The new strategy game Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (PC) launched on May 5, 2022 with an idea: They wanted to distribute 11 slightly stronger starter items via Twitch Drops. However, what generated great interest in multiplayer games led to such a negative reaction in the single-player game on Steam and social media that they abandoned the plan.
What kind of game is this?
- The new game in the Warhammer 40k universe is a sort of “X-Com in the Warhammer universe.” It was released on May 5, 2022. Daemonhunters is a reboot of a game from 1998 and is purely a single-player title.
- It actually received quite good reviews at release. It has a score of 81% on Metacritic – users there also like it with 82%. This is unusual, as the user score on Metacritic is often significantly lower than that of professional testers. GameStar, responsible for these matters, tested the game (via GameStar).
- But a controversial decision caused an uproar: They wanted to use the trick from multiplayer games like Escape from Tarkov, Valorant, or Overwatch 2 to get players to watch Warhammer 40k on Twitch. However, they were completely against it.
GameStar praises the game in a review:
MMO developers use Twitch Drops to generate hype
What was the idea? The developers had the idea to distribute special items via “Twitch Drops.” They distributed campaign starter weapons in special versions that provided slight bonuses, such as “5% more chance for critical hits.”
So these were items that made the start of the campaign easier, but would be quickly replaced.
These items were tied to Twitch Drops: To get the items, you had to watch a selected streamer for several hours who had Twitch Drops enabled and was playing Warhammer 40k.
Why do this? “Twitch Drops” have become a popular trick in multiplayer games to generate precise hype for a game. Especially online shooters have celebrated enormous successes with these “Twitch Drops”:
- Riot generated a huge hype with Valorant in 2020 for months
- Escape from Tarkov becomes the “biggest game at the start of the year” every year with Twitch Drops
- Blizzard managed to gather 1.5 million simultaneous viewers for the Overwatch 2 beta
The plan behind it is that games using such drops on Twitch “take off” and are then displayed at the top of Twitch’s homepage as “the most popular game right now.”
The publishers hope that more viewers and streamers will become aware of the game through Twitch.
“I don’t want to watch that damn Angry Joe for a weapon”
Reactions were: There were angry reactions on Steam to the idea. The fact that they connected a “single-player game” with Twitch did not go down well at all.
The Steam reviews are also at 70%, significantly lower than the Metacritic score, which is usually the other way around.
One user wrote in a negative Steam review (via steam):
“I would actually give the game a thumbs up if it weren’t for one thing: For some stupid reason, the developers hid 11 items (no skins, real items) behind Twitch Drops on the day of release. To get the items, I have to create a Frontier account, a Twitch account and connect both, and watch incompetent Twitch streamers for hours instead of playing the game I paid for. The items are also time-limited, so you miss them forever.
If there was another way to earn these items, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But I am not going to watch that damn Angry Joe for two hours just for a weapon.”
How did the developers react? The developers backed down: They intended to increase attention with the Twitch campaign but will now give all items from the Twitch Drop to players for free in an update. However, they do not yet know when exactly the update will come.
Concerns about streamers widespread – underestimated
What’s behind this: This shows that strategies that work for MMOs cannot be indiscriminately applied to single-player games.
Most MMO players also watch Twitch, have connected their accounts there, and see this as a “nice gimmick.” Usually, only “bonus items” are drawn there.
But pulling a stunt like this with a single-player game is something the developers likely miscalculated. They also underestimated the fact that some gamers have an aversion to streamers and do not want to partake in every “modern gimmick” and appreciate it.
More about Warhammer 40k:
Warhammer 40K distances itself from parts of its community: “We don’t want your money”
