The first few months of 2025 were chock-a-block with video game releases that range from good to meh to amazing, depending on who you talk to. Then came a summer where video game showcases took over the industry, with quite a few of these special events becoming huge viewership successes, meaning that any new launches had to take a backseat.
However, a recent release, Grounded 2, has been doing pretty well, attracting the attention of the community and some top streamers. This has also helped it climb the Twitch rankings, sitting snugly among the ten most popular games on the purple platform since its launch at the end of last month.
Grounded 2, a role-playing, adventure-action title from the developer, Obsidian Entertainment, saw its early access come out on July 29. Since then, it has garnered mostly positive reviews on Steam, with many praising it for sticking to its predecessor's roots while making the necessary changes to match the modern demands.
The original Grounded was based on the premise that players get shrunk and go on multiple adventures, a la Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The second installment sticks to this winning formula, with the co-op feature allowing userss to team up with up to three friends to battle bugs, build bases with nothing but grass and pebbles, take on an evil corporation whose sole objective seems to be to shrink kids, and explore a world filled with possibilities, even of that means jumping the inside of a trash can.
With so much going on, and most media outlets reacting positively to this very much in-progress early access game, the hype was pretty real. As a result, Grounded 2 hit 164,288 Peak Viewers (PV) on Twitch during the first week of this playtest phase, putting it among the platform's most popular games.
The survival title has outscored legacy games like Minecraft, Dota 2, and Overwatch 2, which is no mean feat, especially with so much esports action going on elsewhere. It has also made the top 15 for games on Twitch over the past week, taking up the 13th spot with almost 3.9 million Hours Watched (HW).
The game also hit almost 50,000 peak players on Steam on its early access release day, which was much better than what the first part did. Grounded 2 has also become one of the top-selling titles on Valve's digital distribution service and storefront.
Sticking with comparisons between the two installments in the series, a look at the Streams Charts database shows that Grounded received much more from viewers in its first week on Twitch. Its success meant that the anticipation for the second part was pretty high, which contributed to the newer title seeing a much higher number of peak channels trying it out.
Speaking of channels, quite a few top names have been giving Grounded 2 a go, including Michael "shroud" Grzesiek, Gianmarco "Tumblurr" Tocco, Ben "CohhCarnage" Cassell, and Elias "Elajjaz" Lönn. Shroud has emerged as the game's most-watched internet star between July 29 and August 4, while Tumblurr has amassed the highest peak at just over 24,000 viewers.
These creators have undoubtedly played a part in Grounded 2 getting off to a good start on livestreaming. However, it has to be noted that the title in its current state is far from the finished product, as there are lots of things that need fixing.
In essence, this miniaturized survival game isn't anywhere near completion, as only one act and just a handful of regions are available to those who have received access. Moreover, plenty of technical issues need ironing out, so the final product, when it does come out, could look a lot different.
Nevertheless, in its current state, Grounded 2 has given itself a good chance at long-term success by attracting a healthy player base and some of the top influencers. Additionally, even with all the issues that need fixing, many have already put it ahead of the first part, giving it a higher starting point.
Streams Charts will continue to track and monitor the performance of Grounded 2 and other new video game relases and come out with any updates or news. Meanwhile, interested readers who want a deeper dive into the statistics of new titles and their viewership performance across platforms and languages can check out our PRO subscription.
