WoW Classic Is Back To The Tune Of A Million Twitch Viewers
Published: Aug 27, 2019 - Last Updated: Aug 28, 2019
Who would’ve thought a 15-year-old game could blow up in 2019?
Well, if you’ve been staying up to date with World of Warcraft news since the original WoW Classic announcement, you’ve probably had a hunch things could go this way. The game gained a ton of traction during the beta test and name reservation phases.
But since its release yesterday, the World of Warcraft craze is only getting stronger.
WoW Classic: Return to Azeroth
The best evidence of this comes from Twitch, a popular live streaming website among gamers. After all, it has only been a couple of hours since the WoW Classic release, and the World of Warcraft section already reached over a million concurrent viewers! Some of this can be attributed to influencers. Popular streamers and personalities like Asmongold and Sodapoppin started out as World of Warcraft content creators, and many are excited to see them go back to their roots.
Other streamers have also jumped on the hype train. For instance, Shroud, who has always been more of a first-person-shooter player, has embarked on a journey to Azeroth. The same could be said about LIRIK, a prominent streamer that’s best known for his variety gameplay. Meanwhile, the top World of Warcraft guild Method is hosting a WoW Classic race to world first and streaming it on Twitch, which certainly adds to the game’s viewership.
Now, the biggest question is whether this success can last. Maintaining a million concurrent viewers is next to impossible, and WoW Classic’s viewership has already dropped to half of that number. It’s also unclear how much of this interest comes from nostalgia and the wish to relive World of Warcraft’s glory days through the eyes of prominent streamers.
Of course, WoW won’t be the same game it was in 2004. Gaming has evolved a lot since then, and you can expect to see a lot of new takes on PvP and PvE content in the World of Warcraft meta. And while the Twitch viewer drop-off is almost inevitable, players will derive a lot of enjoyment from finding new ways to experience the game they know and love.
Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.
