New releases: Most watched PC & console games on Twitch in 2025 (so far)

“Hey Lurkit, what are the most watched new games of this year?”, I hear you cry. Funny you should ask, because that happens to be the subject of our latest blog post.

That’s right, today we’re examining the 2025 releases that have been watched the most on Twitch so far this year. 

You can call this the spiritual successor to our piece from December, which looked at the best-selling new releases of the second half of 2024. Yes, that is a mouthful.

Before we dive in and begin dissecting all the lovely data, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• We’re just looking at new games that were released between 1 January and 30 June 2025.
• This includes full releases and games launched into Early Access.
• Obviously, games released earlier in the year have an advantage, so it’s not exactly a “fair” ranking. There’s still a lot to learn from the data; just take the order of the list with a grain of salt.
• Platforms are PC and console.
• The metric we’ve used is total hours watched via Twitch live streams between January and the end of June.

Got it? Great. Now, let’s begin with everybody’s favorite, a bar chart.

Most watched new releases in 2025 (January to June) - Top 10

Okay. Now let’s have a look at each game in the top 10 in-depth.

1. Monster Hunter Wilds

Hours watched: 60,358,523. Release date: 28 February.

The top-performing new release for 2025 so far is Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds, with just over 60 million hours watched. That’s almost double the amount of Monster Hunter World, which pulled in around 32.6 million in its first six months back in 2018. 

Direct comparisons with the most recent MH game, Rise, are trickier since it had a staggered release across its various platforms. Let’s look at how Rise did in the six months following each version’s launch.

• Switch launch March 2021 - 20.2 million hours watched
• PC launch January 2022 - 16.4 million hours watched
• Xbox & PlayStation launch January 2023 - 5.9 million hours watched

If we were to combine those figures (an imperfect solution, I know), we’re still coming in at almost 20 million fewer hours watched than Wilds.

And while the game has been going great guns on Twitch, things could have gone even better. Wilds’ PC edition has experienced serious performance issues since launch, and these problems persist despite two major updates.

Players have vented their frustrations on the game’s Steam page, which, as of writing, has an Overwhelmingly Negative user rating from its recent reviews. Without these issues, it’s highly likely that more creators would have supported the game.

Still, with two more updates planned before the end of the year, Capcom will be hoping that Wilds' ongoing streaming success translates into more sales. The latest MH title sold 8 million units in its launch weekend and passed the 10 million mark a month later.

While impressive, the game has a long way to go to surpass Rise and World. The latter remains Capcom’s best-selling game of all time, with 21.5 million copies shifted. Its expansion, Iceborne, added a further 15.2 million units.

In fact, World is a game that continues to endure, despite being seven years old. In Q4 of 2024 alone, it sold a million copies.

If Wilds carries on performing well in streaming circles, and with further updates, a resolution to its PC woes and an inevitable 2026 expansion, we could see another long-tail success for Capcom.

2. R.E.P.O.

Hours watched: 51,272,378. Release date: 26 February.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I wasn’t really familiar with R.E.P.O. until I compiled this list. And yet here it is, the second most-watched new game of 2025.

Its second-place position can be explained in part by how early in the year it was released. Out of the top 20, only Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 came out earlier. 

But make no mistake, R.E.P.O. is here on merit. On Steam, Semiwork’s game has almost 200,000 user reviews and an Overwhelmingly Positive rating, something that fewer than 1% of games can boast.

So, what makes R.E.P.O. such a hit?

First off, this is a game you play online with your friends. It’s a place to hang out and socialize. We know that these types of games have grown in popularity in recent years, just look at the incredible success of Among Us during the pandemic. 

And while we’re no longer confined to our homes, a certain appetite for party games has sustained.

Okay, people like playing games with their friends, duh. But they also love watching creators play with their friends. R.E.P.O. has been picked up by the likes of Markiplier, SMii7Yplus and VanossGaming, with each video earning millions of views.

Finally, this is both a fun game to play and a funny game to watch. The cute robots with their mouths that move in sync with player chat, the slapstick physics and the creepy atmosphere all combine to create something that’s just so damn watchable.

Congratulations to the Semiwork team on what is, remarkably, just their second game.

3. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Hours watched: 40,599,603. Release date: 4 February.

Single-player RPGs don’t necessarily find themselves doing big numbers on Twitch, so it’s perhaps a little surprising to see Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 so high up this list.

What’s the story? Simply put, this is a critically acclaimed game and a sequel to a highly regarded one. 

Secondly, developers Warhorse Studios made clever use of Twitch Drops to boost numbers during the game’s launch period. By watching any stream of Deliverance 2, viewers could collect two complete armor sets and a cosmetic item.

It’s impossible to tell how many views this contributed, of course. But, diving into the numbers, we find that of the 40+ million hours watched, almost 35 million of them came during the RPG’s launch month of February.

This suggests that a chunk of Twitch traffic was driven by the game’s early adopters, eager to get their mitts on some swag. Deliverance 2’s hours watched dropped by 90% going into March, and this sharp downward trend continued into the summer.

4. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Hours watched: 37,910,242. Release date: 24 April.

The second single-player RPG on this list and the first Lurkit client! Full disclosure, Expedition 33’s publisher, Kepler Interactive, used our Managed Service, Creator Program and Key Campaign services for the turn-based RPG’s launch.

While we’ll happily take all the credit for Sandfall Interactive’s game's fourth-place position, there’s no doubt that its quality played a huge role.

Interest in the French developer’s game began in June 2024, when it emerged as the surprise standout success in that year’s Xbox Games Showcase. The gorgeous cutscenes, slick FX-filled combat and lush environments gave the impression of a mega-budget Final Fantasy title.

Public attention only grew from there, and the game didn’t disappoint following its release this April. 

How are things looking on the streaming front? As with Deliverance 2, there’s been a drop-off in hours watched after a strong opening month. However, this decline is less steep than Warhorse’s title.

If we take a sneak peek at July’s data, we can see that hours watched are still in the millions. Assuming this trend continues, I would expect Expedition 33 to pass Deliverance 2 before the end of the year.

Got a game you’d like to give the Expedition 33 treatment? Book a demo using the button below.

5. Schedule I

Hours watched: 37,231,156. Release date: 24 March.

Coming in at five is our second indie title. Schedule I has been a massive debut hit for its developer, TVGS, an Australia-based outfit founded just last year, which, on the face of it, employs just a few people.

You might be tempted to attribute its success to its provocative focus on drug dealing. People love to be naughty, after all. But that would be doing it a disservice. This is a polished, well-made title with a moreish gameplay loop.

‍Reportedly, TVGS’s debut game has now sold in the region of 8 million copies. And we can likely credit a lot of this to the role played by creators.

Ahead of its 24 March launch, TVGS released a demo, which ended up in the hands of notable streamers, including xQc, ManuuXO and Anyme023. This led to more creators picking up the game, and interest rapidly snowballed, culminating in the game’s crazy impressive launch a couple of weeks later.

What makes Schedule I such a streaming hit? As with R.E.P.O., the game features online co-op, which naturally lends itself to creators teaming up and streaming together. 

Also like R.E.P.O., this game is funny. There’s something about the juxtaposition of cutesy visuals with violent, taboo content that tickles the audience’s funny bones.

We’ll share one note of caution, though. The decline in viewership on Twitch has been sharp. March and April saw Schedule I bring in 34+ million hours watched. That figure dropped by an enormous 91% in May. June saw another 80% drop, down to around half a million hours.

The word from fans is that Schedule I’s mid-to-late game isn’t as compelling as its opening stages. TVGS plans to address this with a new update slated for this summer. It’ll be interesting to see if this revives streaming interest.

6. Elden Ring: Nightreign

Hours watched: 33,977,059. Release date: 30 May.

Elden Ring: Nightreign is the fourth RPG on the list, although I’d argue that they are wildly different from each other in terms of flavor.

What’s impressive about Nightreign’s sixth-place position is that Bandai Namco’s game only came out at the end of May. Its 34 million hours watched on Twitch is boosted only slightly by a beta test in February, which generated 2.4 million of those hours.

It’s a creditable performance, but there’s a catch. If we hop in our time machine and head back to 2022, we find that Nightreign’s numbers are dwarfed by its elder brother’s.

After launching on 25 February of that year, Elden Ring garnered a staggering 190 million hours watched in its first month. It received a second wind in June 2024 after the release of the expansion Shadow of the Erdtree landed, leading to another 91 million hours watched.

Given that Nightreign has a stronger focus on co-op multiplayer, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it might outperform the older game in streaming terms. But so far, it’s failed even to outstrip ER’s DLC. What’s going on?

First up, it’s important to remember that the original edition was a behemoth. 13.4 million copies sold in its first five weeks, a 96 rating on Metacritic and more GOTY awards than you can shake a broadsword at. In this context, it’s perhaps not surprising that Nightreign hasn’t reached the giddy streaming heights of the older game. Few games do.

‍Nightreign, on the other hand, has been received less well critically, which has gone some way to dampening enthusiasm online. 

Secondly, while it is a standalone title, this isn’t a sequel. It’s essentially a new game mode with emphasis on roguelike gameplay and reused locations and bosses. That isn’t a criticism.

On the contrary, I’d say it’s sensible to save money where you can in the face of rising dev costs. The fact is, this version of the game isn’t to the taste of many fans, and that has had an impact on the online audience size.

Looking at the data we have for July, it’s likely that Nightreign’s hours watched will drop by around 75%. I would expect this downward trend to continue.

7. Dune: Awakening

Hours watched: 25,357,521. Release date: 10 June.

The first survival title on the list and the second Lurkit client. Funcom used the full suite of Lurkit’s tools for Awakening. Paid Campaigns and Quests, Key Campaigns, Creator Program. The whole kit and caboodle. 

We’ll cover a few key details here, but for the full story, check out our case study coming soon.

Although Awakening only launched in June, the 25+ million hours watched figure you see here has been slightly boosted by some pre-release beats.

Firstly, there was the Steam Next Fest demo in February. Although this only featured the game’s character creator and benchmark mode, it still pulled in around 35,000 hours of watch time. A press and creator-only beta in April saw an additional 1.3 million hours, and a public beta in May led to another 3.8 million.

Launch was a success for Funcom, with the game quickly shifting 1,000,000 copies and becoming the Norwegian company’s fastest-selling game ever.

Co-op gameplay, combined with base building and PvP, has pulled in large audiences on Twitch. Viewers love to see creators join forces.

While Awakening can be regarded as a big hit, the game has faced some challenges. Players have criticized the late game, there have been tech problems, including lost progress, and there are issues with the balance between PvE and PvP.

Still, Funcom is in this for the long haul, and we would expect to see sustained Twitch interest in the game throughout the year as the team continues to tweak things under the hood and release new content.

8. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

Hours watched: 25,012,494. Release date: 22 April.

An oldie but a goodie! No, not me, but Oblivion Remastered. The reworking of one of Bethesda’s classic open-world RPGs was one of the worst-kept secrets in games. And yet it was still somewhat surprising to see it announced and launched on the same day this April.

25 million hours watched is a great return for a single-player RPG that many people will have already played back in the day. Much of this interest will have been driven by nostalgia, older players eager to relive their younger days and see what’s new and different from ye olde version.

96% of the game’s hours watched came in April and May. Expect Twitch interest to drop heavily as the year progresses.

9. Mario Kart World

Hours watched: 23,021,491. Release date: 5 June.

The highest placed console-exclusive on the list and the only first-party Switch 2 game, following the console’s launch on 5 June.

It makes sense that Mario Kart World is, out of all the launch titles, the one that breaks into this chart. Many new owners, including creators, would have had the game bundled with their console. 

The nature of the game also lends itself to streaming. Multiplayer? Tick. Fun, party vibes? Yep. Familiar IP? Indeed. 

Finally, MK is a series that rarely drops the ball. It’s just about the closest guarantee of quality that you can get, and that drives (sorry) interest online.

Hours watched on Twitch will drop off as the year goes on. July is likely to see a decrease of around 65%, but that’s less steep than some others in the chart.

10. Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Hours watched: 17,315,429. Release date: 20 March.

Sneaking into the top 10, we have Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The French publisher’s latest iteration of the long-running series has faced challenges, including finding itself on the frontline of the culture wars following its premiere trailer in May 2024.

That didn’t stop the open-world title from achieving the second-highest day-one sales in the series, just behind Valhalla.

What about streaming performance? The story here follows a similar pattern to the game’s sales figures.

‍Shadows brought in around about 16.5 million hours watched in its first month. That’s more than 2023’s precursor, Mirage (just under 7 million hours), 2018’s Odyssey (roughly 14 million) and 2017’s Origins (about 6 million).

But it’s a long way behind Valhalla, which launched in 2020. The Viking basher drew a large audience back then, with around 27 million hours watched in the month after release. It’s worth keeping in mind that this coincided with large parts of the world finding themselves locked down due to the pandemic.

Future outlook? As quoted elsewhere, it’s difficult for single-player games to maintain interest on Twitch outside of the immediate launch period. June saw Shadows attract just 280,000 hours watched, and this rapid decline will continue.

Most watched new releases in 2025 (January to June) - Places 11-20

That's the top 10. How about places 11 to 20? Here's another bar chart.

We’re not going to give places 11-20 the full top 10 treatment; we’ve waffled on long enough, but here are a few thoughts on some of the games in the lower half.

‍REMATCH is the third Lurkit client on the list, and also the answer to the question, “What if Rocket League but with footballers instead of cars?” The irony is delicious.

Slocap’s third game launched in June, but the 11.6 million hours watched figure was given a boost by beta tests in April and May, which gave the title an additional 4.2 million hours. Interest in the game on Twitch is holding relatively strong. July will almost certainly see a drop in attention, but only by a couple of million hours. 

Should Split Fiction be higher up the chart? Publisher EA might think so. After all, the adventure game has reviewed spectacularly, sold almost as well and is built around co-op. There’s even a movie in the works. That said, the games above it are generally those with established IPs or breakout indie hits, so perhaps 11th is about right.

Shoutout to Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. Kojima’s latest curiosity only launched on 26 June and yet finds itself with 8+ million hours watched in just a handful of days. July will see this figure drop, probably by about half, but it’s a decent performance for a single-player, PS5 exclusive that’s on the weirder side. 

Congratulations to Team PEAK on their debut game, er, PEAK, another indie doing big numbers. Launching in mid-June, the climbing game sold 4.5 million copies in under a month.

The story here is familiar. Lo-fi visuals that somehow enhance the experience, online co-op and a game that’s both fun to play and amusing to watch others play. It’s all very R.E.P.O. and Schedule I. 

Twitch numbers are great. The 8.4 million hours watched come solely from two weeks in June. We’ve looked at July’s data, and it’s already surpassed that number. How far can it go? We’ll report back later in the year.

Until next time

And that’s a wrap. Thank you so much for joining us for this epic rundown of the most-watched new releases of 2025. We’ll be back with further insights before you know it.