Designed by Developers, Approved by Streamers.

Let’s be honest, we can all relate to staying up late, watching our favourite YouTuber play games, from screaming at horror games to laughing with their friends in a multiplayer game. Some of us can even relate to doing the same thing ourselves, not just watching. But we don’t just play and watch games anymore, we influence their popularity. Influencers play games, and we see this and decide whether it is worth it or not.

YouTubers and Streamers are crucial in gaming culture, we often find ourselves watching our favourite creators, either on Twitch or YouTube. We see them playing games, and this often starts a trend among us, we either decide to play that game or go on to find others playing that game and watch them. We trust creator’s opinions on games, and that is important when it comes to determining how popular a game will be. If popular YouTubers or Streamers aren’t playing it, it’s not worth our time. Although it may not be their intention, they often become unofficial game ambassadors. Recently, we saw YouTuber Markiplier express their dislike of Poppy Playtime Chapter 5, and suddenly, we all hate it.

Take a look at Among Us, a game by a small developer released in 2018 that started with a very small player base, but in 2020, when Streamers and YouTubers took to the game, it became a game you couldn’t avoid on the platforms. It quickly became one of the most popular games of the year, with 60 million players every day, playing with friends or even people online they didn’t know yet. Fan loyalty to these creators led to the game's popularity and even to all the memes and behaviour that their creators used, terms like “sus” and “vented” becoming terms used every day, something I do not miss hearing now.

Another game that’s rise in popularity can easily be connected to creators online, is Five Nights at Freddy’s. YouTubers like Markliplier who’s playthrough of the game became one of his most popular on the channel, and MatPat, whose theories on the game brought attention to the lore behind the game. Both of these YouTubers influenced the mass popularity of the game to what we know it as today, with 12 games and two movies. From what started as a small indie horror to the big franchise it is today, you can't deny the impact these content creators have had on our loyalty to this franchise were always coming back for more playthroughs or theories on the game. The intense love for the theories even led developers to start focusing more on the story as the games progressed.

But is it a good thing that our loyalty to games comes from how much creators enjoy them? A game's community is essential to the success of the game, and creators who already have a big community are those who influence most of the fans of games. However, are creators playing and raving about a game always good for its success? Although you have to admit, Among Us may not have been as big as it was without the help of the creators. After a while, the hype died down, and it was seen as more of a trend than a successful game. After creators stopped playing, so did everyone else.

You can definitely say fans loyalty to their favourite influencer determines the popularity of a game, and once they close the game for good, so do we.