Twitch streamers are practically celebrities in their own rights. For game streamers, that means their fan base follow their games, absorb their opinions, and they even get sponsorship deals. So when a major streamer slams a game for being crap, people sit up and listen.
"I'm not playing this," he told his viewers. "This is fucking stupid. I don't even care. I'm not dealing with this shit, it's a waste of my time."
Take Michael Grzesiek, a former CS:GO pro who streams under the handle 'Shroud'. Now Shroud is one of the most recognisable names on Twitch, streaming full-time everyday. He's played a lot of battle royale games like PUBG, Fortnite, Call of Duty Black Ops 4, Apex Legends, and more. But he's only badmouthed one of them repeatedly so far.
Recently, Shroud went off against Apex Legends, deciding to abandon the newest entry to the genre to return to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. That switch was short-lived though, as the streamer lost his temper with the long-running game.
That session, Shroud was hit with two instances of lag during his first two games. Then, while still in the lobby for his third match, his game lagged again. Shroud had had enough, and shut down the game.
Mind you, Shroud had said just three days previously that he was thinking of quitting Apex Legends for good and returning to PUBG, also thanks to in-game glitches and issues. "PUBG's in a really good state right now," he said at the time.
But after his PUBG pains, he immediately ended up going back to Apex Legends for the rest of the stream to get his battle royale fix. Whether he'll return long-term is anyone's guess.
For competing games like these, the opinions and comments of someone like Shroud are very important. He draws an average of about 30,000 viewers for every stream, each of which are for a few hours at a time. All of these people are watching him, some for entertainment and some for research on improving their game. And any moves he makes from one game to another is likely to bring thousands of other with him.
Right now, Apex Legends' developer might be happy that Shroud is playing their game. But it's not great for them if the game is his second choice just because PUBG is acting up.
