Despite not being the most popular category on Twitch, Fighting titles still reach a wide audience. Every year, many titles of the genre are released, and multiple streamers dedicate the majority of their broadcasts to playing them. So we at Streams Charts collected all the necessary data to bring you the ten most popular Twitch fighting games and streamers of 2022.
Most watched fighting categories on Twitch
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released in 2018, and since then became one of the most played fighting games in the world. It has a very large fan base, and its esports scene is probably the biggest among all fighting titles. During 2022, there were almost always more than 100 channels broadcasting the game monthly, which helped it secure first place in the list. With 40 million Hours Watched, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was the most popular fighting game on the platform by a significant margin.
MultiVersus, the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment fighting game, was launched in July of 2022. The game took the genre by storm, and in its first month was already among the most popular fighting titles on the platform. It received great reviews from critics and players alike. The game was so good, it won the best fighting game award at this year’s edition of The Game Awards. Many streamers eagerly tried the game out, while thousands of viewers were captivated by the title gameplay. In 2022, MultiVersus was watched for 31 million hours by viewers from all over the globe.
Closing the podium, we have Street Fighter V with 19.8 million Hours Watched. The game has been released six years ago, but still has a large player and fan base. It’s already considered a classic game of the fighting genre. As a competitive multiplayer fighting title, it’s one of the best ever, and its esports scene is still going strong. In Japan, the game has a huge cult following, and plenty of Japanese streamers play the game daily. So it's no surprise to see the game in third place.
Tekken and Street Fighter have the biggest rivalry in the fighting games industry. Both franchises are always striving to create the best fighting title possible, and Tekken 7 is arguably the series' best game to date. Similar to its rival Street Fighter V, it was released a long time ago, back in 2015. However, it's still very popular, with 16.5 million Hours Watched in 2022, occupying the fourth position in this list. Worth mentioning that Tekken 8 is already in the making, and fans can expect the game in late 2023 or early 2024.
Wess displays his skills versus Snowy in the Brawlhalla Midseason Championship
Closely behind Tekken 7, we have Brawlhalla with 16.4 million Hours Watched, occupying the fifth place. The free-to-play 2D platform fighting game was released in 2014, but is still among the most popular ones on the platform. Together with MultiVersus, it's one of just two free-to-play games in the top five.
Super Smash Bros. Melee was released in 2001, so the fact it's on this list is already impressive. It had 12.7 million Hours Watched, which is far from the numbers Super Smash Bros. Ultimate reached. Despite that, it still captivates the interest of thousands of viewers every day. Guilty Gear Strive, the last entry in the Guilty Gear series, secured seventh place with 11.3 million Hours Watched.
WWE 2K22 was released in March, and had the difficult task of bringing back the fans interest for the franchise, after the last game of the series had received harsh criticism. It succeeded in doing that, with the game being watched for 9.7 million hours. It's also arguably the best game of the series in the last couple of years. Rumbleverse is yet another game released in 2022 that makes this list. It secured ninth place with 9.6 million Hours Watched. Last but not least, we have Sifu, with 8.3 million Hours Watched. Worth noting that, the title was nominated for the best fighting game award, at this year’s edition of the Game Awards.
Most Watched Fighting Game Streamers on Twitch
As mentioned above, many streamers dedicate the majority of their broadcasts to playing fighting games. So we collected the stats to see who are the most popular fighting content creators on Twitch. Worth noting that, only content creators who had 50% of their airtime spend broadcasting fighting games were considered for this list. Organizational channels also weren't taken into account.
In the first place, we have legendary professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player Hungrybox. 99.4% of the games he played were fighting games, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being the most played.Viewers use his stream as a source of entertainment, but also to learn and improve in the game. In 2022, viewers watched him play fighting titles for 3 million hours.
Mang0 is yet another legendary Super Smash Bros. Melee player. He has been playing since 2007, and together with Hungrybox, he is considered one of the "Five Gods" of Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has a giant trophy case, and a fan base just as big. Mang0 has the lowest percentage of time spent playing fighting games in this list, but he still managed to secure second place, with 2.3 million Hours Watched. As expected, Super Smash Bros. Melee was his most played game.
GsmVoiD is yet another former Super Smash Bros. Melee & current Ultimate player to enter this list. However, MultiVersus was his most played game this year, with gsmVoiD dedicating a lot of his time to the best fighting game of 2022. Viewers watched him for 1.3 million hours, which secured him third place on this list.
GsmVoiD spectacular combo
In fourth place, we have gackt_N, one of the most popular Japanese Smash players. He is currently signed to ZETA DIVISION, and is arguably the biggest Japanese content creator when it comes to fighting games. His broadcasts are very entertaining, and viewers also learn a lot from him. He was watched for 1.1 million hours. Closing the top five, we have yet another Japanese streamer. Momochoco is also a professional fighting games player, who mainly plays Street Fighter V. Viewers watched his streams for 1.08 million hours.
Brazilian streamer OReiTroll secured sixth place with 1.02 million Hours Watched. Worth noting that, he is the only South American streamer on this list. Closely behind him, we have nemo_good. The Japanese streamer, which is also a professional Street Fighter V player, was watched for 805K hours. Bum1six3 secured eighth place with 786K Hours Watched. The North American streamer played multiple fighting games, with Dragon Ball FighterZ being his game of choice.
Irish content creator FUNKYT0WN49 was watched for 773K hours, with viewers loving to see him play WWE SuperCard. American streamer Sajam closes out the list, with 742K Hours Watched. The fighting game commentator and analyst most played game of 2022 was Guilty Gear: Strive.
Japanese streamers dominated this list, which comes as no surprise. The fighting genre is very popular in the country, with plenty of professional players. Despite that, the top three consists of only North American streamers. As we can see, fighting games reach a wide audience, even if they were released more than five years ago. The classic titles of the industry are still going strong, and some new games have also risen in popularity. It's a genre that entertains thousands of viewers daily, and we expect it to continue to grow.
