Sports Games are often overlooked when it comes to discussions among hardcore gamers. Despite genres like MOBAs, Fighting Games, and Shooters getting attention on live-streaming thanks to their competitive nature, Sports Games seem to quietly chug along while avoiding the esports spotlight. And, this happens despite the massive player bases for annual Sports Game releases like EA Sports FC or NBA 2K.
Yet in 2025, this dynamic is beginning to shift. Fueled by early access for streamers, high-profile creator partnerships, and global fan enthusiasm, sports titles are finding new ways to capture attention online. In this article, we’ll see how EA Sports FC 26’s explosive and Skate 4’s viral marketing moments prove that Sports Games can deliver big audiences when given the right platform exposure.
TL;DR Takeaways by Stream Hatchet:
- EA Sports FC 26 gave streamers their own early access period to build up hype among players and get them talking ahead of full release.
- Despite losing the FIFA branding, EA Sports FC continues to perform well among streaming audiences.
- Skate 4 tapped into gaming creators alongside skateboarders, finding greater reach to online audiences through gamers despite the game’s topic.
EA Sports FC 26 Rides Early Streamer Access To Success
Before jumping into the stats for EA Sports FC 26, we should quickly explain EA’s release strategy for the game. From the 16th – 18th of September, a handful of streamers were given access to the title before any players. Early access then ran for one week from September 19th – 25th, before the game’s full release on September 26th. We’ve measured one week from when streamers first got their hands on the game, as this period is the streaming debut of the title (and had the highest viewership).
EA Sports FC 26’s debut week delivered a major impact on live-streaming platforms, cracking 23M hours watched in just one week. The title maintained a strong 138K average viewership, with streams peaking at 443K concurrent viewers as fans tuned in to watch early-access gameplay. Encouragingly, streamers dedicated over 275K hours of airtime which reflects both high creator interest and consistent audience demand. This strong performance highlights the enduring dominance of EA’s football franchise, reinforcing its position as one of the most reliable sports titles for driving significant audience engagement.
To understand how this early support for the title came together, it’s important to look at the creators who carried much of that momentum. German and English-speaking creators were at the heart of EA Sports FC 26’s streaming success: Leading the charge was eliasn97, who generated an impressive 3.3M hours watched, followed by DjMaRiiO at 1.2M. Beyond Twitch and YouTube, Kick also made its mark, with Maherco (274K) and KLO25 (261K) breaking into the top ten. This spread of top performers highlights both EA’s international pull and the growing role of multiple platforms in amplifying launch visibility.
EA Sports FC Continues to Thrive Year-Over-Year After Losing FIFA Connection
This success builds on the franchise’s history of strong debuts across the last several years. Despite parting ways with the FIFA license after 2022, EA has managed to maintain a strong interest in its football franchise. FIFA 22 set the benchmark with 40.9M hours watched at launch, but that number is inflated by the pandemic-era surge in demand for live-streaming overall. Keeping that in mind, it’s impressive that EA Sports FC 24 followed closely behind with 36.2M (10.1M of which came from the first couple days of streamer access alone!)
One can’t help but notice that FC 25 and FC 26 have seen decreasing live-streaming interest over their early access period, however. This may be a sign that EA needs to take bolder moves to maintain interest in the franchise. In our previous article on Sports Games and sports events in 2024, we saw how EA Sports FC titles are dominating the market. EA may feel they can rest on their laurels, but the rapidly diversifying gaming landscape is sure to pop out with some serious competitors in the coming years.
One striking trend across EA’s football series is that older titles can sometimes generate meaningful hours watched even after newer editions launch. For example, FIFA 21 maintained strong quarterly viewership well into 2022, while FIFA 22 sustained high engagement through 2023. It’s like a baton pass each year, as streamers consistently upgrade to the latest entry in the franchise. A yearly purchase of a new game is totally justifiable for these content creators, but it would be interesting to see if their viewers also feel pressured to purchase each new year’s edition as it comes out thanks to these streamers’ habits.
The most curious outlier in this data comes from FIFA 20, which unexpectedly spiked back up in 2023 despite being several years old. This resurgence can be traced back to EA’s announcement that online services for FIFA 20 (and other legacy titles) would shut down in November 2023. In the months leading up to the closure, creators and communities flocked back to the game for “farewell” streams, nostalgic FUT sessions, and last-chance challenges before servers went offline. These events drove a concentrated burst of attention, pushing FIFA 20 back into the spotlight. This outlier highlights how EA’s football games don’t vanish once replaced; instead, legacy editions can resurface around key moments… perhaps EA should consider trying to stir up more interest in their older franchise entries?
Skate 4 Offers Uses Creators to Redefine its Image as “Second Fiddle” to Tony Hawk
As seen, EA Sports titles are already well-established franchises that are frontrunners in their respective sports. For most publishers looking to enter the space, it might be more helpful to look at one of EA’s franchises that hasn’t historically been the most popular entry in its field. And for that, we can turn to the recent release of Skate 4.
While Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater has been the go-to franchise for skateboarding games in the past, EA managed to reassert itself with the release of Skate 4. Incredibly, most of this hype came from a single ad: Back at Summer Games Fest 2024, EA released an ad for Skate 4 starring comedian Tim Robinson. This ad was a big hit: Chat mentions of “Skate” on Special Events streams spiked at around 11.7K mentions in June 2024. Of course, we limited this analysis to only Special Event streams to minimize the effect of the word “skate” being mentioned in other contexts.
Other than this massive spike, pre-release hype for Skate 4 as measured by chat mentions was fairly low. It wasn’t until June 2025 that momentum was rebuilt ahead of July’s open playtest, reaching ~2.9K mentions. No doubt this renewed attention was driven by creators and communities requesting keys and comparing footage. This pattern suggests publishers should architect “moments” rather than rely on a steady drip: anchor a comedic, creator-friendly spot in a high-traffic showcase, then follow up with hands-on beats (such as playtests, creator challenges, or co-streamed sessions).
Note: The smaller December 2024 peak came from outside Skate 4 entirely. That week coincided with the SLS Super Crown World Championship finals in São Paulo, a major skateboarding competition.
Skate 4’s promotional campaign wasn’t just based on one ad of course: It blended credibility from professional skaters with the scale of gaming creators. At the top, gamer ZexyZek provided a reach across all of his social platforms of 2.9M followers, with his viral Instagram post showcasing his first session with the game reaching 295M impressions. By comparison, even the most popular skateboarder in the campaign, Ishod Wair, has 1.2M followers across his socials – less than half that of ZexyZek. Still, Ishod Wait, Sean Malto (1.1M), and Atiba Jefferson (472K) brought authenticity to the rollout, underscoring how hybrid creator strategies can extend hype beyond traditional gaming audiences.
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The launches of EA Sports FC 26 and Skate 4 highlight how vital creators have become in driving visibility for Sports Games on live-streaming platforms. From German and English-speaking streamers fuelling FC 26’s massive debut to skateboarding pros and gaming influencers teaming up for Skate 4’s early access, creator-led content delivered both scale and authenticity. These campaigns show that when publishers combine broad-reach gaming personalities with niche voices tied to the sport itself, they can activate audiences well beyond traditional players. It will be interesting to see other publishers adopt these strategies in the coming years.
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