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Where are all the streamers?

Forum Index > SC2 General
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CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
United States1619 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 States33349 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
Germany1360 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
Germany1141 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
687 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 States697 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
Sweden705 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 Republic614 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 States17671 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 States1619 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 Ireland25075 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
Germany1154 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 States1619 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.
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