After a highly anticipated 2023 that saw several major releases, fans and publishers would have been forgiven for taking it easy this year. However, 2024 has seen some pretty successful releases so far, with quite a few video games covered by Streams Charts.
One of the more recent names doing the rounds among followers and media outlets is Wuthering Waves. This action RPG adventure game saw its full launch on May 22 and has been taking the community by storm, with some of the most renowned content creators also jumping on the bandwagon.
What makes this Kuro Games offering unique is that it is an open-world gacha title, meaning it is going to draw comparisons to other popular genre entries like Genshin Impact. However, as per the developers, they aim to emphasize combat more than its competitors, with its success seeing it generate $9.78 million in IAP revenue (lowered by platform fees and inclusive taxes) on iOS and Android over the first five days.
The fact that the game is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems has only added to its reach compared to many other new launches this year. As a result — per its official social media handles — Wuthering Waves was the most downloaded title on the Top Charts in more than 100 regions.
Over the past week since its May 22 release, the game has climbed to the top ten charts on Twitch for watch time and peak concurrent viewership. One way or the other, it has outperformed more fancied names like Fortnite, EA Sports FC 24, Apex Legends, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege, which is impressive given all these titles enjoy continuous exposure to global audiences via their well-set esports seasons.
Interestingly, the success of Wuthering Waves has seemingly woken up fans of gacha games (and Genshin Impact), as the miHoYo offering has also climbed up the table on the purple platform. In fact, its Peak Viewers rise of 844% is the highest in the top ten leaderboard for the past week, helping it reach as high as eighth, two places above its newest competitor.
One good reason for this hype around the miHoYo offering is that its newest version, 4.7, will be coming out on June 5. These occasions are usually full of hype and excitement as there are new characters, regions, and weapons introduced, alongside special quests and banner reruns.
Importantly, the reviews for Wuthering Wave have also mostly been positive, with most players, both critics and casual gamers, reserving special praise for its combat. On the other hand, as with most new releases nowadays, it still has a few issues that need fixing, but they are not so major as to derail long-term prospects.
The game has also found a space among the most successful video game releases from 2024 when looking at their stats across May so far. Despite being around for just a week, it comes third on the Hours Watched and Peak Viewers tables, with the top two occupied by Arena Breakout: Infinite and XDefiant, both of which have done well themselves among streamers and gamers.
Speaking of content creators — who always play a massive part in how new launches perform — Wuthering Wave was lucky enough to capture the attention of some sought-after names. The likes of Tectone, zackrawrr, and knekro were among the most watched between May 22 and 28, while Rubius, Mizkif, and Kuzuha Channel emerged as the leaders when looking at peak concurrent viewers.
Tectone, especially, was crucial to its jump into the top ten when looking at the watch time, with his numbers alone contributing 14% to the total share between May 22 and 28. The Canadian OTK member is known to be a big gacha gamer, with gameplay clips of Genshin Impact playing a major role in his popularity booming, eventually helping him join the American media organization.
Gacha games usually find a massive audience in Asia, specifically China, Japan, and South Korea. However, apart from Chinese, the other languages have not made as big an impression as Western languages like Spanish and English, whose viewers seem to have taken to the game and its marvelous open world, Solaris-3.
Considering the kind of games released and the hype surrounding each new launch, Wuthering Wave has performed admirably to become such a success in such a short span. Backed by a highly-lauded combat system and a developer with a reputation for putting out great games, it has a chance to become one of 2024's best new offerings.
