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Co-op games bring players together, engaging through communication, coordination, and, often, friendly competition. Even the earliest co-op game, , demonstrated this appeal as two players struggled to coordinate the titular vehicle simultaneously. This spirit of collaboration weaved its way through the decades from to to and, now, into the modern gaming sphere.
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The online space has allowed co-op games to blossom, removing the logistical need to gather friends in one place with multiple controllers. Video Game Insights reports that although just 6% of games released in 2023 were co-op, they accounted for 36% of all units sold. Whole YouTube channels like The Co-Op Bros and websites like Co-Optimus are devoted exclusively to covering co-op game releases and reviews, demonstrating player demand for friendly gaming.
In this article, we’re looking at how this passion for co-op gaming has translated onto live-streaming platforms, including the mega-popular co-op games that have released in 2024.
The exact definition of co-op games is hard to pin down. Note that for the purposes of this analysis, all included co-op games must feature co-op gameplay as their main mode, and all must primarily be PvE games rather than PvP. This definition is explored in more detail later on.
Over the past two years, co-op games have seen a steady rise in viewership which exploded in late 2023 thanks to a slew of popular releases. From August 2022 to July 2024, co-op game viewership rose from 24.3M hours watched to 69.8 hours watched – nearly triple the viewership (287%). However, looking more broadly at the data, July 2024 saw a spike in viewership from the release of The First Descendant. It’s more fair to say that co-op viewership has roughly doubled over this two-year span.
The appeal of co-op games on live streaming is two-fold. Firstly, co-op games offer a great chance for streamers within groups to collaborate with one another. Viewers get to see the streamers’ dynamics together, and streamers get to cross-pollinate their audience: A win-win situation. We’ve seen this with the FaZe Clan members playing Chained Together and VTubers playing titles like ARK: Survival Evolved. Secondly, the sheer entertainment value of watching people strive for success or sabotage one another is also a great drawcard for viewers.
This apparent co-op gaming renaissance was kicked off by two titles: Palworld and Lethal Company, with 111.3M and 97.8M hours watched over the past 12 months, respectively. Palworld is a phenomenon unto itself, having sold 19M units in the first half of 2024 and combining so many mechanics and genre types that the co-op focus flows naturally. However, Lethal Company is the more interesting title of the two from a trend perspective. The game expands the survival horror genre into co-op form, taking cues from Dead Space and Phasmophobia. This more primary co-op experience feels like the true herald of 2024 releases to come.
The “streamer-friendliness” of this co-op mindset was pushed to the limit for Chained Together. Where Lethal Company brought co-op to survival horror, Chained Together brought co-op to the live-streaming-suitable subgenre of Foddy-likes. The brutal gameplay is a recipe for friction between the players and allows for funny moments of sabotage. In a similar way, Palworld’s “Sandbox” feeling allows players to mess with one another while still collaborating.
Looking more broadly at genres that have blended with co-op, Action games stand out on top – not surprising considering the broad definition of the genre. Among more specific genres though, Shooters brought in the most co-op game viewership with 165M hours watched across the last 12 months. This preference can be attributed to “squad shooters” – games that pit squads of players against a common enemy PvE-style. As the foremost example, Helldivers 2 has racked up 45M hours watched since its release in February. But more recently, looter shooter The First Descendant made a splash with 22.1M hours watched in just 30 days.
Given the success developers and publishers have found by mixing co-op into established genres, it could be worth finding new unique combinations to catch streamers’ attention. Puzzle games could be experimented with beyond Portal 2, perhaps by evoking the feeling of collaborating in an IRL escape room. Racing games would also be fantastic to play co-op, using features like those touched on in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
Throughout this analysis, the co-op game viewership comes from the top 50 co-op games that fit three distinct parameters:
Restriction No. 2 exists to exclude competitive games like League of Legends or MMO games like GTA V that, while technically placing players on the same team, push either versus modes or social modes as their main point of attraction. Restriction No. 3 is more interesting, and requires a case-by-case examination of each title’s gameplay.
Many games launch with co-op modes that are secondary to the main gameplay experience – termed “Partially Co-op”. For example, Call of Duty titles frequently feature “Zombies Mode” – a PvE experience that, while popular, is tangential to the core PvP experience. As another example that further blurs the lines, Granblue Fantasy: Relink features a solo story mode, which then opens up into co-op after the main game is completed.
When comparing these Partially Co-op games to “Mainly Co-op” games (like Chained Together and Lethal Company), interesting trends emerge. Of the top 100 non-PvP co-op games on Steam, exactly half of these are Mainly Co-op games. However, Partially Co-op games bring in an overwhelming 83% of all co-op game viewership. This difference in viewership suggests that simply implementing co-op game modes or secondary co-op features are enough to gain the viewer appeal of the co-op experience.
The definition of “true” co-op games is muddy at best, with Steam’s user-generated tagging system not always providing the most accurate information. However, the prevalence of games that put co-op front-and-center is much easier to see on live-streaming platforms. With co-op games bonding streamers together in collaboration, they’re certain to remain popular online.
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