Game news After years at the top, World of Warcraft is no longer the indisputable boss of MMOs on Twitch
For some time now, Final Fantasy XIV has been gaining popularity and mobilizing more players. For its part, World of Warcraft suffers from the absence of major updates while suffering the consequences of the legal cases crossed by its publisher which results in a decline in player interest. A finding that can be observed above all on Twitch.
The king is dead, long live the king ? In an article published by our German colleagues from My MMO, it is rumored that World of Warcraft has lost, for a moment, its crown of domination on Twitch. Indeed, since 2016 it was the most watched massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG).. A continued hegemony that stopped in August since it was the streams of Final Fantasy XIV that were the most viewed of the genre. A possible observation thanks to the figures of SullyGnome which lists several statistics, including those of the hours viewed per game: 20 million for FF 14 and 19.7 million for World of Warcraft, which also includes the hours of World of Warcraft Classic.
A tempting shortcut …
Warning ! This article deals only with viewing figures for the games discussed below. In any case, there is no question of the number of players of each. If the parallel can be attractive, the two numbers concern two very distinct things.
Communicating vessels
If this “coup” is sudden, it is not surprising given the trend observed in recent months on Final Fantasy XIV. Big World of Warcraft streamers (Asmongold and RichWCampbell in the lead]have abandoned the Blizzard title, probably because of the lack of content on their favorite game: since the release of Shadowlands (last expansion) in November 2020, we had to wait more than seven months to see the content refresh with a new Player vs. Player season, a new raid (20-player bosses to beat) and a new dungeon (five-player content). Too long a period of time for these content creators who have passed the door of Final Fantasy XIV, causing audience peaks on Twitch.
Another explanation lies in the court cases that rocked Blizzard this summer. The State of California has filed a complaint against the publisher for toxic corporate culture, including cases of harassment and sexual assault. Soon after, President J. Allen Brack resigned and was followed by several studio members. For some, this scandal was an opportunity to boycott the games created by Blizzard and probably generating interest in the Square Enix MMO.
What trend for the coming months?
If it is difficult to decide on a possible final winner, one can try to guess the shapes of the curve in the near future. Today, World of Warcraft remains ahead for the first half of September (7 million hours viewed against 5 million for Final Fantasy XIV). Nevertheless, the MMO of Blizzard does not expect any major content in the coming weeks apart from the update. Lords of Outland sur The Burning Crusade Classic. Conversely, FF 14 players are firmly awaiting the new Endwalker expansion which marks the end of the narrative arc initiated since 2013 with Realm Reborn.. If Naoki Yoshida was inspired by World of Warcraft to revive Final Fantasy XIV, the student is overtaking the master.
Source : My MMO, relayed by MGG
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