The parody game Escape from Duckov from Chinese studio Team Soda has outperformed Escape from Tarkov in livestream viewership. It took the indie title just ten days after launch to achieve this milestone. Streams Charts takes a closer look at the latest phenomenon in the gaming world.
Escape from Duckov is a parody of the popular extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov — but instead of hardened mercenaries, the heroes here are armed, anthropomorphic ducks. The game’s world and tone are much lighter and more cartoonish, yet it stays true to Tarkov’s signature mechanics: raids, looting, extractions and deep character progression.
The game was met with enthusiasm from both Tarkov fans and newcomers to the franchise. In just three days, it sold over 500,000 copies — an impressive number for an indie release. The game also hit a peak of 300,000 concurrent players in Steam.
Escape from Duckov also quickly drew attention from the livestreaming community after its release. At first, the game stayed in Tarkov’s shadow, but interest from streamers and content creators steadily grew. Just ten days after launch, Escape from Duckov had already surpassed Escape from Tarkov in livestream viewership.
On Sunday, October 26, Escape from Duckov overtook Escape from Tarkov on Twitch across every key metric, including peak channel count. Importantly, this wasn’t just a lucky one-day spike. While Duckov started with modest numbers after launch, it showed steady growth throughout the first week and gradually caught up with Tarkov.
When it comes to regional trends, Escape from Duckov found a particularly strong following among Japanese streamers. Many popular creators, including sasatikk, Hiromichi “im_mittiii” Urahigashi and k4sen, featured the game on their channels. In Europe, Batiste “Locklear” and Sergio “knekro” García were among the most active players, while in the U.S., notable streamers like Saqib Ali “LIRIK” Zahid and TheBurntPeanut also joined in on the fun.
How long Escape from Duckov can maintain its momentum, and whether it can keep outperforming Escape from Tarkov on livestreams, remains doubtful. Unfortunately for fans of the yellow ducks, this is unlikely. Much of Duckov’s livestream success comes from the initial release hype, while Tarkov has long been established on both the platform and within the gaming community. On top of that, Tarkov regularly hosts seasonal in-game events and leverages promotional tools like Twitch Drops. Still, Escape from Duckov’s rise serves as an interesting case study for other developers and a reminder of the potential in bold, experimental ideas.
