Fans around the world have waited patiently for the newest installment of the EA Sports FC franchise, which just recently entered early access. Players who bought the FC 26 Ultimate Edition receive a week of early access for the latest release, starting on September 19, and in its first weekend of livestreaming, EA Sports FC 26 drew in thousands of top streamers and creators.
Each year, the footballing franchise receives significant attention from content creators from around the globe; for this year, viewership in online livestreaming largely spanned various European audiences, Latin America, Brazil, and Arabic-speakers. During its first weekend of early access, EA Sports FC 26 received just shy of 9,000,000 Hours Watched, coming from Twitch, Kick, and YouTube Live livestreams.
Kick, in contrast to other platforms, enjoyed a positive result for the opening weekend compared to last year's edition. Kick's influence and presence is only growing on the global scale, and it is becoming increasingly crucial for major livestreaming events, such as the release of a world-famous franchise entry.
While ultimately, this opening weekend result is a step-down from last year, it still launched the title to the pinnacle of global livestreaming, and into the attention of countless fans.
EA Sports FC 26 early access weekend viewership statistics
In total, the opening weekend of early access generated 8,981,000 Hours Watched (HW) for EA Sports FC 26. The latest installment received 2,780,000 HW on its opening day alone, which is also when it recorded its peak of 285,385 Peak Viewers (PV) on Twitch. While purple livestreaming platform accounted for a majority of watch time, it was much more influential for the franchise in previous years.
Although Twitch viewership fell for the FC 26, Kick viewership increased significantly to lessen the total impact to the game’s release. Kick has built strong audiences in core footballing cultures in recent years, such as Latin America, Brazil, and Turkey; however, Kick’s strongest audience was Arabic-speaking viewers, who accounted for half of the platform’s total watch time.
Early access weekend viewership comparison of EA Sports FC 26 & 25
Comparing the newest EA Sports FC release to last year’s early access weekend, overall livestreaming viewership fell by roughly 13%. Indeed, Kick’s growth helped to offset the falling viewership from Twitch, but the purple platform saw a 39% decrease in viewership year-on-year, drastically affecting the game’s overall result.
YouTube Live viewership also fell slightly for the sports title, although this audience was already a relatively minor piece of the global audience for EA Sports FC. Interestingly, while previous years saw EA Sports FC broadcast across many global livestreaming platforms, viewership has been consolidating each year, now made up of only three platforms.
During EA Sports FC 26’s early access opening weekend, it dominated the Kick charts, rising up to fourth place overall — making it the second-most popular game for the weekend. It ranked ahead of usual top categories featuring top esports titles as well as the Slots & Casino section and Respect RP (GTA).
While Twitch fielded the top-performing creators overall for the weekend, Kick saw far many mid-sized creators with 1000-10000 Average Viewers try out the title extensively. Kick also fielded some of their own top creators who briefly tested out the game, but leading European creator Elias “EliasN97” Nerlich recorded the highest viewership by far, enjoying close to 50,000 Average Viewers for his 13-hour stream on September 19. In total, he generated close to 1,700,000 Hours Watched during the weekend alone.
The viewership for EA Sports FC 26 will surely not slow down as the early access continues, and the game approaches its official release. It has managed to maintain a strong viewership into the early week, and plenty of creators are still grinding streams of the title.
The release and build-up to EA Sports FC 26 has featured legendary football icons who joined in for the first official gameplay stream. These personalities included the likes of David Beckham, commentators Derek Rae and Stewart Robson, and many more. On top of the global network of creators covering the release of the game, it unsurprisingly has launched to the top of livestreaming. Keep an eye for the viewership of Electronic Art’s newest sports title, which could continue to top charts in livestreaming.