The Impact of gaming influencers on the gaming industry and the community
Proposal
My specialist study is about the impact of gaming influencers and content creators on the gaming industry and their audiences. I will explore the positives and negatives of the rise of these types of entertainers on the internet. I will explore how these types of gaming influencers help games generate more traffic and sales for games in qualitative and quantitative data to see how it changed over time. However, some of these Influencers raise controversy and a bad rep for games and do actions that affect the sales and reputation of the influencer and the gaming industry. I will also talk about the ethical and unethical issues some influencers do with their fame and the ad endorsements they do that negatively affect the gaming industry.
Research
The primary research I performed was to find out what platforms people are using. How long they use spend their time watching videos on a weekly basis. What content creators they watch. Also if their favourite content characters encourages them to buy the game. I received a handful of responses of friends, family and strangers.
What I can tell from my quantitive research is that the majority use youtube then comes twitch, instagram and lastly tiktok being the last platform people use which is not suprising as its the biggest media platform. Alot of people spend 8 or more hours on these platforms weekly so there is a definite market for marketing on these platforms and it’s not suprising so many advertisers are on these platforms from video ads to merch and sponsership placements. I got a varied amount of responses to the question about their favourite content creator because there are always many creators for all types of games. The majority voted yes and positively that watching their favourite content creators play a game is more likely to make them play and have a interest in the game portraying that influencers do make a impact on game sales.
I interviewed My friends on this and they said ‘If my favourite steamer like XQC on twitch streamed the game I would more likely to buy the game cause it looks like he’s having alot of fun in it and also he makes playing games look alot more fun cause he does unusual things to games to break them and get more fun out of the game’. From this qualitative I can tell that influencers and content creators have a major role in contributing to games having more players as some people just enjoy watching people play their favourite game and discover new things.
For secondary research I’m looking at quantitive data of twitch viewership and you can see that the viewership is constantly rising showing there is massive audience for content creators and influencers on twitch. In 2020 when the pandemic hit there was a major influx in viewers and influencers on twitch streaming their gameplay to millions of people. With millions of hours being streamed and watched the influx in viewership for games and sales in huge. Also twitch is alot different to youtube as the unedited livestreams can go on more 2 or more hours so usually viewers are watching for an hour or more compared to youtube where you watch a 15 min video and then its over. On twitch they have alot more hours of viewership compared to youtube.
With the rise of internet entertainers and influencers on platforms like Twitch and Youtube They have are one of the most popular platforms globally. Twitch was founded in 2011 after being bought by Amazon for $1 billion and has a viewership of 2 million new visitors per month It is one of the leading platforms for streaming and gaming content in the industry. Youtube is also one of the most popular platforms for gaming content and videos. Recently these platforms have been Buying out influencers with contracts as big as $30 million when streaming platform Mixer bought out gaming influencer Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins and Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek for $10 million. These creators have so much influence and importance for these platforms that these platforms are willing to pay content creators an extreme amount of money. The importance of having a large following is extremely important as it forces these platforms to pay extreme amounts of money for you to exclusively stream and create content on that platform making the industry very lucrative.
Other than contracts with the streaming platform Influencers have sponsorships and their own apparel they sell and promote to their viewer being a big source of income. Sponsorships range from devices and peripherals to energy drinks and fast food chains. Becoming a pro player and an entertaining content creator Brings in a lot of viewership that makes businesses take an interest in all those eyes watching you and decide to sponsor you creating a large amount of income for the creator. Also, you have the opportunity to sign to an esports organisation allowing you to gain more revenue. The following these creators have given a big influx in players in any game they play.
Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek
Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek is a former pro csgo player for cloud 9 known for his insane aim and movement in games. The retired pro has won an estimated $218,000 and is now one of the most-watched Influencer on twitch he has amassed a crazy 9.9 million followers on twitch and 6.81 million subscribers on youtube. The influencer is one of the most-watched hours on twitch as he has a friendly community that is always talking about improvement on games and what games are doing well and poorly.[Strickland, W. and Heath, J., 2022.]
When Michael streams he averages out from 12k viewers to 30k viewers daily watching his streams at one point he had 516k viewers when he came back to stream on twitch from his 3-year contract with streaming platform Twitch. When he streams a game and reviews it the game will have an increase of players or a decrease depending on his feelings on the game. He usually streams games such as Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege and Escape from Tarkov.
Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins
Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins is a former Halo 3 player who played professionally in 2009 and then began streaming in 2011 and gained the eyes of many through his relaxed attitude and mechanical skill. He joined esports org Luminosity Gaming in 2017 and played Halo H1Z1 and PUBG. But once he started streaming Fortnite in 2017 that is when his rise to fame started to begin. Over the next 3 years, Tyler Blevins would amass 17.3 million followers on twitch and 15k daily viewers and 23.9 million subscribers on youtube. He would host Fortnite tournaments in Las Vegas, get sponsored by Red Bull and Adidas because of his viewership and entertaining relaxed gameplay. With this popularity, he has played famous names like Drake, Travis Scott and others. He has earned 3 billion in revenue playing Fortnite on Twitch professionally and non professionally. [Conlan, D., 2022.]
Tyler Blevins is a highly successful influencer and has shown that streaming and content creation is a possible career for many where a lucrative amount of money can be made through viewer donations, subscriptions, merchandise and sponsorships. However he has some controversy, some saying he has a massive ego and calling him being toxic and unsportsmanlike conduct towards other players. Negatively affecting the gaming community at times however as his growth increased he became more family-friendly
Anders ‘Ludwig’ Ahgren
Anders ‘Ludwig’ Ahgren is a speedrunner and content creator on twitch before moving to youtube exclusively on contract for 3 years. He is known for his entertaining video gaming challenges and speedrunning difficult and frustrating games like Monkey Ball, Jump King, getting over it and much more. He has broken records for most-streamed hours on twitch and has live-streamed his daily life for over a month, one of the longest-running streams ever done. He had 2.55 million subscribers on youtube and 3.09 million followers on twitch before leaving for youtube. [Williams, D., 2022.]
His videos and streams have a fun-loving community poking friendly banter at Ludwig and playing upcoming indie games. When Ludwig streams rising and upcoming games the game gets an influx of players generating sales for that game and a community for the game.
Controversy
Gaming influencers are mostly a positive impact upon the gaming community and the sales of games however that does not stop them from having lots of controversy from scam sponsorships promoting gambling sites the list goes on. Some Gaming influencers have promoted products that they themselves don’t use but promote for the money. However Majority of gaming influencers are not in controversy and if they have they have done something to redeem themselves that brought back their audience.
Major esports and content creator organisation Faze clan has had a wide range of controversy from promoting gambling scams to making their influencers sign ridiculous contracts so that the are permanently tied to the organisation. The organisation dates back to 2010 where they started of just being a couple of people sharing their skilled gameplay on youtube. They have amassed alot of fans however throughout their years they have committed many of crimes on their influencers and their community and it’s impact caused alot of anger and negativity in the community. [Grimshaw, J., 2022].
Evaluation
In conclusion my Thoughts are that gaming influencers have a positive impact on the gaming community and the sales of the games. They are very beneficial for companies cause they drive sales and create a community around the game. Gaming influencers have ups and downs with their community and game publishers but they still provide a positive impact. They may be some upsets from time to time with influencers and their audiences but usually they make up for it with their audiences and give out a apology any time they commit or say something bad.
References
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[Conlan, D., 2022.] Ninja reportedly paid $30m to end Mixer contract as streaming platform merges with Facebook Gaming, shroud receives $10m. [online] GINX. Available at: <https://www.ginx.tv/en/twitch/ninja-and-shroud-are-free-to-return-to-twitch-after-mixer-joins-facebook-gaming>.
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[Strickland, W. and Heath, J., 2022.] Who is Shroud? History, Earnings, Age, and More. [online] Dot Esports. Available at: <https://dotesports.com/streaming/news/shroud-twitch-everything-to-know>.
[Williams, D., 2022.] Streamer Ludwig has signed an exclusivity deal with YouTube. [online] NME. Available at: <https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/streamer-ludwig-has-signed-an-exclusivity-deal-with-youtube-3107994>.
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[Grimshaw, J., 2022]. FaZe Clan kicks a member, suspends three, amid crypto scam allegations. [online] NME. Available at: <https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/faze-clan-drops-one-member-suspends-three-after-alleged-cryptocurrency-scam-2984220>.
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