This is a bit of a complex topic. There are a bunch of different situations to think about when making this decision. For the most part, many gamers have one specific game that they love playing. Of course gamers love gaming, which means a lot of them, if not all of them, love a bunch of different games; but I think it’s safe to say there is one game we’d love to play everyday! If this is not the case for you, and you think you’ll suddenly have the urge to implode if you have to play the same game constantly, you might find yourself in a predicament. Almost every streamer I’ve worked with or interviewed have agreed that when they switch to a new game, they lose a portion of their following. Of course this can be different if you are more of an entertainer then a gamer, but I think you will still see that you lose some regardless.
What are you going to be able to stick to?
One thing that is really important that I actually talk about in my last article, is being persistent. If you think you should find a game that is popular and viewers tend to watch, or even a less played game for less competition, you should really start thinking about yourself first. What are you going to be able to stick to? What will enable you to be persistent? If you begin building a following and then you’re suddenly pulling your hair out playing this game that you chose, you will end up kicking yourself because you will end up taking 10 steps back. Sure there are some positives to picking a different game to start with, but switching games is a luxury.
Switching games is a luxury..
What do I mean by this? If you are a streamer that is capable of swapping to a different game, and then go back to your main game, that’s because you built up your community already. You already have a core following and group of people who love watching you for YOU. Swapping from game to game is a luxury. You don’t build up a community by playing every game under the sun. Is it possible? Maybe. Will it be easy if you take that route? No.
What’s the plus if I choose a game that’s not my “main”?
There could be a plus side to choosing a different game then the main choice. Maybe you play League of Legends CONSTANTLY but you’re not quite a Diamond/High Level Gamer and you find it way to hard to deal with the competition. What do you do? You may want a sub button quick. Well there’s an alternative. I wrote an article “How to Become a Twitch Partner” that talks about some things that could help. One would be playing a game that is “unique”. But what qualifies a game as unique? A game that’s unique is one that is not played/viewed as much. The reason for this is because if Twitch sees that you’re able to create a following on a game that is not currently viewed often, they see that as a new opening of viewers to suddenly be coming onto the site. That’s a huge plus for both you AND them! My suggestion here would be to really think if you have any games that fit this criteria and then ask yourself if it fits the other criteria’s. Will you be able to stick to it? Will you get sick of it? Will you be able to build a following? Are you going to be able to play it at a high level or will you choose to be more of an entertainer?
The Top Games to Play
Okay, so I wish I could give you a list of the games to play. Unfortunately it would be impossible for me to do that. Regardless of the suggestion I make there will be positives and negatives. I WILL tell you that it is most likely not the best idea to play an overly flooded game, but at the same time, those games have more of a viewership, so it could be seen as a positive. At the same time, if you choose to play a game that is not as flooded, that also means the game probably isn’t getting as much viewer traffic. This means it will be harder for you to get people into your channel, right? Most likely. This means that the Top Game to play is the one that you will be able to succeed at. If I had a magic eight ball I could tell you exactly what game to play, but I don’t. This means you will have to analyze all the pieces and make a calculated decision based off your strengths.
Good luck and remember: persistence is key and choosing between high level gaming and entertaining is a choice you have to make.