The survival MMO Rust reaches new record highs on Twitch. At its peak, 1.2 million people watched it. Those are absolute top numbers, but streamers like Asmongold have pointed out the problem with Rust: It’s a great game, but the viewers ruin a lot. They snitch to make themselves important to their streamers. It’s annoying.
How strong is Rust running on Twitch:
- Usually, Rust doesn’t play a major role on Twitch. In November 2020, the average viewer count was 8,766. After all, Rust is a game from 2013.
- But on December 27, the streamer group “OfflineTV” launched a special server: 50 streamers from YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook came together and played Rust on a server. The numbers peaked on Twitch at 230,000 viewers.
- More and more big English-speaking streamers discovered Rust for themselves. Conflicts arose when Twitch villain xQC intervened and founded “Team Rocket”. This created tension and action on the server. The viewer numbers shot up to 350,000 at its peak on January 2.
- On January 3, Rust then exploded on Twitch: At its peak, 1.2 million viewers watched. Those are huge numbers, not even Escape from Tarkov can keep up, even though the hardcore shooter had such a strong start in 2021.
Spaniards copy the USA, German streamers are still sleeping
Why is Rust doing so well on Twitch? Twitch is an international platform with communities in many countries.
The English-speaking community has established Rust in the last few days. In the course of the “OfflineTV” server, streamers like xQc, shroud, or Myth have achieved strong numbers with Rust.
However, it is said: If there is such a trend in the USA, it will spill over into other regions.
On January 3, Spanish-speaking Twitch streamers discovered Rust for themselves and are achieving huge viewer numbers. Streamers like auronplay, TheGrefg, ibai, and Rubius have become top streamers for Rust in the last 3 days. They are pulling huge audience numbers.
The Spanish-speaking stars have teamed up after the example of the US streamers and founded a joint server: EGOLAND. This is a mega-success for the Spanish-speaking quartet.
ElRubius is the mastermind behind the action.
However, there is the problem that viewers can ruin much of the tension because they want to collect bonus points with “their star” and feel important. This creates a bad atmosphere.
What exciting stories Rust can create when chaos reigns and how entertaining it can be to watch there is repeatedly demonstrated by the Twitch streamer xQc:
Rust: xQc is the villain of Twitch, but shroud is the sheriff and cleans up
In Germany, no one has had the idea to replicate this yet. The German streamers seem to be missing out on the Rust trend so far.
It actually seems logical that German streamers also go on a joint server and utilize the huge synergy effect that Rust brings to Spanish-speaking and English-speaking streamers.
But not everything is perfect in Rust.
An example of “snitching” in Rust: A viewer donates money to warn Pokimane “xQc is coming to kill you.” He then actually rides in and gets immediately shot down.:
Viewers snitch and ruin the fun
What is the problem with Rust? This new way of playing Rust, putting several streamers on one server, negatively affects the gameplay.
Because there are two problems:
- Stream-sniping is when you watch what your opponent is doing and aim for an advantage. This is frowned upon. Recently, there was trouble because someone saw a group of streamers die and then immediately traveled to the remote death location to loot. Normally, he wouldn’t have known where they had died.
- Snitching refers to when viewers tell their streamer what the evil other streamers are doing. Particularly by donating money to their own streamer and feeding such information, fans apparently feel good and as if they are helping.
Since on a “streamer server” every player streams their game, nothing is secret on such a server. This ruins the gaming experience, as WoW streamer Asmongold points out (cover image).
After all, Rust is also about doing things in secret, sneaking around, planning, and not being seen at first. That doesn’t work when you have spies from other streamers in the channel who immediately snitch on every wrongdoing.
Asmongold says: This constant snitching is “loser behavior.” If he sees someone, he sees them, and if not, then not.
Viewers should just stop being so damn embarrassing.
Streamers playing together achieve huge viewer numbers
Here’s what it’s about: The phenomenon “Rust” is the logical evolution of Among Us or Minecraft projects like Craft Attack: Viewers love it when streamers play against or with other streamers. This is apparently the key to reaching new viewers, achieving synergy effects, and massive channel growth.
We discussed the topic in a podcast on MeinMMO.
Just like influencers boost and push each other by appearing in each other’s videos, Rust offers huge cross-marketing potential for streamers on Twitch. The streamers in the USA have realized this, and the Spanish-speaking streamers jumped on the trend in no time. It’s only a matter of time before streamers from other countries get the idea as well.
However, there is the problem that viewers can ruin much of the tension because they want to collect bonus points with “their star” and feel important. This creates a bad atmosphere.
What exciting stories Rust can create when chaos reigns and how entertaining it can be to watch there is repeatedly demonstrated by the Twitch streamer xQc:
Rust: xQc is the villain of Twitch, but shroud is the sheriff and cleans up
