June and July have been pretty busy for players and streamers as a slew of games from different genres have been released. Of these, quite a few have left a mark on video game digital distribution services like Steam and live-streaming services like Twitch, climbing to the top of these platforms thanks to positive audience reception.
As per Streams Charts' database, a lot of these titles have attracted millions of viewers over the first few days of their launch, shifting the dynamics of the purple platform. The latest of these fresh launches is Once Human, which has put in one of the more attention-grabbing initial performances post-release and climbed to the top seven by watch time and peak concurrent viewership over its first nine days.
This multiplayer open-world survival game is set in a strange, post-apocalyptic future where players can go solo or team up with friends as they aim to accumulate the power to remake the world. With an interesting enough premise and lots of challenges to look forward to, it has registered a healthy 10.8M Hours Watched over its first nine days after getting released on July 9.
This has put it in sixth spot among games in this timeframe, ahead of renowned names like Counter-Strike, Minecraft, and Fortnite. When looking at popularity, it comes in the seventh spot with 183.6 Peak Viewers, beating titles like Elden Ring, Apex Legends, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege.
A good indication of its initial success is the fact that among all 2024 video game releases, Once Human is already the eighth-most popular one. It has done better than a lot of titles that received positive reviews from players, news outlets, and critics like Helldivers 2, Gray Zone Warfare, and Tekken 8.
Moreover, compared to the three most successful launches by HW this year, it holds up solidly. While the runaway leader — Palworld — was up to 46.4M HW within its first nine days, Enshrouded had 9M HW and Arena Breakout: Infinite reached 9.7M HW. This means that Once Human has outperformed the second and third-most watched video games to come out in 2024, a good sign of things to come.
A few things have helped this action-adventure RPG shooter from Starry Studio perform so well among online audiences on the Amazon-owned platform. It has praise from a lot of quarters for its simple yet solid crafting mechanism, with its beautiful post-apocalyptic backdrop attracting the attention of thousands of users.
However, the number one aspect of this game seems to be its weird creature designs which many have terms the best of the year. From a monster with a traffic cone head to a small robot with a blocky head to a massive shadow-beast boss to a giant six-legged bus emitting phantasmagorical light that players can get into and take a ride around the map, there's so much weirdness when to comes to the what users have to fight as they learn to survive and more.
We also have to talk about streamers as they play a vital part in how these new games perform, be it via sponsored content or just general playthroughs that fans can witness on air. AdmiralBahroo, a known gaming creator who plays a variety of titles, including any new ones that cause a stir at launch, has been the most-watched online star during its first nine days.
He and fellow American CohhCarnage are the only broadcasters to have registered above 500K HW during this period. Both have also been busy playing Elden Ring and its newest DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, which helped the game climb to the top of the Twitch charts not too long ago.
These names were helped by the fact that the game is allowing for Drops to be won till August 5, meaning more viewers tuned into their live streams to catch a glimpse of the crazy gameplay Once Human offers. The game also took in influencers under its Content Creator Program, which helped both parties make the most of their audience bases.
There is another internet personality who has been central to the sensational initial audience stats put in by Once Human. Zackrawrr is a known lover of such genres of games and was by far the most popular streamer to play the game between July 9 and 17, hitting 52.7K PV, almost double the next-best entry.
Having started with content that primarily focused on World of Warcraft, the One True King (OTK) co-founder and co-owner has slowly moved to covering other titles and topics related to gaming culture. However, he remains a titan in the MMORPG streamer category, often competing for gongs in the biggest awards shows in this genre.
For a more detailed look at how well Once Human has done in the nine days since its launch, here's a comparison to other renowned post-apocalyptic survival games. Back 4 Blood, Fallout 76, and The Last of Us Part II recorded 10.7M HW, 8.2 HW, and 24.5 HW, respectively, during this period, and all three were praised for different aspects, with the last name having legitimate claims to being the best game ever.
Considering these figures, it is safe to say that Starry Studio's offering has gotten off to a solid start. The developers have also been pretty busy with introducing updates and fixes, although not everything has been positive, with the publisher warning players against using bugs and exploiting third-party cheats.
To show how serious it was regarding this issue, the company has already banned over 400 players for almost ten years. It even named those who have been barred from playing the game for using unfair means to gain an advantage while playing in a blog post and on the Discord community.
Once Human also finished as the most successful video game release for Chinese company NetEase Games, which owns Starry Studio. It has a plethora of titles under its portfolio, but only one name has come remotely close to matching its early success, which is Naraka: Bladepoint, a free-to-play action battle royale game that came out in August 2021.
Such moves, coupled with the readymade fun and action awaiting players who download this title, have done wonders in making Once Human a success so far. How it fares concerning other 2024 releases at the end of the year will give a better indication of whether it was able to maintain the momentum gained early in its run.
