GTA 5 ends 2021 as the most watched game on Twitch
More people watched a GTA 5 livestream than any other gaming livestream in 2021 (Image via Rockstar Games)
Anybody who regularly uses Twitch should already know how much GTA 5 dominates the platform.
So much so that it was the second-most-watched category in all of 2021, being only behind Just Chatting. As that category isn’t tied to any specific video game, it means that GTA 5 will be the most-watched game on Twitch in 2021. Anyone glancing at it on Twitch should notice that many notable streamers are playing it.
If one were to look at the entire category as a whole, they would also see that there are regularly well over 100K viewers at any given time. GTA 5 is a 2013 single-player game, so its dominance might surprise many people. Fortunately, the most obvious answer is because GTA RP doesn’t have its own tag, thus making it use the GTA 5 category by default.
most watched game on Twitch
GTA 5 was the most-watched game of 2021 on Twitch
Some data regarding GTA 5’s performance on Twitch this year (Image via Stream Elements)
Stream Elements recently released an end-of-year report detailing 2021 streams as a whole. The relevant information for GTA 5 fans to digest is that there was a combined 2.1 billion hours watched for the category in 2021. That’s more than Fortnite’s views doubled, and Fortnite was ranked fourth with 1 billion hours watched.
The same report also detailed the top streamers of 2021, including some familiar faces in the top ten:
- xQcOW (#1)
- loud_coringa (#2)
- Gaules (#3)
- MontanaBlack88 (#4)
- HasanAbi (#5)
- auronplay (#6)
- shroud (#7)
- summit1g (#9)
A few of these streamers dedicated their streams to the GTA 5 category, thanks to the popularity of GTA RP.
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most watched game on Twitch
GTA 5’s popularity throughout 2021
Another graph detailing some data regarding GTA 5’s views on Twitch throughout the years (Image via Statista)
If a person looks at GTA 5 on Twitch, they will likely notice that virtually every stream is about GTA RP. March 2019 was a huge spike, and that’s because more streamers started to stream themselves playing on a GTA RP server. That wasn’t the absolute pinnacle for the category, either.
May 2021 was the highest point the GTA 5 category reached this year, which greatly contributed to its status as the most-watched game of 2021. One should also notice that 2021 was a better year for GTA 5’s Twitch views than the previous years.
An example of the GTA 5 category’s popularity being spread out (Image via Twitch)
Although some notable GTA RP streamers stand out for their total views, it’s worth noting that the GTA 5 category still has many popular small-time streamers. In the above example, there are 192K viewers for the category as a whole. Many of those views came from the top channels at the time of the screenshot. Likewise, one would see there are only GTA RP streamers at the top.
GTA 5 has 51.2M followers on Twitch, which isn’t the highest for any gaming category. In that case, Fortnite dominates with 79.6M followers on Twitch. Still, it’s an example of how overwhelmingly popular GTA 5 is.
Another graph of GTA 5 dominating in total views, this time on Trovo (Image via Stream Elements)
Twitch is the most well-known livestreaming platform among many gamers; however, it isn’t the only one. Stream Elements’ end-of-year report also includes a brief table showcasing GTA 5’s dominance on Trovo.
Like Twitch, it’s primarily dominated by GTA RP. Thus, 2021 was a terrific year for GTA 5’s viewership across the board.