Mediatonic’s whimsical multiplayer obstacle racing game Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout might not officially release until tomorrow, but the goofy game has already made its impression on Twitch.
Despite only being available for 48 hours during the weekend, the game managed to push itself into Twitch’s top 10 most-watched games with more than five million hours watched. That figure is comparable to other top titles like VALORANT, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Grand Theft Auto V.
With just 40,473 hours of air time from all Twitch channels combined, Fall Guys was the least streamed game out of any in the top 10 by a significant amount. Meanwhile, the game’s peak of 243,704 viewers was seventh among all categories on Twitch.
What makes Fall Guys special? The PC and PlayStation 4 game is a combination of a comedically silly obstacle race and a cut-throat, last-man-standing fight to the death.
While players all waddle around with limited control of their characters on a fanciful bright-colored map, the ever-present potential doom of being shoved off the map to your death by an opponent adds a sinister twist to an otherwise innocent-looking game.
Naturally, the online player-vs-player aspects of the game led to some hilarious, and infuriating, moments for streamers who got stream-sniped by viewers looking for any opportunity they could to take out a content creator in-game while watching them live on Twitch.
Hanryang1125, Mizkif, Lirik, and xQc were among the most-watched content creators during the weekend who played Fall Guys. In just 12 hours of time played on stream, xQc led all content creators on the platform with just over 500,000 hours watched. Lirik was the second most-watched with 327,453 hours watched in 11 hours.
Despite not getting nearly the same sort of average viewership statistics that his fellow streams were able to muster up, Sardoche accrued 233,025 hours watched over the weekend by streaming Fall Guys for 30 hours.
With the game’s launch tomorrow, it’s highly likely that we could see some more from these known variety streamers. But as far as longevity goes, the life of Fall Guys might ultimately fall short of making it an established game on Twitch.
As is the case a large majority of the time, game launches and beta tests serve as strong indicators of a game’s early sales and popularity. But the long-term success of a game on Twitch requires a combination of personalities that are consistently attached to it, an esports scene, and a community of dedicated fans.
For now, it appears as though the Fall Guys beta test did an outstanding job at reeling in viewers and attracting potential consumers. While the game might not end up being a mainstay at the top of the Twitch charts, it doesn’t necessarily need that longevity to be considered a success.
