and many other new features.
In 2022, Twitch streamers actively played all Diablo installments, and there were different leaders among them. For example, Diablo: Immortal had the highest number of Peak Channels — at the time of the title's release, the number reached 2.8K, and the Peak Viewers number of the category was 242.2K. Diablo II: Resurrected had 18.3 million Hours Watched, the best result among the installments. You can even find Diablo IV streams in Twitch's 2022 statistics, but don't let them mislead you: these are just rebroadcasts of the official presentation from the developers, which took place on December 15. Sometimes streamers had run fake broadcasts in this category to get attention — usually these broadcasts featured old trailers or gameplay footage.
Release: June 6
on PS5, PS4, Xbox X|S, Xbox One and PC
Starfield
Starfield is another legendary "long delayed" game from Bethesda Softworks, the studio that created the legendary TES V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. The project was announced in 2018 and is scheduled for release "in the first half of 2023".
Despite the upcoming release, there are not many details about Starfield. It is known that it will be a "hardcore RPG" with an open world in space and sci-fi style. The game will be set in the 24th century, and the main character will be an employee of the Constellation corporation, which is engaged in exploring space. In this case, the player can customize a character, selecting the appropriate background story and characteristics. Starfield developers also promise an interesting main storyline and a bunch of side quests, which can be done immediately or put off for later.
Release: first half of 2023
on Xbox X|S and PC
Minecraft Legends
Minecraft is one of the most popular games on Twitch and YouTube, so the release of its spin-off called Minecraft Legends is not left without attention on these platforms. The developers from Blackbird Interactive and Mojang Studios say that it will be a new game with familiar mechanics.
According to the plot of Minecraft Legends, the world is on the brink of death due to the invasion of piglings, who destroy everything on their way. Players will have to fight back against the invasion, using new weapons and gadgets. Otherwise, it's the same old good Minecraft, only more awesome, brighter and more interesting. With new biomes, enemies, and allies.
Minecraft ranked eighth among the most popular categories on Twitch at the end of 2022. The category accumulated 544.1 million HW. The Average Viewers number was 63K, with 1.9 million PV. You can read more about the state of the "sandbox" on the platform here.
Release: 2023
on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X|S, and PC.
Many other interesting releases are planned for 2023: Baldur's Gate 3, Dune: Spice Wars, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Dead Space remaster, Last of Us Part 1 PC version, etc. We didn't include them in our list, but they are worth attention too.
