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When FromSoftware plunged into the open world arena with Elden Ring in February 2022, they gave the fans a fully fleshed-out, lore-driven action RPG experience. With the fantasy nuance of George RR Martin’s contributions and the refined gameplay of their previous titles, Elden Ring was an instant success.
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Two years on, the trailer for Elden Ring’s DLC has sparked fans’ interest once again. The trailer dropped on YouTube on the 21st of February, drawing viewers to the platform. The DLC, titled “Shadow of the Erdtree”, pits the player against Queen Marika’s son, Messmer, loading out the player with new weapons and a new combat progression system to use against a rogue’s gallery of new bosses.
Streaming demand followed on the heels of the trailer’s release, highlighting once again the necessity of new content for reinvigorating old titles and proving that Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s powerhouse in the streaming space.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree prompted a rush of viewership not only on its premiere platform YouTube, but on other streaming sites as well. In just the first day since the trailer’s release, Elden Ring streams hit 802K hours watched across Twitch, YouTube and Kick. Two days later, hours watched peaked at 1.4M hours watched on these platforms as hype built with news spreading of the trailer’s quality.
This surge of interest was mainly due to more viewers tuning in rather than increased streamer attention. Airtime hours for Elden Ring across the three platforms rose by 40% from the 14th of February to the 21st of February, while hours watched rose by 287% over the same period. From this data, it seems that Elden Ring’s DLC trailer was enough to pull more casual fans of the series and interested onlookers onto streaming platforms.
These two led the pack by far over other streamers, perhaps due to their brand name recognition. zackrawrr (Asmongold) has remained a go-to streamer for video game coverage due to his early success with World of Warcraft. HasanAbi, meanwhile, is better known for his social and political commentary. It may be that his viewership for the Elden Ring stream was, in part, due to other content during the stream, such as his coverage of the UN ceasefire talks.
Despite no new content having actually been released yet, Elden Ring’s DLC trailer was enough to propel the game into the top 20 most watched games on streaming platforms. The game hit #13 with 4.5M hours watched from the 21st to the 26th of February, jumping 22 spots from the five-days before the trailer drop. For perspective, that’s just 700K hours less than legacy streaming giant Minecraft at #12 and roughly one-sixth of the hours watched for Grand Theft Auto V in the #1 spot (at 29.7M). The strength of the Elden Ring trailer’s performance suggests that the game could pip the top 3 games upon the DLC’s release in June of this year.
Crucially, this spike in interest reminds us just how integral a good trailer is to the success of a game’s promotion. The trailer put lore first-and-foremost with its professional voiceover, understanding what draws fans to the series. Combined with visual clues as to new gameplay features, the trailer generated speculation on streaming platforms as viewers scrambled to decipher what new content would be introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree. This drove chat mentions of “Erdtree” on Twitch to a whopping 6.4K on the trailer’s release day, up 863% from the prior day.
Elden Ring has been FromSoftware’s most popular game on streaming platforms. While its success may partially be due to publisher name recognition, the overwhelming demand for the game eclipses all of its other titles’ performance upon release. In the first 30 days after Elden Ring’s release on the 25th of February 2022, the game amassed 203M hours watched across Twitch, YouTube and Facebook Live. This is almost 15 times the hours watched for Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon in its 30 days release period (13.8M) despite the game having the same FromSoftware notoriety.
Elden Ring even overshadows well-renowned titles in the FromSoftware library. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice had just 1M hours watched upon its release, while their breakout game Dark Souls had 11M hours upon the release of its remaster in May 2018. Perhaps due to its open world nature, deep lore, and epic scope, Elden Ring remains popular among streamers even two years after its release while FromSoftware’s other titles lag behind. The game’s popularity may also be an after-effect of increased pandemic-era viewing, with hours watched peaking in 2021 at 34B.
Given the success of the Elden Ring DLC trailer, one can expect the DLC’s release on the 21st of June 2024 to cause an even larger surge in demand. FromSoftware’s President Hidetaka Miyazaki has promised a world at least as large as the original’s Limgrave in this new DLC, ensuring Shadow of the Erdtree will provide plenty of content for streamers. Stream Hatchet will be keeping an eye on the game’s performance as future trailers drop in the lead up to release.
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As we move into the hottest part of
Few streamers can claim to have shaped the
Games Done Quick (GDQ) is an institution in
