Last week, The Game Awards set new livestream records by reaching an impressive 7.5 million concurrent viewers across all platforms. On top of that, the total livestreams for the show tallied up to 45.2 million, a whopping 73% increase from last year’s 26.2 million. Considering Fortnite’s insanely popular Black Hole event peaked at 7 million concurrent viewers, and the Fortnite World Cup peaked at 2.3 million concurrent viewers, The Game Awards’ 2019 numbers are no small feat.
No doubt a large pull for the awards show was the smattering of big-time celebrities who helped host the event. Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry made a brief cameo to announce the winner of the Best Esports Player award; Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez awkwardly announced Fast and Furious Crossroads; CHVRCHES, Grimes, and Green Day each put on live musical performances throughout the show.
Other massive draws for the show included the official announcement of the Xbox Series X, the fourth generation of the Xbox – as well as the success of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which won the esteemed Game of The Year award.
Despite the large turnout and significant support for The Game Awards this year, that didn’t stop people from noticing the absence of some key figures, however.
For starters, Shroud wasn’t present during the event, despite winning the coveted Content Creator of the Year award. This prompted a decent response from viewers, including Dr Disrespect’s comical mocking of the streamer for allegedly being ignorant to the happenings of the show.
Another notable absence from the event was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate creator Masahiro Sakurai, the game winning the Best Fighting Game award (nominated for three others). After he found out about the success, he tweeted his thanks and clarified that he was hard at work throughout the show.
Nevertheless, the increased viewership this year around is a testament to the uptick in interest towards video games; Whether going mainstream is good or bad, it is very encouraging to see the gaming industry continue to flourish.
Source: Gameindustry.biz, Twitter
