As the end of 2022 draws closer, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the year and look back at which games pulled the biggest viewership numbers on Twitch, particularly in terms of how much watch time they had.
Here’s a list of the top 10, ranked in ascending order—courtesy of data compiled by SullyGnome, a statistics and analytics service for Twitch that provides information on category and streamer viewership.
You’ll see some familiar titles. Not many new releases in 2022 ended up breaking the status quo. Still, the order of the top 10—and the viewership numbers that earned them that place—make for an interesting read.
10) Escape from Tarkov
Despite being a hardcore extraction shooter with slow pacing, Escape from Tarkov has proven to be quite a spectacle since releasing in 2017. That still rings true five years later in 2022.
Twitch fans tuned in to watch it for around 345 million hours throughout the year, with a peak of 690,725 concurrent viewers across all channels and an average of 39,370 viewers.
The streamer who contributed the most to that number was LVNDMARK. His channel alone drew 28.5 million hours watched. Next was Pestily with 18 million hours, followed by Glorious_E with 9.5 million hours.
Pestily had the highest peak, though, with around 250,000 concurrent viewers. Now that’s a solid turnout.
9) Warzone
Despite having a massive drop of about 50 percent hours watched compared to 2021, Warzone still drew in 420 million hours watched, with a peak of 456,502 viewers and an average of 7,945 viewers.
It wasn’t the biggest year for the popular battle royale title, but it was still a decent one, all things considered.
Warzone streamer chowh1 carried the most weight, drawing a whopping 15 million hours on their channel. Symfuhny, Swagg, HusKerrs, and Aydan weren’t too far behind. They all drew between nine million and 11 million hours each.
8) Dota 2
Dota 2 is still going strong despite being almost 10 years old. The classic MOBA was watched for around 553 million hours, a number boosted by its popular esports scene.
It had an impressive peak of more than one million viewers during The International 11 in October, but it still managed to average 63,218 viewers throughout the year. Not too bad for an old kid on the block.
The most-watched Dota 2 streamer was Gorc. The Team Bald player pulled a massive 26 million hours watched on his channel.
Dota2MC, a Russian and Ukrainian channel that broadcasts pro matches, drew more than 20 million hours, closely followed by streamers Nix and just_ns, who had 20 million hours watched and 19 million hours watched, respectively.
7) Minecraft
Minecraft was watched for a whopping 579 million hours in 2022, which is actually a 35-percent dip compared to 2021. Still, it’s an indication the community is alive and well.
It also had a peak of 2.2 million viewers—the second highest of any game on the list—and an average of 66,170 viewers on most days.
Spanish streamer auronplay generated the most hours watched by far. People tuned in to watch him for more than 35 million hours throughout the year. Argentine star ElSpreen was next with 27 million, followed by juansguarnizo from Mexico, who had 15 million.
Minecraft is a massive hit in the Spanish-speaking community, and these numbers prove it.
6) Fortnite
Fortnite might be down (by 36 percent compared to 2021, to be exact), but it’s certainly not out.
The iconic battle royale title is well past its prime, but people still tuned in to watch it for a whopping 659 million hours. It also had a peak of around 1.3 million viewers and an average of 75,274 viewers.
What’s more, some of the most iconic Fortnite players are still the top dogs.
NRG pro Clix is number one with 16 million hours watched, followed by True with 15 million, Ninja with 13 million, and SypherPK with 12.5 million.
5) Apex Legends
Respawn’s Apex Legends actually climbed in viewership this year. It was only by a mere 2.8 percent, but that’s a pretty big deal considering it was watched for more than 687 million hours.
Its peak of 559,133 viewers was quite low compared to other titles. But its average of 78,526 was quite high, suggesting the popular battle royale title has been in a good place in 2022.
NICKMERCS, the battle royale king himself, was the most significant contributor. His channel was responsible for 40 million hours. ImperialHal was a close second with 38 million hours, followed by aceu with 19 million and iiTzTimmy with 14 million.
4) CS:GO
Like Dota 2, CS:GO is a bit of a fossil considering it’s been out for more than a decade. But like its cousin, it’s still thriving—and by a lot more, considering it drew 707 million hours watched throughout the year.
It also had a peak of around two million viewers due to its ever-popular esports scene, and an average of 80,781 viewers.
The PGL Major Antwerp 2022 in May and the IEM Rio Major 2022 in October and November caused huge spikes in viewership. The former peaked at 1.7 million concurrent viewers on May 22. The latter peaked at 1.3 million on Nov. 12.
3) VALORANT
Of all the games that had viewership growth in 2022, VALORANT had the biggest. People tuned in to watch the sleek shooter for a little under 1.2 billion hours—35 percent more than 2021.
Moreover, it had a peak of approximately 1.2 million viewers and an average of 135,435 viewers, which is equally impressive.
The biggest contributor, without a doubt, was Tarik. The former CS:GO pro exploded in popularity throughout the course of the year, and in turn, pulled a staggering 68 million hours watched while streaming VALORANT.
This was more than the official VALORANT channel itself, which contributed 53 million hours watched to the total. Fps_shaka’s channel had around half of that, but it was still the third most-watched in 2022.
2) GTA V
GTA V’s viewership dropped by about 17 percent in 2022. But it was still the second most-watched game on Twitch with almost 1.5 billion hours watched, a peak of 727,079 viewers, and an average of 166,810 viewers.
Its biggest draw is the GTA RP NoPixel server, which is a popular destination for streamers.
Loud_coringa’s channel was responsible for almost 50 million hours watched—the most of anyone. xQc wasn’t too far behind, though. The juicer warlord pulled an impressive 35 million despite streaming it for half the time.
PaulinhoLOKObr, Buddha, LuquEt4, RebirthzTV, auronplay, PENTA, gabepeixe, and Zerkaa were all around the 20 million hour mark, too. Together, they made the roleplaying server entertaining all year long.
1) League of Legends
Lo and behold, the most-watched game on Twitch in 2022 was none other than League.
It’s not all that surprising, considering it has one of the biggest followings in the world based on the 6.1 million users in the League subreddit, the 5.2 million users that follow it on Twitter, and the massive 1.6 billion hours watched it pulled on Twitch in 2022.
It peaked at over three million viewers and averaged around 181,692 viewers on any given day, which is bonkers.
LCK_Korea pulled the most weight. People tuned in for more than 62.5 million hours on that channel alone. Tyler1 wasn’t far behind, though. His channel generated 61.8 million hours watched. Not too shabby for a solo streamer.
So, there you have it. The 10 most-watched games on Twitch in 2022 based on how many hours people watched them.
Making the list is a massive achievement. But will they be able to do it again next year? History says yes, but it all comes down to how the developers manage them and whether any new games crop up.
