Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris (34) is the German Twitch streamer with the most followers — this is apparently to be taken literally, as at the gamescom he was literally pursued by crowds of people. This has now even attracted international attention.
This is about the gamescom appearance: The gamescom 2022 took place from August 24 to August 28 in Cologne. On Saturday, the penultimate day, the German Twitch star MontanaBlack also paid a visit to the fair.
Together with a friend, watch dealer Marc Gebauer, MontanaBlack streamed live from the gamescom. For Monte, it was the first gamescom since 2018. The plan was simply to stroll around the fair, hold challenges and competitions.
But quickly a huge crowd gathered behind MontanaBlack. Fans shouted “Monte, Monte!” and followed the streamer. He could only move around the fair surrounded by a ring of his entourage and the venue’s security.
You can watch the entire stream from the gamescom on MontanaBlack’s Twitch channel.
Another scene from the gamescom also made headlines:
MontanaBlack is internationally famous for his casino streams
This is how xQc became aware of MontanaBlack: The Twitch star Félix “xQc” Lengyel (26) often scrolls through reddit for several hours in his videos and reacts to short clips.
While he was on the Subreddit r/LivestreamFail, he came across the now-deleted clip “Biggest German Streamer at Gamescom”. One of the largest streamers worldwide is xQc himself. With over 11 million followers, the “Juicer” has more than twice as many people following him as MontanaBlack.
But even xQc could only marvel at these images. More than “Jeeeesus, what a guy” came to xQc’s mind in light of the crowd behind MontanaBlack. Here in the clip:
MontanaBlack is no stranger to xQc. For a time, MontanaBlack was incredibly successful with gambling streams and even was the number 2 on Twitch worldwide. However, he no longer shows gambling on Twitch for legal reasons.
The former Overwatch pro xQc is also involved with gambling on Twitch and is heavily criticized for it. MontanaBlack recognizes him as the “OG Gamble Guy,” meaning the original gambler on Twitch.
These are the reactions: They are by no means all positive. On Twitter, some gamescom visitors report being pushed aside, shoved, and insulted by the crowd surrounding MontanaBlack (via Twitter).
Many cannot understand the excitement surrounding MontanaBlack and believe that the gamescom should focus more on games and less on individuals (via Twitter). Reddit even criticizes the entire German Twitch community (via reddit).
Others celebrated the appearance. MontanaBlack was not at the gamescom, rather the gamescom was in the eyes of some “visiting Monte” (via Twitter).
Update 30.08., 1:00 PM: In the meantime, a tweet went viral summarizing the magnitude of the crowd. The organizers of gamescom gave MeinMMO a statement on this:
Mass gathering by MontanaBlack fans leads to violence at gamescom – This is what the organizers say
This is what Monte says himself: When MontanaBlack entered the gamescom, he already said it was actually too much for him. Hardly anyone knows that he dislikes large crowds. The streamer also added that they must be careful not to attract too large a crowd behind them.
The crowds were visibly uncomfortable for MontanaBlack. He mentioned multiple times that they were “lost” if they stopped now and urged them to find a quiet area. He did not expect it to be like this.
His comment that the balaclava was the better method refers to an earlier gamescom appearance. Back then, the streamer wore a balaclava and moved almost unnoticed around the fair.
On Twitter, he then thanked for the “awesome stream” and said he had never experienced anything like it. Some visitors to gamescom probably think the same.
What do you think? Were you at gamescom over the weekend and witnessed MontanaBlack’s appearance? Can you understand the cult of personality surrounding streamers? Or do you think everything at gamescom should revolve around games? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion.
If you missed MontanaBlack at gamescom, you can also admire him on public television:
