On Twitter, the list of the 10 most viewed Twitch streamers in 2022 who stream from the USA was published. Our author Schuhmann says: The list shows that gaming was not in a good place in 2022.
What kind of list is this? The list from Streamcharts shows the “most viewed Twitch channels” from the USA with their viewing hours and also shows how long each streamer was actually on air.
The 3 winners on the list are:
- HasanAbi: He was on air for 2,447 hours and had 80.05 million viewed hours
- Asmongold was only on air for 1,146 hours and had 79.28 million viewed hours
- Trainwreckstv was on air for 2,504 hours and had 74.83 million hours.
Political streams, gambling, and Johnny Depp dominate Twitch 2022
Why does this show how poorly gaming fared on Twitch in 2022? The number one, HasanAbi, is only secondarily related to gaming.
Although 31-year-old Hasan Piker also played a bit of Valorant, CoD, and Elden Ring, most of his time on the channel was spent in “Just Chatting”: He is a political streamer, a kind of CNN for the “Twitch” generation – moreover, he covers every Twitch drama he can find.
Number 3 on the list, Trainwreck, sold his soul and channel more or less to the online casino Stake and was almost always in the “Slots” category, gambling enormous amounts on online slot machines.
Trainwreck actually comes from gaming and is a gaming streamer, but in 2022 he showed few typical games.
Asmongold shows only a few MMORPGs, a lot of Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard
What’s up with Asmongold, isn’t he a WoW nerd? The statistics for Asmongold are misleading.
Despite having an enormously high number of viewed hours, considering that he streams the other half as often as the others, he only showed relatively few games on his channel in 2022: he played significantly more than the other two top streamers, especially the MMORPGs Lost Ark and WoW, but the majority of his views also comes from “Just Chatting.”
Asmongold has taken advantage of the trial of Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard for his success like no other this year. Most of the WoW streams he did were on his secondary channel, which does not factor into the statistics.
Also, number 6 and 8 on the list are not typical gaming streamers:
- KaiCenat is an extremely successful black content creator, mostly in Just Chatting but also shows games
- Adin Ross is a controversial streamer, kind of in the direction of “Logan Paul”, spent a lot of time in Just Chatting and gambling in 2022
Are there even any gaming streamers on the list? Yes, of course. Outside of the top 3, it looks better. There are the typical “One Game Only” and “Whatever is trending” streamers:
- Tarik at 4 primarily shows only Valorant, he is the big climber in 2022.
- Summit1g is a classic variety streamer, on the platform forever.
- Tyler1 at 6 plays practically only LoL.
- NickMercs is a shooter streamer through and through.
- ImperialHal keeps the flag of Apex Legends high.
Where are xQc and shroud? They stream from Canada and have their own list: xQc has almost 3 times as many viewer hours as HasanAbi, he would therefore dominate the US list.
Also, the extremely strong Spanish-speaking streamers are missing from the list.
What do the streamers say about the list? HasanAbi seems to be proud of first place. YouTuber Ludwig points out that Asmongold would sweep him away if you added the numbers from his secondary channel to his main channel, to which the hot-blooded commentator replies: “How about you just get lost?”
Trainwreck congratulates everyone else but, as is his style, points out again how great it is that he comes in third place, even though he hasn’t streamed for 3 months. He also thanks his fans for their support despite “all the bullshit”: By “bullshit,” he apparently means criticism of him for enticing young people to gamble and getting paid princely sums for it. Even Twitch has now banned Stake.
Asmongold acts as if he doesn’t belong on the list at all. Says he doesn’t even know how he ends up on the list. That would be like making Elon Musk the “Streamer of the Year” just because people published Bitcoin scams on him. Asmongold apparently forgot that he mercilessly milked the “Johnny Depp” trial and achieved record values on Twitch here.
The permanently banned DrDisrespect from Twitch makes another appearance from exile and comments: “Sweet numbers” – implying that if he were still on Twitch, he would of course dominate everyone.
2022 in Gaming: Many Flops, Even More Delays
Was 2022 such a bad year for gaming?? If you follow Twitch, yes. The only two new games in the list of the top 15 games were Lost Ark (rank 13) and Elden Ring (rank 15), which was only relevant for a short time.
Otherwise, old games (Valorant, Apex Legends, Fortnite) and really old games (LoL, GTA 5, CS:GO, Minecraft, DOTA 2) dominate the list of top games over the year.
In 2022, very few new big games came out – games like Battlefield 2042 disappointed, New World was not the anticipated hit, and many others were postponed to 2023.
There wasn’t a single game that sparked a real hype. Therefore, many viewers and top streamers are apparently turning to other topics.
Maybe in 2023, there will be more strong games on Twitch:
5 extremely ambitious multiplayer games that are set to release in 2023
