At TwitchCon, I Learned the Secret of Why Some Twitch Games Become Smash Hits

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Twitch got its start as a gaming-focused offshoot of Justin.TV. While games are still prominently showcased on the front page, it’s the “just chatting” category that tends to dominate.

It could be why there was a limited selection of developers showcasing their games, compared to the many companies showcasing streaming hardware and technology at TwitchCon 2025. 

However, Twitch is still a video game streaming site at heart, and going viral on the platform can mean substantial riches for game makers.

Of the handful of developers present at the semi-annual Twitch convention in San Diego earlier in October, many were focused on communal experiences. It makes sense, given that in 2025, titles like Peak and Baby Steps, which intentionally use awkward controls for over-the-top reactions, dominated the platform.

It’s impossible to predict which game might go viral on Twitch, but there are some trends among the successes to look out for. 

The venerable online shooter Fortnite is seen as a Twitch darling, remaining a top title eight years after release. Before it took over Twitch, Fortnite was a base-building game with crafting mechanics when it launched in 2017. Its developer, Epic Games, quickly released a new mode with a battle royale gimmick, similar to PUBG’s popular model. It pits one player against 99 others, all vying to be the last one standing. That quick reaction to trends helped Fortnite succeed. 

Among Us, Minecraft and Escape from Tarkov are other examples of games that started off with one concept, only for the community to influence the design.

Of course, the underlying gameplay of all these hits had to be rewarding and enjoyable, but they also allowed for viral moments where players “popped off” with clutch plays, claiming victory from the jaws of defeat.

Speaking to me on the show floor of the massive, but sparsely attended, San Diego Convention Center, Virgil Watkins, design lead at Embark Studios — makers of the upcoming extraction shooter ARC Raiders — said that viral Twitch games need to have simple starting concepts.

“I think they incorporate a very simple game loop that you can pick up and play and understand very, very quickly, and then kind of discover the depths together,” Watkins said. “The biggest factor is the fact that you generate a lot of really funny stories.”

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Using Twitch to break through the saturated gaming market

Among Us is a social deduction game where players have to identify imposters before they kill their crewmates on a virtual spaceship.

Meta

Video gaming is a big business. It’s the largest entertainment medium, surpassing the movie and music industries combined, according to a 2024 report by Japanese advertising agency Dentsu. 

The global video game market is currently valued at $299 billion and is projected to reach $600 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research. This includes casual online games, mobile games and big-budget console and PC titles. The allure of video game revenues has streaming services jumping in on the action, with both Netflix and Crunchyroll offering game downloads to subscribers. 

At the same time, the video game market is quickly becoming saturated. According to data from SteamDB, approximately 40 to 50 games are released daily on the online PC marketplace Steam, as reported by Kotaku. With the sheer glut of games being released on PC alone, critics, tastemakers and online streamers can help steer audiences toward what’s worth playing. 

And if a game does take off on Twitch, it can mean wild riches for developers. 

When Among Us saw a flash of viral success on Twitch during the COVID-19 pandemic, it propelled the game to stratospheric commercial heights. While developer Innersloth hasn’t released the exact numbers, based on sales data comparing mobile and PC platforms, it’s estimated that the game has generated $105 million in revenue since its launch. That’s excluding merchandising and other IP partnerships. It’s a tremendous amount of money for the four-person development team at Innersloth, although the team has grown since.

What made Among Us work was its simple premise (a round-based murder mystery in space), its communal focus, and the silly visuals of cartoony blobs committing murder. It attracted gamers of all ages and led to never-ending scrolls of viral clips online. 

The developers I spoke to at TwitchCon all said they aren’t intentionally trying to make a viral game for the online livestreaming platform, but they acknowledged they’re taking cues from past successes. They aren’t trying to copy the look and gameplay of prior hits. Instead, they want to replicate the thrilling novelty of viral moments that those games generated.

“I think discovery moments are an important feature, and what I mean by that is, if you always know what you expect to see, it’s like watching a TV show for the third time,” said Mac Reynolds, CEO and co-founder of Night Street Games, which is developing the title Last Flag. Reynolds is also the manager for the pop-rock band Imagine Dragons, in which his brother is the vocalist. 

Reynolds wants Last Flag to be filled with cool moments that dazzle player imaginations and force creative gameplay solutions in the heat of battle.

Generally speaking, for a game to take off on Twitch, experiences must be short, feature a level of randomness for a degree of surprise and have a lot of replayability. Esports titles like League of Legends or Overwatch 2 lend themselves well to Twitch success. Both are highly competitive games in which skilled teams can make fist-biting upsets.

“For me, the unexpectedness of the live experience is what makes it magical,” Reynolds said.

Playing unfinished games early is a feature, not a bug (even if there are bugs)

TwitchCon 2025 booth for the game Task Time.

Imad Khan/CNET

Releasing games in early access also helps. It’s a way for developers to release incomplete games for audiences to test and invest in as they become more feature-complete. 

The ghost-hunting horror game Phasmophobia was released in early access in 2020 by studio Kinetic Games, yet it still doesn’t have an official ship date. Despite its eerie veneer, which could suggest a more niche appeal, it has already reached 25 million total sales.

“The community kind of expects us to make all these massive changes,” said Daniel Knight, managing director and lead developer at Kinetic Games. “So we’ve completely changed the progression system over the early access. We’ve added so much, like more equipment, more maps, ghosts.”

While Phasmophobia isn’t positioning itself as a “live service” game (where there’s a steady stream of content and players are incentivized to continue returning to maximize their rewards), the team does have a roadmap to show players how the game will ultimately progress. 

“Because of early access, we’re allowed to make these massive changes,” Knight said.

Early access also dovetails into building a community during the development process, which helped games like Hades and Hades II establish a wide player base before their official release. It’s these folks jumping in at the ground level that will likely champion the game upon release. 

For developers, maintaining a direct line of communication with their community is crucial, as it can help spread positive vibes and build momentum for the game online. 

The team over at Wired Productions knows this all too well. The developers are currently making the multiplayer party game Task Time, with veterans from studios Boneloaf and Mediatonic, the creators of Gang Beasts and Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, respectively. Fall Guys, in particular, became a massive hit during the pandemic, selling 11 million copies within the first few months of its release and featuring prominently in Twitch streams for a time.

“We’ve already got a player base invested and they know who we are with, they know what the game is, and we know that we’re listening to their ongoing thoughts,” said Sam Clay, communications manager at Wired Productions. 

It’s that dialogue that facilitates a deeper connection between player and developer. “Everyone’s invested — the players become a part of the development as well,” Clay said.

Another element helping games take off on Twitch is Integrations. This feature allows viewers to influence the game that streamers are playing through chat, giving the audience a say in their entertainment. There’s an ever-growing list of these integrated games on Twitch. Task Time will be another title to look out for when it releases next year.

An upcoming title by Austin-based developer Sentinel Games, called Cure — A Hospital Simulator, has some unique Twitch integrations. In the chat, you can become patients, turn into zombies and have certain actions with streamers, like subscriptions, follows and raids, appear in-game. It’ll launch on Steam Early Access in November. 

The It factor is the unexpected

Whether it be one-versus-99 games of tag, whodunnit-style bouts of Mafia or identifying specters in 20-minute increments, all games that have gone viral on Twitch include one thing: the unexpected. 

Each hit game brings something new to the table, remixing familiar elements to give players a novel experience — and, more importantly, one they’re not seeing alone.

Streamers and viewers want to experience uniquely fun moments together and be able to clip and share them with the rest of the internet. 

It’s not too dissimilar from other forms of live entertainment, albeit instead of packing thousands of people into an auditorium, everyone’s participating from their homes. 

Reynolds, who has attended his fair share of concerts over the years managing his brother’s band, knows the power of communal entertainment all too well. 

“It’s the magic of live music, it’s the magic of livestreaming, the reason people go to concerts. The reason people follow something on Twitch is because it’s happening right then, and you never know what that next moment’s gonna be.”