Who is the Twitch streamer HandOfBlood? How did he manage to become one of the largest streamers in Germany? We at MeinMMO will show you today the success story of Maximilian “HandOfBlood” Knabe.
This is how well HandOfBlood is doing: The Twitch streamer HandOfBlood has only been really active on Twitch since the beginning of the year, but he is currently one of the biggest streamers in Germany and remains one of the largest gaming YouTubers in Germany.
In numbers, this means:
- Twitch Followers: 1.1 million
- Average Viewers: 12,900 (via Sullygnome)
- YouTube Subscribers: 2.71 million
- Average Views: 678,000 (via Nindo)
Apart from his main channel on YouTube, he also runs three other YouTube channels. The most well-known of these is his second channel “HandofUncut” with 1.2 million subscribers, closely followed by “Best of HandofBlood” with 270,000 subscribers and “HandofTrash” with 163,000 subscribers.
From Simple Let’s Plays to Elaborate Video Projects
What are his roots? Maximilian “HandOfBlood” Knabe started recording YouTube videos in 2011. In the podcast “Zwei Vermengte” with Filow and Zarbex, he talks about his early days and mentions that his channel barely gained traction in the first three years. However, suddenly, in 2014/2015, he began to grow significantly and has continuously built on that trend since then.
The key factor for the sudden rise, he mentions, were mainly his League of Legends guides, which were the first videos on his channel to gain a lot of popularity. These were part of his main content, which revolved around LoL. His oldest guide on this topic is his Shaco guide on YouTube from April 21, 2011, which has over 180,000 views.
In his recent past, he has been primarily known for one thing: elaborate videos with partly very elaborate but also funny costumes. His most popular video on his channel has over 6.5 million views and features a collaboration video with the YouTuber GermanLetsPlay about Yu-Gi-Oh!
Aside from this video, it seems that simulators are especially well-received by viewers. Popular videos include those on simulators like Cooking Simulator or Mother Simulator. Also noteworthy are popular video series such as his series on the Hitman games.
Additionally, we were able to experience HandOfBlood, for example, last year in one of his videos as Gollum. His popular role as President Knabe is also legendary. In the context of the eSports club Eintracht Spandau, we regularly saw HandOfBlood as a stereotypical old, grumpy football coach.
From YouTuber to Partner
In 2018, HandOfBlood took another step and, together with his partners, founded the agency Instinct3, which he announced in a video on his YouTube channel. This agency has since developed into a large corporate group, which includes several companies, including Eintracht Spandau.
In 2021, he takes another step further and fulfills a big dream, as he announces in his YouTube video: the foundation of the eSports team Eintracht Spandau for League of Legends. By now, the club is no longer just involved in eSports; they are currently also participating in the Baller League and have been involved in football since then.
Why did HandOfBlood switch from YouTube to Twitch? On January 17, HandOfBlood announced in a video on YouTube that he wanted to scale back on the platform and re-focus on Twitch. As reasons, he mentioned that he wanted to interact more with other streamers again, and also that he had lost some of the joy in the heavily scripted videos.
You can see the entire statement here:
This is how it went after his switch to Twitch: Just one day later, he started streaming on Twitch again, with an average viewership of 35,000 people and 10,000 subscribers on the first night alone.
His main channel is still active, with an episode of his popular series “3 shabby games” appearing once a month, and so far HandOfBlood remains true to his plan to go live several times a week for a few hours.
How is his current content structured? HandOfBlood seems to remain true to his motto and plays a variety of different games in his stream. He has already shown that he is fulfilling his desire for more interaction with others, for example by playing through Elden Ring together with streamer Papaplatte.
Apart from Just Chatting or gaming streams, he casts the games of his teams in LoL and the Baller League together with friends and colleagues.
What can we expect in the future? It remains open what more we can expect from HandOfBlood in the future, but the likelihood is high that he will continue to be successful, both on YouTube and Twitch. Presumably, we will also see one or the other bigger project in his streams in the future.
If you want to learn more about streamer HandOfBlood and are interested in why his role as President Knabe is so popular, you can read about it here:
President Knabe – What makes the role of HandOfBlood so good
