If streaming your favorite games is great for your hobby, those who want to grow their Twitch channels may need more strategy. In fact, Twitch is too busy these days, especially for popular games. This useful guide will look at how to choose games, which you can stream sometimes, that will allow your channel to grow and you to have fun while streaming.
Understanding the Oversaturation Problem
One of the most popular pieces of bad advice is to stream a game that has a lot of viewers. For instance Fortnite. However, this approach is fundamentally flawed. The viewers have to scroll past the streams with thousands of other viewers before they reach channels with 0 to 10 viewers, where most new streamers are.
Regardless of the argument that some people like smaller communities, few viewers will make this effort. It is not a good idea to bank on this small segment to grow.
The Strategic Game Selection Method
Step 1: Create Your Game Inventory
Make a list of all of the games you own that you would enjoy streaming. List all the games, including ones you are embarrassed of the time you’ve put into.
Step 2: Research Category Followers
Look up each game on Twitch and record how many category followers they have. Having more followers can help you get recommend on Twitch. Choose games that have at least five hundred thousand in the category of followers and rank them above other games.
Step 3: Analyze Average Viewership
Games with good followings are usually watched by a lot of people. Shoot for games that have roughly 1,000 viewers or less at one time. Using this methodology, you pinpoint games with dedicated fan bases, but not overly saturated.
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Real Success Stories
A great example of this is the videogame ‘Undertale’. It has 500,000 followers, yet 400-1,000 viewers at any given time. An explosion-streaming of this game are able to raise from zero to twitch’s affiliate in (3-4) weeks, average viewer (10-15). This is a good foundation for a new channel.
Stardew Valley offers similar benefits. Both games have interesting storylines to follow, with attractive characters, a ton of challenges ahead and several decision points that can generate commentary even in down time chat which helps streamers improve.
Using Twitch’s Built-In Tools
Twitch offers helpful resources for game selection. Within Analytics > Overview, scroll down until you see the “Category Suggestions” box. This program looks at the games you played recently, and then recommends other games to play that would help you get discovered.
Research Other Streamers
Using Twitch Tracker.
Twitch Tracker can help you learn which games work best for streamers like your size.
1. Find a streamer slightly larger than you.
2. Click on their Games section.
3. Sort by Followers to see which games generated the most followers per hour.
4. Check the Streams section for more recent data, arranged by followers.
Instead of relying on information that has become outdated, learn current trends through this approach. The release of the Fallout TV show got people interested in Fallout games again, so they became more viable for streaming.
The Ultimate Game Selection Strategy
Combine all these methods
1. List games you’d enjoy streaming.
2. Research their category followers and rank them.
3. Analyze average viewership.
4. Check trends using Twitch Tracker.
5. Select a couple of promising games and give them sufficient time.
6. Maintain consistency rather than constantly switching games.
7. Use Twitch’s built-in suggestion tool once you find games that work well.
Top-Performing Games for Growth
1. Undertale: Strong community that enjoys watching first-time playthroughs.
2. Resident Evil: Horror games create engaging moments and clip-worthy content.
3. Stardew Valley: Expansive, wholesome gameplay with an incredible community.
4. Roblox: Massive player base with countless mini-games (requires careful moderation due to younger audience).
5. Call of Duty Zombies: Passionate fan base, especially for classic versions like Black Ops 3.
Remember that while growth is important, enjoying what you stream is equally crucial. Finding games that both work for your channel growth and keep you engaged is the ultimate goal.