On March 28, the Korean company Krafton launched InZOI in early access. This highly anticipated life simulator has quickly become one of the most talked-about and awaited titles in recent years. It seems the hype around the game will only continue to grow. InZOI is frequently making headlines on major gaming sites, and the game has also seen impressive results in livestreaming. We’ll dive into the details of these developments in this article.
The first InZOI streams appeared on streaming platforms as early as 2024. The developers are rolling out the game in phases, gradually introducing players to the world of InZOI. In the summer of 2024, they released a free demo of Character Studio, which allowed users to create their digital avatars (or any other characters) using an advanced in-game editor. Even at that point, Krafton was working with popular streamers and influencers to promote the game. Initially, access to the demo was limited, but hackers quickly cracked it and made it available to the public.
On March 20, the developers released InZOI: Creative Studio — another demo version of the main game, which allowed players to not only customize their character’s appearance but also experience the core building mechanics. Access to InZOI: Creative Studio was granted by watching streams from partner streamers on Twitch, CHZZK, and SteamTV. On March 28, InZOI officially launched in early access. Now, anyone who purchased the game on Steam can play. Four days before its release, InZOI topped the list of the most-wished-for games on the Steam marketplace.
The excitement around InZOI is fueled not only by its ultra-realistic graphics but also by frequent comparisons to The Sims series. While the developers of InZOI were inspired by the iconic game of the 2000s, they’ve also introduced several key innovations: more advanced AI for NPCs, a richly detailed world, and more. In many ways, InZOI will carry forward the concepts of The Sims, but this time, the focus is on the Asian gaming market rather than the Western one.
InZOI viewership statistics
Between March 20 and 27, many popular streamers on Twitch and other platforms began streaming InZOI. During their broadcasts, they explored the Creative Studio editor, created their avatars, and handed out Twitch Drops that gave access to the demo. For the week, the game accumulated more than 2.2 million Hours Watched on Twitch and over 91,000 Peak Viewers.
After the early access release, the game’s reach on streaming platforms grew even more. For example, between March 28 and 30, the average number of viewers in the InZOI section on Twitch increased from 12,000 to 33,000, with the peak concurrent viewership fall just short of 175,000. Twitch became the primary streaming platform for InZOI fans, but when considering other services, the total viewership for the game would be even higher.
The most popular InZOI streamer during the first weekend after its early access release was American streamer Zack ‘’zackrawrr’’ Hoyt (aka Asmongold) — his broadcast attracting 57,533 concurrent viewers at its peak. The top 10 streamers in terms of peak viewership also included Félix ‘’xQc’’ Lengyel, Alan ‘’Alanzoka’’ Ferreira, Saqib ‘’LIRIK’’ Ali Zahid, and others. Russian streamer Ilya ‘’Maddyson’’ Davydov topped the InZOI charts on Kick, while the highest peak viewership on YouTube came from Japanese VTuber Cecilia Immergreen Ch. from the English-language branch of Hololive.
Between March 28 and 30, InZOI ranked 13th among the most-watched categories on Twitch. It also broke into the top 6 most popular games on the platform based on peak viewer count.
Twitch made up over 78% of the total HW generated by InZOI streams from March 28 to 30. In terms of streamer geography, the U.S. took the largest share, with its streamers generating more than 24.5% of the total HW. Germany and Russia rounded out the top three, with 9.1% and 8.8%, respectively.
InZOI’s livestreaming viewership could have been even higher, but the game faced stiff competition from other titles. For example, on March 25, the game Schedule I launched and rapidly became a massive hit in the livestreaming scene. Schedule I is an open-world simulation game developed by TVGS, where players begin as small-time drug dealers and work to build an empire that dominates the underground world.
InZOI also faced stiff competition from The First Berserker: Khazan and Assassin’s Creed Shadows — both launched at the end of March this year. Overall, the battle for viewers was fierce. Competing for an audience wasn’t easy for InZOI, as life simulators are a very niche genre that doesn't offer some of the key elements that make for engaging livestream content, like dynamic gameplay and storytelling.
