A new shooter is shaking things up on Twitch: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
In the streaming service Twitch, the top spots always go to the same titles: League of Legends, Hearthstone, CS: GO, Dota 2, and Overwatch occupy the top 5 positions in any order.
But right now, that’s different: The shooter “PlayerUnknown’s Battleground” has only recently entered Early Access and is currently (Saturday 5 PM) with over 67,000 viewers in 3rd place between Hearthstone and Dota 2.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds currently has about 3 times as many viewers as the new heavyweight “Mass Effect: Andromeda” and 4 times as many as the previous “Battle Royale” champion H1Z1 King of the Kill.
What is the reason for this?
Battle Royale is a mode made for Twitch
The concept of “Battle Royale” on which the shooter is based is apparently incredibly appealing and exciting for viewers. It’s the same as in the movie “Hunger Games.” Players fight each other for weapons and equipment on an ever-shrinking map until only one survives and wins the round. Those who die are eliminated.
This game concept guarantees constant decisions every minute: “Do you attack the opponent or hold back? Do you seek confrontation or avoid it?” The entire match can turn at any moment when the favorite gets eliminated.
And the concept allows for finesse and varied gameplay: Players set traps for opponents, leave attractive items like a rifle in plain sight, wait for prey to be attracted, then take them out and get stronger by taking the items from the defeated.
The concept is not new, but now done right
On the US site Polygon, streamer “Sacriel42” talks about the success formula of Battlegrounds. Sacriel 42 is one of the streamers now streaming the shooter on Twitch, and its viewership is growing.
The game principle “Battle Royale” has always been appealing, but until now it was only a mod in games like H1Z1 or Arma 3. The good mods were always developed by Brendan Greene, the PlayerUnknown.
But for a long time, the mode could only be slowly developed further; the games were not designed for it. Especially H1Z1: King of the Kill had stagnated over time. Now, there’s the Battle Royale mode from the master himself as a standalone game, and it’s taking off.
Battlegrounds is so good that streamers don’t even want to be paid to play it
Already after the launch, the streamer says, Battlegrounds captures the appeal of the Battle Royale mode and the gunplay from Arma and H1Z1 but doesn’t have all the bugs.
For viewers, the constant action in Battlegrounds is incredibly attractive. Streamers are also growing their channels as a result.
Streamers don’t even have to be lured by the game developer with deals or perks – as is often common. Instead, the attractiveness of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for viewers is incentive enough to play and stream it.
The streamer interviewed by Polygon says: Recently, his team member summit1g had over 30,000 viewers on Battlegrounds. His own channel was also significantly more visited than usual.
He predicts a steep career for the game.
More about the shooter:
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is now in Early Access on Steam
