Grand Theft Auto V still reigns supreme on Twitch in regards to total streaming hours and category popularity in 2021, eight years after its late 2013 release, only trailing behind non-gaming section Just Chatting on the site.
Over the last twelve months, the GTA category on Twitch — which includes V’s storyline and Online — has raked in 2.1 billion hours watched, StreamElements reports via Rainmaker.gg’s statistics.
The hefty hours count puts Grand Theft Auto firmly as the most-watched game on Amazon’s platform for 2021, ahead of League of Legends by 300 million hours and a huge 1.1 billion clear of Fortnite. Only Just Chatting, ahead on 3.1b, managed to draw more eyes than GTA this year.
GTA also manages to more than double other rivals.
Valorant and Minecraft bring up fourth and fifth with 949m and 880m respectively. Warzone clocks in at 858m and Apex Legends brings up the rear with 691m.
GTA claimed an unassailable lead out of all Twitch’s gaming categories this year.The most notable thing in the standings, however, is each game’s release date. Riot’s top franchise game League of Legends arrived in 2009 and evergreen builder game Minecraft in 2011 but, outside those gaming juggernauts, each of GTA’s main rivals are relatively junior.
Meanwhile, GTA V was released in 2013 and has managed to not only stay reasonably relevant in streaming circles, but dominate the competition.
It all comes down to one aspect — Online. Rockstar has struck gold with the franchise’s multiplayer section, and bolstered its performances via weekly updates, loads of extra story missions, and hordes of nifty added features every month.
GTA Online has now lived through two console generations, debuting on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2014, before shifting to Xbox One and PS4 soon after.
GTA’s Online multiplayer and RP fandom both contribute to its streaming success.Then there’s GTA RP, a roleplaying community based on Online’s moddable servers where popular Twitch streamers immerse themselves in entirely new lives.
All the Amazon-owned platform’s top stars, from Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel and Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys to Jaryd ‘summit1g’ Lazar and plenty more have all tried their hand at the exclusive roleplaying servers, often through whitelisted worlds like NoPixel 3.0, or even the public lobbies created by fans.
It’s these streamer-fuelled creations that really fire GTA V into Twitch’s upper echelons, and keep Rockstar’s famous creation there for yet another year in a row.
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