Apex Legends' Twitch stream views down 75 percent, could affect EA stock

[midian182]

Why it matters: Thanks to the phenomenal success it experienced in the weeks following its launch, many thought Apex Legends would dethrone Fortnite as the king of the Battle Royale genre. But a new report suggests that’s not the case—at least when it comes to Twitch views.

According to a report by StreamElements (via VGR), Apex Legends was Twitch’s most-watched game within its first week of launch, reaching a peak of over 40 million hours viewed in a single week. At the same time, Fortnite dropped to below 20 million hours in the same week.

But the figures didn’t stay this way: Fortnite’s views soon returned to 22 million hours per week and have stayed there ever since, while Apex Legends has been in a steady decline. Respawn Entertainment's title dipped below Fortnite in early March and now commands just over 10 million. That means Apex Legends has lost 75 percent of its peak viewership.

While Twitch views aren’t a direct representation of how people are playing a game, or how much money it is generating, some financial analysts believe the apparent waning interest could negatively affect publisher Electronic Arts' stock.

When Apex Legends arrived, EA paid streaming industry leader Tyler Blevins, better known as Ninja, $1 million to play and promote the game. Other top Twitch streamers were also paid to bring attention to Apex Legends, but many of the most prominent figures no longer play it, while Fortnite remains as popular as always on the platform.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/79761-apex-legends-twitch-stream-views-down-75-percent.html

 

[Skjorn]

When a genre gets stale

 

[Capaill]

So, EA paid to create fake interest in the game and have since stopped paying. Like Disney did with Captain Marvel's release.
Perhaps the game needs a refresh / new DLC so that EA can have their paid minions push the game again. Similar to how Fortnite is bringing out the new Air Royale mode.

I'd also like to see how Fortnite's Twitch viewership fared within the 6 weeks after it launched, if that's possible.

 

[kevbev89]

So, EA paid to create fake interest in the game and have since stopped paying. Like Disney did with Captain Marvel's release.
Perhaps the game needs a refresh / new DLC so that EA can have their paid minions push the game again. Similar to how Fortnite is bringing out the new Air Royale mode.

I'd also like to see how Fortnite's Twitch viewership fared within the 6 weeks after it launched, if that's possible.

I'm sure Fortnite also had a lot of paid influencers help out as well.

I agree, I think the Twitch stream time at launch would be a great comparison to see how the game fared against Fortnite.

 

[144hzGamer]

So, EA paid to create fake interest in the game and have since stopped paying. Like Disney did with Captain Marvel's release.
Perhaps the game needs a refresh / new DLC so that EA can have their paid minions push the game again. Similar to how Fortnite is bringing out the new Air Royale mode.

I'd also like to see how Fortnite's Twitch viewership fared within the 6 weeks after it launched, if that's possible.

Nothing to do with that. Apex had a lot of new things added to BRs. Respawning teammates, movement based, heroes/champs with abilities that change the gameplay, very fast paced action, etc

The problem is that they take too much time to fix the problems. They are slow launching content and updates. The cheating is rampant, the performance is atrocious, some hitboxes are broken (pathfinder), netcode is one of the worst ever.

Eventually people got tired and switched to other games. Is EA fault, once again. This game was basically saving EA stocks after massive fails on battlefield V etc, but they still ruined it by not investing money on a product that had so much potential.

 

[DukeJukem]

I spent all this time typing out legitimate thoughts about this game having almost 300 hours in it but then techspot said error when posting even after refreshing the page. thanks wrecksnot.

 

[DukeJukem]

I spent all this time typing out legitimate thoughts about this game having almost 300 hours in it but then techspot said error when posting even after refreshing the page. thanks wrecksnot.

oh look this message worked.

 

[Kashim]

I spent all this time typing out legitimate thoughts about this game having almost 300 hours in it but then techspot said error when posting even after refreshing the page. thanks wrecksnot.

oh look this message worked.

Cool story bro!

 

[Polycount]

I spent all this time typing out legitimate thoughts about this game having almost 300 hours in it but then techspot said error when posting even after refreshing the page. thanks wrecksnot.

oh look this message worked.

If you feel like giving it another whirl, I'd love to hear what you have to say. Sorry about the error.

 

[gusticles41]

So, EA paid to create fake interest in the game and have since stopped paying.

You mean like...promoting and advertising?

 

[Duke9192]

The viewers follow their favorite streamers, not games. But I will say Apex has become stale with only a single Map. It's a very fun game though, in my opinion. There does seem to be a troubling amount of cheats/hacks that should be easy to detect based on stats alone. I mean, I saw a player with 2500 season 1 kills like a week into it and then 9900 kills like a month ago when I was playing. After the last update that they said to have improved cheat detection, I started winning more matches and getting more kills, but have now faded back to my usual 2 or 3 kills a game. I could be wrong though.

 

[texasrattler]

Ive seen less cheating compared to the first month.

The game is fine n all. I just also got World War Z and I play that. Its has nothing to do with Apex being stale for me. WWZ came out when I didnt know it was coming. I like that type of game.

Yes its true that Respawn are particular slow with updates and info at times. The game isnt going anywhere and Respawn are working on the new Star Wars game that will likely take a lot of time from them. Star Wars will be much bigger and hyped than any free BR game.

Apex still havent even worked out the hitbox problems thats plagued the game since day one. 2 months and countless times they said its coming and the last 2 updates not having certain fixes imo have hurt it in a player base stance but overall the game will be just fine. its a free game afterall and as I said they have a much bigger game they are working on.
Fixes will come. It may never dethrone Fortnite or anything but I never thought it would.
Too many kids n console players play Fortnite. Apex doesnt have that kid feel to, thank god. Has more a mature or adult theme.

 

[JamesJamesJames]

The core game is decent, they just haven't addressed any of the issues quickly enough.
CHEATING
Balancing
Crashing
FPS rates
Hitboxes
Bugs
Glitches
Exploits

Apart from that people are screaming for solo, duos and quads.. Which is probably the biggest reason the game has lost its players. People want more options like this (Personally I think 3's is perfect)

Digital items are also overpriced, Apex Pack distribution after certain levels doesn't give you an incentive to keep playing, hard. On top of this, the season pass is ****... But that's most likely because the fan base was pushing like crazy for something and are now complaining it was rushed...

There are tons more reasons but I'll wrap it up here.

 

[JamesJamesJames]

Ive seen less cheating compared to the first month.

The game is fine n all. I just also got World War Z and I play that. Its has nothing to do with Apex being stale for me. WWZ came out when I didnt know it was coming. I like that type of game.

Yes its true that Respawn are particular slow with updates and info at times. The game isnt going anywhere and Respawn are working on the new Star Wars game that will likely take a lot of time from them. Star Wars will be much bigger and hyped than any free BR game.

Apex still havent even worked out the hitbox problems thats plagued the game since day one. 2 months and countless times they said its coming and the last 2 updates not having certain fixes imo have hurt it in a player base stance but overall the game will be just fine. its a free game afterall and as I said they have a much bigger game they are working on.
Fixes will come. It may never dethrone Fortnite or anything but I never thought it would.
Too many kids n console players play Fortnite. Apex doesnt have that kid feel to, thank god. Has more a mature or adult theme.

Hitboxes were fixed in the latest update and the big lads all got a buff. They have done a fair amount of balancing stuff as well. I think the real issue is everyone screaming for solos, duos, quads. Personally, I'm against the idea but they will more than likely have to add it to keep people playing.

 

[Nobina]

BR genre plateaued. You can't expect games to last as long as they did when BR was still fresh. Twitch streamers defintely did get paid to play it. There are clips of popualar streamers like Shroud and Dr.Disrespect saying the can't wait to finish it so they never touch the game again, exaggerated probably but you get the idea.

 

[mbrowne5061]

So, EA paid to create fake interest in the game and have since stopped paying.

You mean like...promoting and advertising?

No, no. Promotion and advertising are for things he likes. Everything else is just shilling and fake /s

 

[Capaill]

You mean like...promoting and advertising?

I have no problem with promoting and advertising although I do think far too much money is spent on it, particularly on new movies. I am less comfortable with them paying supposedly independent twitch streamers a million dollars to say a game is great.

 

[gusticles41]

I have no problem with promoting and advertising although I do think far too much money is spent on it, particularly on new movies. I am less comfortable with them paying supposedly independent twitch streamers a million dollars to say a game is great.

The same Twitch streamers have gaming rooms littered with Redbull paraphernalia lol. These people aren't independents.

It's advertising, just using different mediums.