Q1 2020 Summary of the Video Game Industry A Look Back at the Performance of New Releases for Social and Streaming
Social How New Releases Have Impacted the Video Game Conversation from Social Sources
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is all the rage as people find new ways to interact in a virtual environment while sheltering at home, which has been a huge factor in social engagement and share of voice in the industry Twitter Videos Forums 5M 2M during the quarter, even exceeding the surprise announcement of Apex Legends in Q1 2019.
Top 10 Social Leaderboard Monthly Change of the Top 10 Games Ranked by Social Engagement March
Animal Crossing: January February 1st New Horizons
1st Fortnite Fortnite
Fortnite 2nd 2nd Minecraft Roblox
3rd Roblox Minecraft Roblox 3rd
4th Pokémon Sword and Shield Animal Crossing: New Horizons
4th 5th Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Apex Legends Minecraft
6th Grand Theft Auto Online Pokémon Sword and Shield
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 5th 7th Apex Legends Grand Theft Auto Online
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6th 8th League of Legends League of Legends
9th Overwatch Overwatch DOOM Eternal 7th
10th Fire Emblem: Three Houses Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege League of Legends 8th
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile 9th
Overwatch 10th Social Sources Total Engagement from Twitter, Video, and Forums
Q1 2019 Q1 2020 80M +36% MoM +65% YoY
60M +21% YoY -2% MoM +17% YoY 40M +34% +1% +51% 20M +20% -2% -4%
0 January February March January February March
Social New Releases Total Engagement and Sentiment from Twitter, Video, and Forums
Q1 2019 Q1 2020 100
90
Mar 10
80 Feb 14 Jan 29 Mar 12 Mar 20 Jan 28 Mar 13
70 Mar 23 Mar 20 Jan 17 Feb 4
Mar 10 60
50 Sentiment
First week’s First 4 weeks’ 40 Engagement Engagement from release date from release date
Feb 22
5M 30 3M
Jan 28 1M
20
10
0
Streaming How New Releases Have Impacted the Video Game Engagement on Streaming Sources
Call of Duty: Warzone has reached millions of players since its launch, even obtaining comparable heights to that of Apex Legends in Q1 2019 for hours watched and chat messages for streaming and jumping to the Twitch Mixer YouTube Live 50M 20M top of the streaming leaderboard during its launch, overtaking Fortnite and League of Legends.
Top 10 Streaming Leaderboard Monthly Change of the Top 10 Games Ranked by Hours Watched
March January February
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1st 1st Escape from Tarkov League of Legends
2nd League of Legends Fortnite 2nd Fortnite
3rd Fortnite Escape from Tarkov League of Legends 3rd
4th Minecraft Grand Theft Auto Online Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 4th
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 5th Grand Theft Auto Online
Grand Theft Auto Online 5th World of Warcraft 6th World of Warcraft
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile 6th Apex Legends 7th PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile
Escape From Tarkov 7th PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile 8th DotA 2
DotA 2 8th Minecraft 9th Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Overwatch Animal Crossing: New Horizons 9th 10th FIFA 20
Apex Legends 10th
Streaming Sources Total Hours Watched from Twitch, Mixer, and YouTube Live
Q1 2019 Q1 2020 600M +23% MoM
-6% MoM +24% 400M -5%
200M
+22% -2% -14% +17%
0 January February March January February March
Streaming New Releases Total Engagement and Chat Messages from Twitch, Mixer, and YouTube Live
Q1 2019 Q1 2020 100M
80M
60M
40M Hours Watched
20M
0
Jan 25 Feb 4 Mar 22 Jan 17 Jan 28 Jan 28 Feb 14 Mar 10 Mar 10 Mar 12 Mar 13 Mar 20 Mar 20 Mar 23 0
20M
40M
Chat Messages 60M
80M
100M
Which Influencers Have the Most Impact? How Influencers Have the Most Engagement on Streaming Sources
As the number of people staying home has increased, people are turning to influencers for entertainment, which has increased the popularity and the amount of hours watched for influencers such as, xQcOW and 10M 5M NICKMERCS.
Hours Watched Top 10 Leaderboard Chat Messages Top 10 Leaderboard Total Hours Watched from Twitch, Mixer, and YouTube Live Total Chat Messages from Twitch, Mixer, and YouTube Live
January February March January February March
1st summit1g 1st xQcOW xQcOW summit1g 1st xQcOW 1st 1st 1st summit1g
2nd forsen 2nd Greekgodx 2nd HasanAbi 2nd xQcOW 2nd Pestily 2nd loltyler1
3rd Trainwreckstv 3rd HasanAbi 3rd Mizkif
3rd xQcOW 3rd loltyler1 3rd xQcOW 4th loltyler1 4th HasanAbi 4th Trainwreckstv
NICKMERCS 5th forsen 5th AdmiralBulldog 4th Castro_1021 4th TFBlade 4th 5th summit1g
Trainwreckstv 6th Castro_1021 6th 6th loltyler1 5th loltyler1 5th sodapoppin 5th Tfue
7th AdmiralBulldog 7th AdmiralBulldog 7th Greekgodx LIRIK 6th Sacriel 6th 6th LIRIK 8th Mizkif 8th MOONMOON 8th LIRIK
7th DrLupo 7th NICKMERCS 9th sodapoppin 7th Dr Disrespect 9th loltyler1 9th forsen
8th LIRIK 8th Tfue 10th summit1g 10th NymN 10th NymN 8th TimTheTatman
9th limit_maximum 9th Sacriel 9th sodapoppin
10th Gorgc 10th Dr Disrespect 10th TFBlade
Which Video Game Platforms are Discussed the Most? Total Engagement from Twitter, Video, and Forums
24M
20M
16M
12M
8M
4M
0 January February March
Which Streaming Service Platforms are Discussed the Most? Total Engagement from Twitter, Video, and Forums
Streaming service platforms, such as Netflix and Disney Plus, have seen a huge surge in popularity as people have more available time while sheltering at home to watch less popular shows and eventually the majority of shows of interest, making streaming services release additional content earlier than expected to retain an active user base.
10M
8M
6M
4M
2M
0
January February March
How is the Community Interacting with Video Games in Q1 2020? Topic Cards Identified by Spiketrap’s Smart Conversations
March 9 March 10 Download the Free-to-Play COD: Warzone Battle Royale Stay Safe and Work from Home during the Coronavirus
ENGAGEMENT SENTIMENT ENGAGEMENT SENTIMENT 206,556 63 Positive 128,202 23 Neutral
Call of Duty: Warzone has been huge in helping people curb their As more people abide by the shelter in place order, companies, such as boredom during the coronavirus pandemic, as the popular shooter AT&T, are suspending broadband data caps to promote staying safe at launched its take for a stand-alone free-to-play battle royale, reaching home allowing people to download video games and watch shows on 15 million players in ten days. streaming platforms without worries of price gouging.
March 11 March 12 What Other Shows Do Streaming Services Have Quarantine Brings Down Xbox Live & Nintendo Switch Servers
ENGAGEMENT SENTIMENT ENGAGEMENT SENTIMENT 27,467 74 positive 43,481 43 Neutral
People are discussing which streaming service platform to subscribe to With more people staying home, video gaming has seen a huge surge based on what each service has to offer and their content preferences in popularity as people want to stay entertained, which made online as they practice social distancing and will now have the time to watch servers for Xbox Live and Nintendo Switch struggle to keep up with more content than usual. the amount of concurrent players on each individual service.
March 15 March 19 Students Hold Graduation in Minecraft as Schools Close Playing Animal Crossing While Quarantined
ENGAGEMENT SENTIMENT ENGAGEMENT SENTIMENT 19,534 52 Neutral 1,351,586 74 positive
As schools are changing to online classes, students are finding new Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been a great escape for people who ways to still experience a campus environment, as Minecraft players are practicing social distancing and have more free time at home than have recreated virtual school campuses to simulate campus life, even they know what to do with, as they are recreating social hubs and events, creating graduation ceremonies for those who do not want to miss out such as birthdays and weddings, to interact with friends inside the game. on the experience.