Twitch Bits are purchasable emotes sent as cheers for streamers or broadcasters. Viewers utilize Bits during peak moments in esports and gaming, indicating an engaged audience. In this week’s post, Stream Hatchet takes a look at the top ten games based on Bit Donations.
- Although Hours Watched was significantly higher for League of Legends, titles with less overall viewership generated more Bit donations than the MOBA.
- Shooter titles attract more Bit donations than other game types (MOBA, MMO).Fortnite, PUBG, and Overwatch generated more Bits than Dead by Daylight,League of Legends and World of Warcraft.
- Both IRL and Creative, two non-gaming Twitch genres, appeared in our top ten, suggesting the versatility of the live streaming platform.
For further insights visit our blog.
Blizzard announced that its Overwatch campaign for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation generated $12.7 million for the organization. The promotion included a $15 pink costume for healer Mercy, charity streams from notable influencers and sales of a limited edition Mercy t-shirt, with Blizzard pledging to donate 100% of the proceeds to the foundation.
Thunder Gaming announced a partnership with gaming hardware maker TechniSport. The deal will see TechniSport offer high-performance gaming chairs exclusively designed for Thunder Gaming Esports Center in Long Beach. “We are pleased to partner with TechniSport since they share our passion for delivering comfort and performance to amateur and pro players alike,” says Christian Bishop, CEO of Thunder Gaming. “Moreover, the chair is a high quality product that’s specially tailored to fit gamers’ specific needs — much like our Thunder Gaming Esports Center.”
EVO, set to take place in Las Vegas from Aug. 3-5, locked in a sponsorship deal with Nissin Cup Noodles that will see the brand offer a contest for an EVO Event Pass and BYOC Tournament Access Giveaway. The giveaway e July 16 at 11:59p.
This week FanAI analyzed the shared followings of HyperX and the teams of the NBA 2K League. HyperX is a sponsor of the NBA 2K League and also has individual sponsorship agreements with seven of the league’s teams. FanAI found that teams with an individual HyperX sponsorship have on average more than double the followers in common with the brand when compared to the average of the teams without a similar deal. This shows there is a quantifiable ROI for HyperX to sign these deals with individual teams in addition to holding an overall sponsorship of the league.
There are other cases where brands sponsor both leagues as well as individual teams in that league, e.g. T-Mobile sponsors both OWL and the Houston Outlaws. Given the ROI, this might be a trend worth exploring further for brands.
Chinese games heavyweight Tencent is preparing to take on Steam, with reports that the company will bring its PC games marketplace WeGame to a global audience. The South China Morning Post writes that a Hong Kong edition of the platform is now in development, and will be used to recruit players outside of the country and to boost sales of locally-developed games in international waters. “The Hong Kong version of WeGame is now under development,” a spokesperson stated. “This version will be available for overseas users, and we will use this platform to bring more Chinese games to the global market.”
Supercell made history as the first mobile publisher to have two multi-billion-dollar games on the App Store and Google Play. In a report from market intelligence agency Sensor Tower, mobile battle arena Clash Royale has now topped $2 billion since launching in March 2016, joining Clash of Clans under its umbrella, which itself has now generated over $6 billion. Players from the US account for the biggest piece of revenue at around 30%.
The International Olympic Committee announced that Rick Fox, former NBA champion and Echo Fox co-founder, will moderate its upcoming Esports Forum on July 21 out of Lausanne, Switzerland, which will help determine the potential inclusion of esports in the Olympics. In the 1964 Olympics, Fox’s mother Dianne Gerace competed in both the high jump and pentathlon. “He really has a bridge with that Olympic world, and now heavily in esports,” said IOC sports director Kit McConnell.
The opening of Super Nintendo World, an immersive theme park under construction at Universal Studios Japan with plans to come to the US, will “synergize” with the Nintendo IPs. The Nintendo-themed attraction is expected to open ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, at Universal Studios Japan. “A lot of people who are mothers and fathers today are from a generation that grew up playing Super Mario, and they are now playing products like ‘Nintendo Labo’ together with their own children,” said Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo Representative Director, Fellow. “There are a lot of families like this not just in Japan, but also around the world. When such families visit these theme parks to experience Nintendo’s worlds that have been carefully crafted and to interact with our characters, I think we can expect to see synergy with our dedicated video game platform business.”
Electronic Arts is adding Industrial Toys to its toybox. The14-person team of game makers are now joining the company, led by Alex Seropian, founder and former CEO of Bungie Studios and former executive at Disney Interactive. “Creating breakthrough games takes passionate developers and incredible creativity, and each time we’ve worked with the Industrial Toys team, we’ve been inspired by their unique approach,” said Samantha Ryan, SVP and Group GM in EA’s Worldwide Studios group. “We’re thrilled to have them join our studio organization, pursue new ideas together and bring amazing new games to our players.”
Capcom and Pure Imagination Studios announced plans for an animated special that will expand upon the universe of Capcom game Monster Hunter. The two companies will produce and co-finance the special with Pure Imagination overseeing domestic and international sales. Production will be completed this Winter and the special is expected to premiere globally in 2019 with the 3D animated special, dubbed “Monster Hunter™: Legends of the Guild,” telling the story of a “brave young man determined to prove himself as a monster hunter worthy of recognition. His chance will come all too soon when he discovers that his remote village lies in the path of an Elder Dragon—a veritable force of nature made flesh.”
