As part of our quarterly reports on the livestreaming industry, Streams Charts has collected the viewership results of the most-watched games and game genres in the industry. These titles collect viewership from numerous platforms, although industry-leaders Twitch and YouTube Live often contribute the vast majority of viewership for any game. Our Q3 2024 rankings provide insights to the global livestreaming sector, not one specific audience or demographic.
Across all of livestreaming, Grand Theft Auto V was the most-watched game with over 533.33M Hours Watched. Not only was the title massively popular on Twitch, but it also generated significant watch time across many other global livestreaming platforms, such as Nimo TV, SOOP Korea (ex. AfreecaTV), Kick, and many others. GTA V appeals to young audiences through its racing content, role-playing, and other online modes; the video-game is a favourite among the Americas, Asia, MENA, and most of the world.
Esports titles were also highly-watched, with many games enjoying major boosts to viewership through season-ending and otherwise significant esports tournaments. League of Legends was the most popular esports entry, with 461.95M Hours Watched, leading significantly ahead of Valorant and Counter-Strike 2. All three of these games also enjoy sizeable esports viewership from YouTube audiences, but across the rest of the industry, Twitch was a more significant livestreaming platform. League of Legends was also generating watch time through Asian and Americas audiences with SOOP Korea (former AfreecaTV), Nimo TV, and Kick.
Further down the ranking, Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Apex Legends were some of the less popular esports titles. Dota 2, while popular, was a step behind the big three esports figures last quarter, and ML:BB generates massive esports viewership for its official events, but little viewership for casual broadcasts. Apex Legends also continues to enjoy boosts from its Japanese audience, which has helped the game to snatch the 10th spot on this ranking.
Other entries, such as Minecraft, Fortnite, and World of Warcraft, are industry leaders in their respective genres. These games’ viewership came from their massive popularity; almost everyone involved with gaming or livestreaming has heard of these three titles, and many have tried at least one. World of Warcraft is an interesting example, as it almost has a monolithic English-language viewership, with minor European and Asian languages contributing slightly. The viewership for WoW comes almost entirely from North America, and other international English-speaking audiences.
Thinking more broadly, the most-watched game genres of the industry were breaking well over 2 billion total Hours Watched. It is important to note that many games fall under multiple genres, as different aspects of games, on top of games with multiple online game modes, fall under different genres. For example, Grand Theft Auto V was a leading title across Adventure, Shooter, and Driving/Racing, while League of Legends spearheaded RPG, Strategy, and MOBA.
Generally, action-focused genres were the industry leaders of Q3 watch time. These titles could involve MOBA aspects, first-person shooters, hack-and-slashes, and many more. The broad appeal of Adventure, Shooter, and the RPG genres helped them to lead the industry, with Adventure leading the way at 2.583B Hours Watched.
Strategy, Mobile, and Tactical all enjoyed boosts from esports viewership, with these genres applying to many titles like League of Legends, Valorant, Escape from Tarkov, ML:BB, and more. Simulation reflects both more advanced simulators, like BeamNG.drive, and more sandbox-oriented titles, such as Minecraft and Fortnite.
Battle Royale is usually a highly specific genre of game, but the category has become very competitive with the emergence of mobile games like Garena Free Fire and PUBG Mobile, as well as PC games popular in North America, like Call of Duty: Warzone. Driving/Racing largely benefitted from one industry-leading game, GTA V, which falls under its boundaries.