Top Fighting Games Streamers of 2024

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Fighting games are one of the oldest genres in esports, dating back to the era of arcade machines and the first 8-bit consoles. Today, this genre is home to a wide range of franchises like Street Fighter, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and many others.

However, fighting games remain a niche genre in both esports and livestreaming. They have a steep learning curve for newcomers, and you really need to be a dedicated fan to fully appreciate the fast-paced battles that can be hard for untrained eyes to follow. Streams Charts is wrapping up its 2024 recap, and in this article, they've highlighted the most popular fighting game streamers across different platforms.

Street Fighter 6

The most-watched fighting game in livestreaming in 2024 was Street Fighter 6, the latest installment in the legendary series from Capcom. Streams for the game accumulated over 158,100,000 Hours Watched (HW), nearly three times the viewership of other games in the genre. Street Fighter 6 also topped the charts for both Peak Viewers and Average Viewers on Twitch, solidifying its massive popularity in the streaming community.

In 2024, Street Fighter 6 was streamed by countless content creators around the world, but the standout among them was Japanese streamer Chikara ‘’Shaka’’ Kawakami, a Twitch star and one of the most influential content creators in Asia. Shaka had an incredibly busy year — he became an official streamer for Natus Vincere, covered fighting tournaments at the Esports World Cup 2024, and even organized a major event, LEGENDUS, featuring top streamers and VTubers from Japan. 

Shaka

The participants of LEGENDUS competed in several games, including Street Fighter 6. During the broadcast of the show matches for the fighting game, Shaka hit a peak of 96,582 viewers on his channel, marking the third-highest viewership peak of his streaming career.

In 2024, Shaka dominated the Street Fighter 6 category in every major metric — he had the highest numbers for Hours Watched, Peak Viewers, and Average Viewers. The closest competitors to him in the SF6 streamer rankings were two other Japanese streamers like ハイタニ (haitani0904) and なるお_ (naru0419045).

Tekken 8

Tekken 8 is another iconic fighting game, developed by BANDAI NAMCO. In 2024, streams of the game racked up nearly 55,000,000 HW in total, earning it the second spot among the most-watched fighting games in livestreaming.

As mentioned earlier, fighting games are a niche genre, and not many streamers are willing to dedicate all of their time to them. Only a few content creators fully commit to their favorite genre, rarely branching out to other games. One such streamer in 2024 was Adrian ‘’TheMainManSWE’’ Levander, a huge Tekken 8 fan, and creator of numerous guides and blogs about the game on YouTube. During the year, his Tekken 8 streams generated more than 2,740,000 hours of watch time, making him the top Tekken 8 streamer across all platforms.

TheMainMan and Maximilian_DOOD

During the Tekken 8 Launch Party, Maximilian_DOOD’s stream peaked at 37,783 viewers, setting a record for the game in 2024 (even the official Tekken channel didn’t hit that number). He also holds the top spot for Average Viewers in this category, with 9,403, despite splitting his time between Elden Ring, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and other fighting games like Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat.

Super Smash Bros: Ultimate and Melee

The main audience for Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 is in Asia, while in North America, Super Smash Bros. reigns as the top fighting game. Every year, the U.S. hosts a massive number of tournaments for various versions, from Melee to Ultimate, bringing together the best players from around the world.

In livestreaming, the Super Smash Bros. series consistently holds the third spot among fighting games, with over 45,000,000 HW across all platforms in a year. Despite this, the game has a relatively small number of unique channels, indicating a tight-knit but passionate fan community.

NairoMK

In 2024, the most popular Super Smash Bros. streamer was American Nairoby ‘’NairoMK’’ Quezada, a former pro player who competed for Team Liquid and NRG Esports. NairoMK retired from competitive play in 2020 and has since shifted to livestreaming. His streams often feature challenges and marathons focused on specific characters, and he also keeps up with professional SSB tournaments.

In the ranking of the top fighting game streamers, NairoMK outpaced Juan ‘’Hungrybox’’ Debiedma and Joseph ‘’mang0’’ Marquez, two legendary American players and content creators who have long been ambassadors for the Super Smash Bros. franchise in the streaming world. However, they are right behind him, not trailing by much.

Mortal Kombat

Another iconic franchise in the world of fighting games is, of course, Mortal Kombat — one of the oldest gaming series, created by NetherRealm Studios over 30 years ago. Since the release of the first Mortal Kombat in 1992, there have been countless sequels, expansions, and reboots across nearly every gaming platform. Mortal Kombat remains a major hit to this day — in 2024, streams of various MK versions generated nearly 12,000,000 hours of watch time, placing the franchise near the top.

Interestingly, the most watched streams came from Mortal Kombat 1 — the latest franchise reboot released in September 2023. However, the most popular Mortal Kombat streamer of 2024 wasn’t playing Mortal Kombat 1, but rather Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, the classic 1995 Sega Genesis version. This streamer was popular Brazilian speedrunner Alan Soares, who runs the Canal BySpeed channel on YouTube.

Alan ‘’Speed’’ Soares

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero

The fighting game Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero from Spike Chunsoft launched in the fall of 2024 and quickly became a huge hit within the livestreaming community. It surged to the top of its genre, hitting a peak of over 17,333 channels across all platforms. It also boasted the highest Average Channels among all fighting games in 2024.

The most-watched streamer for Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero turned out to be David ‘’TheGrefg’’ Cánovas, a major Twitch star and one of the most popular streamers in Spain. While Grefg typically streams in categories like Just Chatting, Special Events, or Kings League, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero became the most-viewed game on his channel in 2024. After streaming for 116 hours, the game helped him rack up around 1,670,000 HW.

TheGrefg

Brawlhalla

The fighting game Brawlhalla from Blue Mammoth Games celebrated its 10th anniversary last year and continues to be one of the most-watched games in its genre. In 2024, Brawlhalla streams generated over 10,100,000 HW, with the average viewership on Twitch even seeing a 5% increase.

The most-watched Brawlhalla streamer in 2024 was Pavel ‘’PavelskiBH’’ Milev from Bulgaria. A professional player and the 2020 Brawlhalla World Championship - Europe champion, Pavelski previously competed for Wolves Esports and now plays under the Kingdom Allegiance tag (arguably the top Brawlhalla team right now). Over the year, his Brawlhalla streams racked up more than 870,000 HW, trailing only the official game channel on Twitch.

Pavelski

Naraka: Bladepoint

Naraka: Bladepoint from 24 Entertainment stands out from the other games here with its unique gameplay mechanics. The most notable difference is its large-scale cooperative mode, where up to 60 players can join a single match. While Naraka: Bladepoint isn’t exactly a traditional fighting game, it has gained a solid following within the fighting game community on Twitch.

In 2024, the top ambassador for Naraka: Bladepoint in the livestreaming scene was ItsJXin, a Chinese player who streams on Twitch in both Spanish and English. As an official game streamer, JXin reviews the latest updates, hosts cosmetic item giveaways, and of course, plays ranked matches. His YouTube channel also features plenty of highlight videos, patch reviews, character guides, and tips for newcomers. In terms of total watch hours in 2024, JXin ranked second only to the official game channel.

JXin

MultiVersus

MultiVersus is one of the latest fighting games that blends elements of both Brawlhalla and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The most-watched MultiVersus streamer in 2024 is American player  Case ‘’Caseoh’’ Baker, who racked up around 670,000 watch hours. However, Caseoh only spent 12 hours playing MultiVersus, so it is definitely not his main game. On the other hand, James ‘’gsmVoiD’’ Makekau-Tyson, another American streamer and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pro, dedicated over 500 hours to the game. Unlike Caseoh, who tends to jump between titles, VoiD puts a much stronger focus on fighting games in his streams. In 2024, he played several, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, 2XKO, Tekken 8, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, and more.

VoiD

Guilty Gear: Strive

Guilty Gear: Strive, the fighting game from Arc System Works released in 2021, is incredibly popular in the U.S. and Japan. While many well-known streamers have played Guilty Gear: Strive, most didn’t stick with it for long. However, American player Steve ‘’LordKnight’’ Barthelemy racked up over 630 hours of Airtime in the game, generating more than 200,000 watch hours. LordKnight is a pro Guilty Gear: Strive player (as well as for several other fighting games) and spent over six years competing with the beastcoast team.

LordKnight

2XKO

This year’s review wraps up with 2XKO, a new fighting game from Riot Games set to release in 2025. Although the game isn’t out yet, the developers have already allowed players and streamers to test it. 2XKO introduces a unique format where players fight in duos, constantly switching between characters. The twist is that the fighters are all characters from the League of Legends universe.

While 2XKO is still behind other fighting games in terms of audience reach, it’s already clear which streamers are paying it more attention. Leading in watch hours is Swedish player William ‘’Leffen’’" Hjelte, a legendary esports competitor and one of the best Super Smash Bros. Melee players in the world, with a list of titles and wins including CEO 2015, Super Smash Con 2015 & 2019, EVO 2018, and Dreamhack 2016, 2018 & 2022. Leffen is still actively competing in tournaments and streaming various fighting games on Twitch.

Leffen

You can check out the top streamers in different games on the Streams Charts rankings. We’ve already published some of the top lists in our 2024 recap, including the most popular streamers for League of Legends, Grand Theft Auto V, Fortnite, and more. You can find the full list of articles here.

Most Watched Fighting Games Streamers of 2024: