December is surprisingly packed with major game releases. Both STALKER 2 and Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) showcased impressive livestreaming performance, landing themselves spots in the top 10 most successful new games of 2024. But December also saw the release of another title that particularly grabbed the attention of team-based shooter fans: Marvel Rivals from NetEase Games.
Marvel Rivals officially launched worldwide on December 6 and quickly found itself in the spotlight. While media reviews were mixed, players were undeterred. The game climbed the Steam charts and other digital platforms with impressive player activity, and its performance in livestreaming was equally remarkable.
In the week after its release, Marvel Rivals accumulated over 16 million hours of watch time on Twitch, ranking fourth overall. The only games with better performance were Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V, and another December release, PoE 2.
The game also became hugely popular with streamers. In the past seven days, the average number of live streaming channels broadcasting the game was 4,700, making it the second-highest number across all games on Twitch. The only game with more streaming channels was Fortnite.
Given that America is likely the primary market for Marvel, it’s no surprise that nearly three-quarters of the total watch time came from English-speaking streamers, most of whom were from the U.S. and Canada. Secondary demographics include Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking viewers, who together with EN-speakers made up over 85% of the game’s total viewership in its first week.
Serbian streamer Necros significantly grew his Twitch audience thanks to Marvel Rivals
One standout streamer is Vladan "Necros" Konstantinov, an English-speaking Serbian content creator and former professional Overwatch player. He dominated both peak concurrent viewership and total watch time, which makes sense, considering he’s already streamed over 167 hours of game content. Konstantinov quickly became the go-to streamer for the game: in the week after release, his channel grew by just under 100,000 followers, the largest increase among Twitch channels with fewer than 1 million total followers.
Marvel Rivals had a highly successful release. By seven-day watch time, it ranked fifth among the best-performing new games of 2024, beating out titles like STALKER 2, Dragon’s Dogma II, and EA Sports FC 25. Part of this success can be attributed to Twitch Drops: through the end of the year, viewers of the game on Twitch can earn cosmetic items, meaning the game will likely continue to stay near the top of the platform for at least a few more weeks.
