Summary
- Grand Theft Auto V dominated Twitch in 2024 with 1.4 billion hours watched.
- Online role-playing contributes to GTA V’s ongoing popularity, despite the game being a decade old.
- Older games, such as GTA V, can outperform new releases on Twitch if they offer engaging content.
For game developers, Twitch streams can be an amazing source of marketing. It’s essentially word-of-mouth on a much grander scale; all it takes is one big-name streamer to pick up a game, and it can chain-react into a ton of sales. Just look at Among Us, Lethal Company, and Balatro, all of which rode the wave of Twitch streamers to become popular hits.
But not every game streamed on Twitch is a brand-new blockbuster. In fact, the most watched game in 2024 was Grand Theft Auto V, which was released back in September 2013. It just goes to show that a game can outlive far beyond its expectations if treated right.
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Grand Theft Auto V takes the most-watched spot on Twitch for 2024
As reported by The Verge, people flocked to Twitch to watch Grand Theft Auto V streams more than any other game. Do note that the stat is about which game was watched the most, not necessarily the one streamed the most. Anyone can stream a game, but it’s the audience turnout that dictates which games are the big movers in the streaming scene.
If you’re interested, here’s how the top five shook out:
- Grand Theft Auto V: 1.4 billion hours watched.
- League of Legends: 1.19 billion hours watched.
- Valorant: 804 million hours watched.
- Fortnite: 539 million hours watched.
- Call of Duty: 451 million hours watched.
Yes, that does mean that GTA V had over 20 billion more hours of screen time than one of the most popular e-sports games in history. It shows that even older games have a chance to take down the big leagues if they offer people what they want to watch.
Online roleplaying keeps Grand Theft Auto V’s flame alight
So, how can a game that’s over a decade old take the top spot over newer games with far bigger marketing power? Simple: roleplaying. If you’ve never dipped your toe into the GTA V streaming scene before, you won’t just find people playing through the story mode. Many of the larger streams conduct role-playing sessions using GTA V’s online mode. These roleplays range from the police force trying to bring justice to a chaotic city to people working in the criminal underworld, and it’s very easy to become invested in them.
This is highly likely the reason why people keep coming back to GTA V streams. They have the benefit of being “never-ending” in the sense that there is no final credits screen during a roleplay server session. Each day contains new stories and new interactions that keep people hooked, not unlike a TV series. And while GTA V continues to support these communities, other games will struggle to compete with its viewer counts, at least until GTA VI comes out.
