Street Fighter 6 is approaching the end of its first year since release, and to mark the occasion Capcom has released the last fighter of its Year 1 roster: The Demon Akuma. The official trailer showcases Akuma’s rage-fuelled abilities, piquing the interest of the game’s fanbase.
To give players a chance to whet their appetites, Capcom announced a Twitch Plays event to coincide with Akuma’s release on the 22nd of May. For those unfamiliar with the concept, Twitch Plays is a setup in which the entire viewing community can control a character on-screen using chat messages (the most famous example being the original Twitch Plays Pokémon back in February 2014). In this case, the official Capcom USA channel allowed players to jointly control Akuma in a chaotic, frenzied event.
Players Jump at the Chance to Play Street Fighter 6’s New Character Akuma
The Twitch Plays Akuma event was a phenomenal success. On the day of the event, 1.6M hours of Street Fighter 6 content was watched with a peak viewership of 133K. This marked a jump of 123% from just 743K hours watched the day prior. Perhaps even more impressively, 4.8K unique channels created Street Fighter 6 content during the day, many of them covering the Twitch Plays event (along with a host of Japanese-speaking streamers participating in other events hosted by Capcom).
The overwhelming popularity of the event most likely comes down to the dedication of the Street Fighter 6 community. EVO Tokyo, for example, showcased the best fighting game talent from around the world in April of 2024, with Street Fighter 6 as its main event on the tournament’s final day. Junichi Kato’s Hyper Game Tournament similarly featured Street Fighter 6 as the headline attraction. While speculators often lament the fighting genre’s declining demand on live-streaming platforms as it cedes ground to MOBAs and Shooters, this string of well-viewed events suggests that the genre has life in it yet.
Keeping up this trend is crucial for Capcom, for which Street Fighter 6 is currently their third most popular game on live streaming. Thanks to community events like Twitch Plays Akuma, Capcom is keeping its fans excited for future content. Stream Hatchet will watch as publishers continue to promote their games through live-streaming events.
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