• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 10:51
CET 15:51
KST 23:51
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
2026 KongFu Cup Announcement3BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled12Blizzard Classic Cup - Tastosis announced as captains15Weekly Cups (March 2-8): ByuN overcomes PvT block4GSL CK - New online series19
StarCraft 2
General
GSL CK - New online series BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled Blizzard Classic Cup - Tastosis announced as captains BGE Stara Zagora 2026 announced ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT
Tourneys
RSL Season 4 announced for March-April PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament 2026 KongFu Cup Announcement [GSL CK] Team Maru vs. Team herO
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 516 Specter of Death Mutation # 515 Together Forever Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BSL 22 Map Contest — Submissions OPEN to March 10 ASL21 General Discussion Are you ready for ASL 21? Hype VIDEO Gypsy to Korea
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL22] Open Qualifiers & Ladder Tours IPSL Spring 2026 is here! ASL Season 21 Qualifiers March 7-8
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread PC Games Sales Thread No Man's Sky (PS4 and PC)
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Five o'clock TL Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Mexico's Drug War Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine NASA and the Private Sector
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread General nutrition recommendations Cricket [SPORT] TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 3059 users

Where are all the streamers?

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
United States1880 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-03 05:02:45
January 02 2025 19:14 GMT
#1
Am I the only one noticing streams from pro players has actually declined over the years? You would think with less tournaments and less prize money this would, if anything, incentivize professional players to diversify their income and either stream or put out more content but it doesn't seem to be the case. Are most players treating this as just an off-season or vacation or what do you guys think is going on?
Remember that we all come from a place of passion!!
TequilaMockingbird
Profile Joined February 2013
Germany64 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-03 05:06:30
January 02 2025 20:08 GMT
#2
"You would think with less tournaments and less prize money this would, if anything, incentivize professional players to diversify their income and either stream or put out more content but"

Well I, personally, would think that many people go look for other opportunities. Be it other games, or college, or playing poker or some kind of regular job. I don`t want to beat the "dead game" horse any more into the ground right now but well... you said it yourself.
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33571 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-02 21:49:06
January 02 2025 21:47 GMT
#3
Well, you're asking two questions about different time frames: "over the years," and this current off-season.

Over the years, the pro-player base has been slowly shrinking, so inevitably there's going to be less streamers than before.

As for this current off-season, I think most players (and honestly, everyone in the community) are just in a holding pattern waiting on some official announcement before they make any big decisions. If you're not one of the TOP pros, you have to commit to a lot of regular streaming to make meaningful money, and I can see why no one is eager to do it 'just for fun' during the off-season. That's more of a big career decision you make AFTER you know what's happening to the SC2 scene.
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
kAra
Profile Joined September 2004
Germany1402 Posts
January 03 2025 09:20 GMT
#4
seems like money was mostly keeping this game alive, not people actually enjoy playing it
mada mada dane
ProTech1
Profile Joined April 2015
38 Posts
January 03 2025 09:35 GMT
#5
Very likely won't be many streamers this year either as Twitch has gutted our ad revenue by 90%. You need to stream 200+ hours a month to even come close to paying your bills.

For korean pros, you might be able to find them on Afreeca, as Twitch has closed all business operations for Korean twitch users entirely, but SC2 doesn't have much a fan-base in Korea so I doubt people will spend much time trying to make a streaming career with the game. Most of them have gone back to SC1 as the game still has a huge viewer base.
Balnazza
Profile Joined January 2018
Germany1274 Posts
January 03 2025 18:07 GMT
#6
On January 03 2025 18:35 ProTech1 wrote:
Very likely won't be many streamers this year either as Twitch has gutted our ad revenue by 90%. You need to stream 200+ hours a month to even come close to paying your bills.

For korean pros, you might be able to find them on Afreeca, as Twitch has closed all business operations for Korean twitch users entirely, but SC2 doesn't have much a fan-base in Korea so I doubt people will spend much time trying to make a streaming career with the game. Most of them have gone back to SC1 as the game still has a huge viewer base.


Are you refering to the Twitch Adpocalypse who turned out to be mostly a hoax?
"Wenn die Zauberin runter geht, dann macht sie die Beine breit" - Khaldor, trying to cast WC3 German-only
yubo56
Profile Joined May 2014
690 Posts
January 03 2025 18:58 GMT
#7
On January 04 2025 03:07 Balnazza wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 03 2025 18:35 ProTech1 wrote:
Very likely won't be many streamers this year either as Twitch has gutted our ad revenue by 90%. You need to stream 200+ hours a month to even come close to paying your bills.

For korean pros, you might be able to find them on Afreeca, as Twitch has closed all business operations for Korean twitch users entirely, but SC2 doesn't have much a fan-base in Korea so I doubt people will spend much time trying to make a streaming career with the game. Most of them have gone back to SC1 as the game still has a huge viewer base.


Are you refering to the Twitch Adpocalypse who turned out to be mostly a hoax?

Hoax seems to be a bit strong of a word, sounds like there were legitimate misconfigurations from streamers that resulted in real decreased ad revenue? Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/1gu92xn/whats_going_on_with_supposed_twitch_adpocalypse/lxtub9c/

But also, in response to OP, yeah, korean pros not being on Twitch due to Twitch pulling out KR really hurts the streaming scene
Jung Yoon Jong fighting, even after retirement! Feel better soon.
ZombieGrub
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
United States714 Posts
January 03 2025 19:52 GMT
#8
On January 03 2025 18:20 kAra wrote:
seems like money was mostly keeping this game alive, not people actually enjoy playing it


Because everyone involved in SC was making so much money.

Streaming is different than playing or casting. Many people don't want to be streamers or content creators, but instead want to compete or watch competitions, or they enjoy SC without streaming. Technically one could stream without a webcam or mic, and some do, but it's not very fruitful is it? No one likes streaming when chat is at 0 interaction and you're better off just playing the game you like off-stream.

To the OP - some are taking it as a vacation, some are questioning further commitment without the esports scene since that what they've staked their livelihood on, and some are just reeling from their identity as a "SC person" being in question now. It makes the situation look especially bad which sucks, but this is/could be a colossal shift in StarCraft's identity and it's going to push the hardcore-esports side of things out. Maybe people who do simply enjoy laddering/streaming/content creation will emerge, but since SC2 was born super intertwined with esports and competition, it's gonna take a hit when that is gone.
Commentator"Defeat is the acceptance of my own laziness." - SlayerS_'Boxer'
Kreuger
Profile Joined October 2011
Sweden845 Posts
January 03 2025 20:29 GMT
#9
On January 03 2025 18:20 kAra wrote:
seems like money was mostly keeping this game alive, not people actually enjoy playing it


Im pretty sure alot of regular people are still playing it just for fun.

Lots of pros are playing aswell, thinking that since they dont stream they arent playing is kinda stupid.

And ofc money is a huge incentive, when talking about pros that pretty much is what they live from.

HornyHerring
Profile Joined March 2011
Papua New Guinea1059 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-04 00:40:41
January 04 2025 00:35 GMT
#10
It's only natural. It's a 15 year old game, with the last big update coming 10 years ago. RTS is already a niche game and not very appealing to the younger crowd. With lack of interest from the developers and sponsors, lack of new players the streamer scene is dwindling the same way the player numbers are. Moving on to other things, other games, it's normal you wont see the same amount of streamers as you did years ago. Fewer players = Fewer viewers = Fewer streamers.

EDIT: Just checked on twitch. There are 688 viewers right now. Why would the streamers stream this game?
oh, hai
BonitiilloO
Profile Joined June 2013
Dominican Republic627 Posts
January 04 2025 06:59 GMT
#11
i have alway wonder why top sc2 players do not stream like Pro players do in Broodwar?
How may help u?
Die4Ever
Profile Joined August 2010
United States17726 Posts
January 06 2025 08:58 GMT
#12
Zoun has been streaming lately, he's streaming right now
https://www.twitch.tv/zoun9999
"Expert" mods4ever.com
PsiBlade1010
Profile Joined May 2021
13 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-10 16:14:21
January 10 2025 16:03 GMT
#13
Im a pretty late (started watching around 2018) and mostly casual sc2 fan (dia player) and i never could understand the whole streaming meta. I think most sc2 fans are older, meaning adults, meaning most of the time work/dealing with life. i personally , as before mentioned adult person , dont see how i could make time to watch regularly streams and also play sc2 and watch tournament games. For me youtube videos is how i watch sc2 content, it seems much more condensed and not time dependent.

There is a ton of awesome sc2 youtubers
CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
United States1880 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-10 21:30:35
January 10 2025 21:22 GMT
#14
On January 11 2025 01:03 PsiBlade1010 wrote:
Im a pretty late (started watching around 2018) and mostly casual sc2 fan (dia player) and i never could understand the whole streaming meta. I think most sc2 fans are older, meaning adults, meaning most of the time work/dealing with life. i personally , as before mentioned adult person , dont see how i could make time to watch regularly streams and also play sc2 and watch tournament games. For me youtube videos is how i watch sc2 content, it seems much more condensed and not time dependent.

There is a ton of awesome sc2 youtubers

well i think the biggest factor is not everyone has a family. even if we are older viewers you still get a decent amount of free time. lets say 8 hours a day for work, 1 hour for commute 7 hours for??? food prep, laundry, cleaning. even all of that doesn't take 7 hours. and you can say socialize, well, are you going out every day? if adults are as busy as you claim how can they go out every day? on weekends would be more likely, but even then, are you hanging out for 16 hours? tbh i dont get YOUR point of view just because youre an adult u cant watch streams regularly? for a lot of people its a hobby, and one with over 10 years of history following. people make time for what they like.
Remember that we all come from a place of passion!!
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland26360 Posts
January 11 2025 01:04 GMT
#15
I think many of the natural entertaining streamers have transitioned better to YouTube content than grinding out livestreams.

Guys like Harstem for example, or uThermal. You get better bang for your buck collecting a bunch of material, editing it decently and sticking out digestible material than trying to do that with marathon streams.

I’m still personally interested in watching top tier players just stream gameplay but I’m unsure it really pays much in terms of bills and it gives a lot of your habits away for the real serious tournament contenders
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Antithesis
Profile Joined August 2010
Germany1235 Posts
January 11 2025 04:22 GMT
#16
On January 11 2025 06:22 CicadaSC wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 11 2025 01:03 PsiBlade1010 wrote:
Im a pretty late (started watching around 2018) and mostly casual sc2 fan (dia player) and i never could understand the whole streaming meta. I think most sc2 fans are older, meaning adults, meaning most of the time work/dealing with life. i personally , as before mentioned adult person , dont see how i could make time to watch regularly streams and also play sc2 and watch tournament games. For me youtube videos is how i watch sc2 content, it seems much more condensed and not time dependent.

There is a ton of awesome sc2 youtubers

well i think the biggest factor is not everyone has a family. even if we are older viewers you still get a decent amount of free time. lets say 8 hours a day for work, 1 hour for commute 7 hours for??? food prep, laundry, cleaning. even all of that doesn't take 7 hours. and you can say socialize, well, are you going out every day? if adults are as busy as you claim how can they go out every day? on weekends would be more likely, but even then, are you hanging out for 16 hours? tbh i dont get YOUR point of view just because youre an adult u cant watch streams regularly? for a lot of people its a hobby, and one with over 10 years of history following. people make time for what they like.

You're misunderstanding his point. He says that the format of a SC2 gaming stream is ill-suited to anyone with an active lifestyle. Also it's funny how you portray a healthy adult life as an anomaly, lol.

A stream is a long session of mostly nondescript games from the first-person view with limited and often sporadic commentary. It tells no coherent story, nor is it particularly entertaining throughout. And it is only live according to a schedule. Of course, streams are great if you're interested in the ins and outs of the gameplay, or if you enjoy connecting to the player, or if you like to kill time by hanging out in the chat. But nothing of this is of interest to someone with a busy life who can make room for an hour or so of watching SC2 content every other day.

In contrast, SC2 casts on YouTube are pointed and entertaining; they tell a story and have a beginning and an end; they are always available; and they usually do not require more than 30-45 minutes.

And by the way, the fact that he's right is in the numbers. It is the point of this thread that relatively few people watch SC2 streams anymore (excluding tournaments, of course). But mainstream SC2 YouTubers like Winter and Lowko post daily or nearly daily videos still consistently achieving thousands and tens of thousands or more views.
Mutation complete.
CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
United States1880 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-11 07:39:24
January 11 2025 07:37 GMT
#17
On January 11 2025 13:22 Antithesis wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 11 2025 06:22 CicadaSC wrote:
On January 11 2025 01:03 PsiBlade1010 wrote:
Im a pretty late (started watching around 2018) and mostly casual sc2 fan (dia player) and i never could understand the whole streaming meta. I think most sc2 fans are older, meaning adults, meaning most of the time work/dealing with life. i personally , as before mentioned adult person , dont see how i could make time to watch regularly streams and also play sc2 and watch tournament games. For me youtube videos is how i watch sc2 content, it seems much more condensed and not time dependent.

There is a ton of awesome sc2 youtubers

well i think the biggest factor is not everyone has a family. even if we are older viewers you still get a decent amount of free time. lets say 8 hours a day for work, 1 hour for commute 7 hours for??? food prep, laundry, cleaning. even all of that doesn't take 7 hours. and you can say socialize, well, are you going out every day? if adults are as busy as you claim how can they go out every day? on weekends would be more likely, but even then, are you hanging out for 16 hours? tbh i dont get YOUR point of view just because youre an adult u cant watch streams regularly? for a lot of people its a hobby, and one with over 10 years of history following. people make time for what they like.

You're misunderstanding his point. He says that the format of a SC2 gaming stream is ill-suited to anyone with an active lifestyle. Also it's funny how you portray a healthy adult life as an anomaly, lol.

A stream is a long session of mostly nondescript games from the first-person view with limited and often sporadic commentary. It tells no coherent story, nor is it particularly entertaining throughout. And it is only live according to a schedule. Of course, streams are great if you're interested in the ins and outs of the gameplay, or if you enjoy connecting to the player, or if you like to kill time by hanging out in the chat. But nothing of this is of interest to someone with a busy life who can make room for an hour or so of watching SC2 content every other day.

In contrast, SC2 casts on YouTube are pointed and entertaining; they tell a story and have a beginning and an end; they are always available; and they usually do not require more than 30-45 minutes.

And by the way, the fact that he's right is in the numbers. It is the point of this thread that relatively few people watch SC2 streams anymore (excluding tournaments, of course). But mainstream SC2 YouTubers like Winter and Lowko post daily or nearly daily videos still consistently achieving thousands and tens of thousands or more views.

Work, house chores, shopping, food prep, socialization. Those are the gist of it no? Excluding a family which I mentioned. What part is funny? And I'm genuinely asking because I can't think of what else "normal" people do. In this scenario, if you include hobbies, that's where I plugged in gaming.
Remember that we all come from a place of passion!!
PsiBlade1010
Profile Joined May 2021
13 Posts
January 11 2025 09:13 GMT
#18
I dont have my own family either . But I cant see finiding time to watch streams, and your calculation of adult life seems a bit lacking for me. if you count 8 hours work, hygiene (shower, washing etc), food preparation, food eating, at least 30 minutes physical activity,daily house chores, shopping, bills, at least abit of social life, a bit of other hobbies... It all adds up.

If yuo find time for watchign streams regularly , im happy for you. For me it seems impossible.
PsiBlade1010
Profile Joined May 2021
13 Posts
January 11 2025 09:16 GMT
#19
On January 11 2025 13:22 Antithesis wrote:

You're misunderstanding his point. He says that the format of a SC2 gaming stream is ill-suited to anyone with an active lifestyle. Also it's funny how you portray a healthy adult life as an anomaly, lol.

A stream is a long session of mostly nondescript games from the first-person view with limited and often sporadic commentary. It tells no coherent story, nor is it particularly entertaining throughout. And it is only live according to a schedule. Of course, streams are great if you're interested in the ins and outs of the gameplay, or if you enjoy connecting to the player, or if you like to kill time by hanging out in the chat. But nothing of this is of interest to someone with a busy life who can make room for an hour or so of watching SC2 content every other day.

In contrast, SC2 casts on YouTube are pointed and entertaining; they tell a story and have a beginning and an end; they are always available; and they usually do not require more than 30-45 minutes.

And by the way, the fact that he's right is in the numbers. It is the point of this thread that relatively few people watch SC2 streams anymore (excluding tournaments, of course). But mainstream SC2 YouTubers like Winter and Lowko post daily or nearly daily videos still consistently achieving thousands and tens of thousands or more views.


Thank yuo for putting to words better then me what i meant, thats pretty much the gist of it.

Thikning more upon it, maybe streaming was more fitting when sc2 community was young and had more time, nowadays, imho yuotube content seems more fitting. I might be wrong ofc, thats just my view.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Team League
12:00
Group B
WardiTV916
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
MindelVK 42
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 56136
Calm 16515
firebathero 6934
Horang2 2449
GuemChi 1795
Jaedong 1768
BeSt 477
Mini 431
EffOrt 414
Stork 323
[ Show more ]
Rush 263
Soma 248
actioN 138
Dewaltoss 117
Last 106
Mind 80
ToSsGirL 73
Backho 52
sorry 39
Barracks 37
JulyZerg 35
Hm[arnc] 32
IntoTheRainbow 29
Nal_rA 24
GoRush 19
Terrorterran 11
ivOry 11
NaDa 9
SilentControl 8
Dota 2
Gorgc5946
BananaSlamJamma137
League of Legends
Rex50
Counter-Strike
fl0m1383
x6flipin410
kRYSTAL_31
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor348
Liquid`Hasu227
Other Games
B2W.Neo2605
Liquid`RaSZi1105
byalli615
DeMusliM258
KnowMe179
Fuzer 169
Hui .168
Mew2King71
crisheroes42
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream15120
Other Games
gamesdonequick881
ComeBackTV 258
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 19
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 7
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 74
• musti20045 37
• poizon28 13
• Adnapsc2 9
• sooper7s
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 33
• iopq 1
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1481
Upcoming Events
Patches Events
2h 10m
BSL
5h 10m
GSL
17h 10m
Wardi Open
21h 10m
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 2h
WardiTV Team League
1d 21h
PiGosaur Cup
2 days
Kung Fu Cup
2 days
OSC
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
[ Show More ]
KCM Race Survival
3 days
WardiTV Team League
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
KCM Race Survival
4 days
WardiTV Team League
4 days
Korean StarCraft League
5 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
6 days
BSL
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-13
WardiTV Winter 2026
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
BSL Season 22
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

CSL Elite League 2026
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
2026 Changsha Offline CUP
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
NationLESS Cup
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.