Twitch Rivals Rust NA vs EU with 80 top streamers from America and Europe ended ahead of schedule. While Rust will be celebrating its tenth anniversary next year, it has only caught the attention of streamers and their viewers in the last couple of years. A major tournament in the game was a matter of time. and one indeed took place over the weekend.
The phenomenon of Rust and what roleplay servers have to do with it
Rust is an online multiplayer survival game that is currently enjoying a revival thanks to RP servers. The first to achieve popularity at the end of 2020 was a server from the OfflineTV streamer group from Los Angeles, where the most famous English-speaking Twitch and Youtube streamers regularly played.
However, not only the English-speaking audience showed interest in the game: Spanish streamer Ruben El Rubius Doblas Gundersen announced the launch of his roleplay server called EGOLAND in January 2021, where the top Hispanic content creators were also invited. Broadcasts of this server’s games attract hundreds of thousands of viewers.
The popularity of the game among streamers also attracted the interest of ordinary gamers. For example, peak players on Steam in January 2021 amounted to 244K, making Rust one of the ten most played games of the service.
xQc being xQc
Format of the tournament
This was the second Rust tournament in 2022 organized by Twitch Rivals, but at the same time the first one to feature top-level streamers. Veteran streamers such as shroud, xQcoW, and many others were among the participants. The tournament featured two teams of 40 people each: streamers from North America, led by DisguistedToast, and streamers from Spain and Latin America, led by Alexby11. The prize fund of the tournament amounted to $100K, with the winner taking $64K. There was also a special $2K reward for the player with the most kills. The tournament was held on a special custom map of five islands, created specifically for the competition.
Scandal at the tournament and the competition’s early termination
The tournament was planned in the format of a 48-hour continuous stream, but the organizers were forced to stop the competition ahead of schedule and called NA streamers as winners: all because of the scandal. The conflict arose due to the controversial interpretation of the already vague set of rules, which heated up to the limit the already difficult relationship between representatives of different communities. Everything turned into mutual insults and accusations of disrespect and racism. Considering the situation at hand, the organizers postponed the tournament to the next day and then canceled it entirely. Representatives of Twitch Rivals issued an official press release in which they explained the reasons for this decision and apologized, promising that the rules for future tournaments would be much more transparent and clear. However, the drama does not subside even after the end of the tournament: streamers continue to exchange remarks and express their opinions on personal broadcasts.
Viewership statistics
Due to the presence of two language groups, both English-speaking and Hispanic channels were among the most viewed channels. The first spot in terms of Peak Viewers was taken by xQcOW, who was followed by 84K Peak Viewers. In addition to the highlights within the game itself, the streamer also stood out by reacting expressively to the statements of the Hispanic community, which caused uproar and attracted an extra audience.
The team leader of the Hispanic community Alexby11 holds the second spot with 73K Peak Viewers. Holding the third spot is the streamer TenZ with 65K Peak Viewers. In terms of Hours Watched, the situation is quite similar: Alexby11 ranks third with 367K Hours Watched, the second spot is taken by the rivaling captain of the American team DisguistedToast, whose viewers spent 375K Hours Watched on the broadcast. The first spot was taken by the American content creator Tarik with 435K Hours Watched.
Most popular Twitch Rivals events in 2022
The tournament became the third in terms of Peak Viewers in the 2022 Twitch Rivals series. It was outmatched by the January Twitch Rivals Squidcraft Games ft. Komanche, which reached the mark of 2.258M Peak Viewers, and Twitch Rivals Creator Series: North America Kick-off, ft. Fortnite Zero Build, with 557K Peak Viewers. Broadcasts of Twitch Rivals Rust NA vs EU gathered 470K Peak Viewers.
In terms of the Hours Watched, the tournament ranks second as only Twitch Rivals Squidcraft Games ft. Komanche generated more hours watched: 17.7M. Note that the event for Spanish streamers lasted 17 hours, while Twitch Rivals Rust NA vs EU was half as much time on air – over 9 hours of broadcasting – and generated 3M Hours Watched.
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Overall, the tournament showed a positive trend, capturing the attention of the fans of certain streamers and demonstrating rather promising figures in terms of Hours Watched and Average Viewers. It is obvious that Twitch Rivals will continue hosting such events, however, the information regarding the format of these events and whether or not Hispanic streamers will continue taking part in such events is not that obvious.
