New Releases: Most watched PC and console games on Twitch in 2024

Here we are again... End of a whole gaming year. Most of us already in the holiday mood but there's still some energy left in me to get this report out and give you a thinker during the weekend and so on. This is also a good time to make a promise to all of our partners and followers that Lurkit blog will be a lot more active and lively in 2025. Expect to see weekly blogs and reports here and quite a number of success stories from our partners.

With that promise now out in the wild, we can start out with 2024's best performing new releases on Twitch. New releases being PC and console games released in 2024, either in early access or full release.

Most Watched New Releases in 2024 — Top 10

Before we dig any further, I should clear up a thing or two. Data present here covers viewership metrics on Twitch till 20th of December 2024, and some of the titles here are still pulling big viewership numbers on a daily basis.

For instance, Looking at their daily viewership performance, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has a slight chance to overtake EA Sports FC 25, but it's a close race between the two titles. Of course, EA FC 25 was released about a month earlier than the latest entry to the CoD series, meaning had they launched together and didn't cannibalize each others' viewership on Twitch, then Black Ops 6 would take the crown here.

Path of Exile 2 is a special case

To address the elephant in the room, one can make a strong case for Path of Exile 2. The game earned over 63,6M+ hours watched in just two weeks since its early access release, becoming the strongest new release of 2024 on Twitch. Well, technically not yet, but let me explain:

Rather than looking at monthly performances I prefer looking at Day 30 KPIs for a clearer (and fairer) view, and per this approach, we see the following performances:

1. Palworld - 72.6M hours watched
2. CoD: Black Ops 6 - 65.2M hours watched
3. EA Sports FC 25 - 54,3M

Currently, Palworld wears the crown for most watched in D30 with 72,6M hours, but my data-driven guess is PoE 2 will close the year with 75 to 80M hours watched and will overtake Palworld. The first Path of Exile was pulling about 100M+ hours watched on average per year and we're already looking at a strong viewership transfer from the old title to the new one.

If I were to make another educated guess here, I'd dare claim that Path of Exile 2 would surpass all three titles above it and become the most watched game on Twitch in 2024 had it launched a little bit earlier, like in early to mid fall 2024 as its competition. Especially considering how both CoD and EA FC entries are underperforming this year compared to their predecessors at this time around and Palworld doesn't have a long tail that can compete with these giants.

A funny anecdote, both CoD Black Ops 6 and EA Sports FC 25 pull their strongest viewership numbers on Fridays, meanwhile, Path of Exile 2 finds the most audience on Saturdays.

What about Marvel Rivals?

Marvel Rivals released right around the same time Path of Exile 2 did, and found massive success so far. Early signals for the game is good, but long-term retention is what makes or breaks free to play games. NetEase Games managed to cook a fun game based around Marvel heroes and villains, and on paper, it feels like it shouldn't work but it does somehow.

One interesting detail about Marvel Rivas' performance on Twitch so far is, unlike most other games, we see an ever-increasing viewership since December 13. It's too early to make any healthy assumptions for how this graph will look like in the months to come, but if the game builds a strong core audience, it can heavily benefit from Marvel Cinematic Universe boosts, especially with unique collaboration opportunities.

Having said all that, Overwatch 2 did pull 152M hours watched on Twitch when it first launched and it was a bumpy ride for Activision Blizzard back then. Not only that, Overwatch 2 has been in Top 20 of Twitch year after year despite heavy criticism. It will be interesting to see how Marvel Rivals and Valve's Deadlock will challenge the popular hero shooter in the long run.

Helldivers II could do a lot better

Arrowhead's Helldivers II was an unexpected win for both the studio and Sony. The first game was a highly popular title among indie gamers and particularly within twin-stick fans. The studio expected to increase their reach with Helldivers II, surely given the scope of the new project, but a global hit wasn't on the table, and they were not prepared.

The above image was what you'd see for the first two weeks or so when trying to play Helldivers II and login issues plagued the game's first month and then further into the next. In almost every single case, a game's release is when it gets the most visibility, and it's hard to reach the same level of high past that window. When content creators can't play your game, your visibility on major platforms like Twitch and YouTube also take massive hits.

Just looking at the player and content creator demand alone in February and March 2024, one could make a data-driven argument and say that Helldiver II would be looking at an estimated 20M+ more hours watched for those two months alone. Further controversies like Sony's decision to force PC gamers to link to a PSN account to play or controversial weapon nerfs didn't help the game's coverage on Twitch either.

Regardless, the Swedish studio crafted an amazing game and it recently gained a viewership boost thanks to Omens of Tyranny update, which has brought the Illuminate faction and urban battlegrounds to the game.

Black Myth: Wukong

This one stayed in the oven for quite some time. Game Science showcased Black Myth: Wukong way back in August 2020 to an extremely positive reception, and almost exactly four years later, the game was released in August 2024, and it's sitting at 96% positive review rate on Steam with over 785k reviews at the time of writing.

What makes this game special is it's the only title in the Top 10 that is exclusively designed for single-player experiences. In fact, we're looking at God of War: Ragnarök level of success here in terms of viewership and making noise.

Another not so much super-related anecdote, Hogwarts Legacy rocked a total of 86,3M hours watched on Twitch in 2023, meanwhile Black Myth: Wukong and God of War: Ragnarök together have 87,2M hours watched.

As is the case with almost all single-player releases, no matter how much hype they have at their release period, the decline is rather sharp. Replicating this kind of peak is near impossible for a single-player title, hence why we often recommend investing in content creators months before the release for a healthy onboarding, briefing and reduced rates for deeper campaigns that turn into sales.

I know, sneaky self-promotion here, but keep in mind that we have a game here we directly worked with in the Top 10 and three more titles in Top 20. Heck even 10+ more new releases if you'd dig deeper and turn the list into a Top 50, not to mention existing titles we work with. So, book a demo with us and see first hand what we bring to the table and how we can make your game a hit too.

Most Watched New Releases in 2024 — Top 11-20

We're super proud to see that three of our customers made it this part of the list, and had I cheated and made the list for Top 21, Enshrouded by Keen Games would make an appearance too with 20,7M hours watched.

Lurkit team worked hand in hand with NetEase Games and Starry Studio for Once Human across the game's last closed beta beat, helped the game become the #1 most played demo in Next Fest June 2024 Edition, and helped carry the hype toward the full release in July 2024. Starry Studio actively uses Creator Program and Missions & Rewards solutions to reengage with creators and ensure there's relevant content around the game at every important beat, like its latest "Way of the Winter scenario.

7 Days to Die from The Fun Pimps wrapped up early access and fully released with Lurkit this year and Last Epoch from Eleventh Hour Games scratched the itch for the action RPG fans worldwide, with a little help from us. Both studios actively use their creator program on Lurkit and use them to keep players and creators coming back to their games all year long.

Silent Hill 2 creeping into the Top 20

KONAMI's Silent Hill 2 is the other AAA-tier entry that only offers a single player experience, and in my very subjective opinion, it deserves to be on the list and even higher. Similar feelings I have toward S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, alas, the game's problematic state at release hindered its strong launch performance.

Otherwise, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's first two days were looking bright and pointing toward a Top 15 landing perhaps.

Supermarket Simulator came out of nowhere

Who wouldn't want to own and run a supermarket? I sure wouldn't. It's fun, but also stressful as hell, Nokta Games made it very clear to me with Supermarket Simulator. A single player indie title making this far into the list is surprising, but always welcome.

I'm not experienced within simulator games genre, but Steam reviews speak for itself, and so do countless clone that this game sort of inspired. It's currently sitting at 97% positive review rate on Steam.

The game was released all the way back in February 2024, however, it's still pulling about 150k hours watched per month.

XDefiant

Ubisoft's XDefiant is an odd on out in the list. Just in case you missed the news about this free-to-play first-person shooter game, Ubisoft pulled the plug and initiated "sunset process" a.k.a. slowly shutting the game down. New downloads, player registrations and purchases are no longer available and the game's servers will shutdown come June 3rd, 2025.

This one had a very strong launch and interest from both players and content creators, but it didn't feel like there's much if any special magic was to it. It's still a bit weird to see Ubisoft quickly shutting down a project like this, considering they are quite experienced in supporting a title well beyond release and giving it a runner's high.

Big IP doesn't equal big success

I can make a long list here, but I'll stick to just three examples from 2024, and will include a late 2023 entry to further drive my point. Short version is: Having a big IP doesn't automatically translate into player or content creator interest.

The first example is Star Wars Outlaws. Earlier projections based on coverage on YouTube and games media suggested a powerful launch and somewhat lingering interest from action-adventure fans, similar to Respawn's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Sadly, this story in a galaxy far far away didn't resonate with fans or creators and Star Wars Outlaws only managed to garner about 6,1M hours watched throughout the whole year.

While on it, another Ubisoft release takes the spotlight, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. This one particularly saddens me because it is an amazing game, developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, a studio that makes some of the best 2D platformers ever. The game only managed to earn about 3,8M hours watched, but could have earned a few times more if it were to launch on Steam at its release. There was also a planned sequel for the game but it's been rejected and that the team behind The Lost Crown was disbanded back in October 2024.

And the last example is the freshest one: Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. It's a beautiful game and plays just as awesomely, however, lack of SoV in the market prior to its release and games like Path of Exile 2, Marvel Rivals, and Delta Force launching within the same window killed any viewership momentum the game had. The latest Indiana Jones adventure sits at around 6,4M hours watched, but views are in sharp decline.

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For the time being, this is it folks. Expect to get deeper dives in 2025 and more case studies from us. Have a wonderful and awesome holiday!