He's an exception to the rule. Same with Shroud, Dr. Disrespect, etc.
In fact there's a whole bunch of OG streamers who can play literally any game they want and they still have strong following (LIRIK, Soda, etc.) simply because they grinded out early on. Whereas for the middle of the road streamer (let's say 1-2k viewers at any given time), they can't take breaks or switch games without a huge dip in followers, and therefore $$.
> Whereas for the middle of the road streamer (let's say 1-2k viewers at any given time)
Sentences like that show me how far removed my twitch experience is from others. Middle of the road, 1-2k viewers. The biggest thing I watch has 200 something viewers, sometimes with a raid(s) we reach 300-500.
Recently, I watched CohCarnage (because he had early access to an alpha releasing the next day), and he had a few thousand viewers. Chat was just a constant stream of letters. Impossible to have a conversation or even keep up with what’s going on. I disabled the chat a few minutes in, I do not get the appeal of mega streams.
I disagree as well. The community didn't do what resulted in the raid. That was the streamer. Yeah you were there watching, but it's like saying "we won" when your favorite sports team wins.
To be frank, I don’t find it annoying, I just see it as a form of delusion. Streamers are always doing this thing where they pretend to have big reactions to things and I’m surprised people buy into it. The whole subculture feels like people roleplaying how people communicate in cartoons and anime but it’s not apparent that everyone understands it’s neither real nor how things work.
I've always watched streamers mostly based on the personality rather than whatever game they happen to be playing. If anything it's more interesting to watch someone I'm familiar with try out a new game.
Looking at stats though it seems like I'm in the minority - switching games kills viewership for most streamers (at least in the short term).
I disagree. It might feel like that but I don't think that's true, talking from personal experience. I mostly watch hearthstone streamers and when they're streaming something else their viewership does indeed drop but that doesn't mean I unfollow, just switch streams since there's 10 other options at any given time. I will come back to their stream or check them out again eventually because I'm not really committed to any particular one, I even sometimes have 2-3 streams open and switch every few minutes.
I know, it fucks up my time and attention span and it's not good for me but if I'm representative then they have nothing to worry about. I think they're mostly scared to even experiment because they know they're small and are too afraid to rock the boat
You make it sound like they can play any game they want because they are popular. But it's the other way around. They are popular because they are entertaining to their audience regardless of the game
1-2k viewers by most metrics of subs/donations/sponsorships gives you a very very very comfortable life. Maybe even approaching millions a year. That's the 0.01% of twitch you're talking about. Anybody with over 500 consistent viewers is the exception.
I personally know someone who consistently has 1-2k viewers. I would say $80k~$100k is more the norm for that size. $1M/year a stretch (including YT, IG, paid influencing, etc.)
> gives you a very very very comfortable life.
Monetarily, sure...but the point is that you if you suddenly take a month off, you risk that comfort.
In fact there's a whole bunch of OG streamers who can play literally any game they want and they still have strong following (LIRIK, Soda, etc.) simply because they grinded out early on. Whereas for the middle of the road streamer (let's say 1-2k viewers at any given time), they can't take breaks or switch games without a huge dip in followers, and therefore $$.