The Twitch streamer Max “HandOfBlood” Knabe undertook a radical transformation of his content in January 2024. He succeeded in this, and for a good reason.
This is HandOfBlood: HandOfBlood started his influencer career as a YouTuber. Since 2010, he has uploaded Let’s Plays, mainly around horror games or League of Legends. From 2016 onwards, his elaborately produced Let’s Plays, with costumes, greenscreens, or other gimmicks, became a hallmark of well-produced gaming content on YouTube.
However, this changed in January 2024. HandOfBlood announced that he felt increasingly pressured by the elaborate videos and that he just wanted to “play games” (via YouTube).
Since then, HandOfBlood has been streaming regularly on Twitch with success. His Twitch channel has over 1.3 million followers, and his streams last year had an average of 9,605 viewers (via SullyGnome). Even though he alienated some of his previous YouTube fans, he was able to largely transfer his community to Twitch.
In addition to his still existing gaming content, which can also be found on his YouTube channels, the Twitch streamer frequently hosts extraordinary events and guests.
We have packed all the essential information about HandOfBlood into our video for you:
HandOfBlood creates extraordinary moments on Twitch
What is the secret? In a past Twitch stream, a viewer mentioned his appearance on the German cult series Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (GZSZ) and commented: “Worlds collide here”.
In response to the comment from the chat, HandOfBlood said:
That’s kind of my thing. Sometimes you wonder what your thing is. I believe this bringing together the wildest target audiences and worlds is somehow my thing.
HandOfBlood via Twitch.tv
Viewers could not only see typical German actors in the 8,275th episode of GZSZ but also the Twitch streamer HandOfBlood. He played the role of President Knabe and had a showdown with Jo Gerner (Wolfgang Bahro).
What’s behind it? Since his switch to Twitch, HandOfBlood has been able to invite some extraordinary guests and provide unique moments.
For example, it surprised his viewers immensely that he invited the Green politician and then Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck to his Twitch stream. He talked to him about the current political situation and the Green Party’s electoral program. In this way, he created a connection between his audience and political issues.
DJ Ötzi also joined HandOfBlood’s Twitch stream. After getting a short briefing on how the stream worked, chat and similar things, the gamer and the 54-year-old musician played Elden Ring together.
This collaboration also surprised the viewers, but they simultaneously developed a lot of sympathy for him, as the comments under the stream upload on YouTube suggest:
- @hutmckenzie6867 comments: “I laughed at DJ Ötzi for years, and now I only have the deepest sympathy for the man.”
- @chrinowa says about the appearance: “DJ Ötzi is just so sympathetic and down to earth”
- @maliko1994 writes: “How cute is DJ Ötzi?! So clueless about technology, trends, and terms, and always asks so adorably.”
Not to forget is the Influencer Darts World Championship. HandOfBlood connects a rather overlooked sport, namely darts, with a younger audience that may have had few or no touchpoints with the sport.
Since the competition on Twitch against other streamers is enormous, especially when many streamers are live at the same time, individuals must stand out from the others. HandOfBlood has definitely achieved this with his extraordinary guests.
Viewers have been surprised in the past by such guests and are thus more willing to watch the stream to not miss the next special guest.
HandOfBlood also creates special events in the gaming sector. He organizes the event Soulkeepers, where Twitch streamers attempt a no-death run in one of the Souls games. Points are awarded for defeating bosses and enemies to determine who is the better player. A German streamer was able to grow 600% on Twitch because he is so good at Dark Souls 3.
