On January 11th, Spanish-language Fortnite streamer David Cánovas Martínez, known on Twitch as TheGrefg, broke Twitch records with a peak of 2.5 million concurrent viewers. What was supposed to be a Fortnite skin reveal stream became a truly landmark event, with so many viewers on the site that it crashed elements of Twitch’s API, payment processing, and UI. Impressively, Grefg kept his composure throughout the event but did make a point of calling both his mother and his video editor during the livestream.
Previously, the viewership record on Twitch for the highest number of concurrent viewers was League of Legends’ world cup with 1.7 million concurrent—from a company that spends millions a year in marketing. The fact that a one-man show was able to break that record all by himself through the power of word-of-mouth and internet virality is astounding. It reveals just how powerful and immense the Spanish-speaking gaming market is today and hints at what future growth for the gaming industry will look like. …
When I was thirteen years old, I was scouted by a modeling agency in Canada and whisked into a world where everyone was six feet tall, with spidery limbs and eyebrows like untamed caterpillars. By the time I was sixteen, I was doing runway work. My agent gave me some food guidelines to follow, which, by any reasonable person’s standards, would be considered an extreme diet. If anyone followed that diet for more than a few days, they would feel lightheaded, suffer from headaches and faint with any physical activity. …
In a virtual Town Hall on December 16th, Twitch announced that they’d be banning some common slang words from use on their platform. Specifically, “incel,” “simp” and “virgin” will now be officially against Twitch Terms of Service (TOS) if they are “used repeatedly in a harassing manner.” In addition, any emote related to those words will be denied approval or taken down. These new policies will go into effect on January 22nd, and the words are specifically mentioned at the very end of Twitch’s blog post.
While these words are often used to bully others, Twitch streamers and viewers have taken to Twitter to voice concerns. Many are frustrated because Twitch is choosing to ban these slang words — which are often used in friendly, comedic, or benign contexts — while seemingly ignoring the actual slurs and hate speech being used on the platform. …
TikTok is a place for incredible viral growth for both brands and influencers. But it’s sporadic, and won’t happen for everyone. Success on TikTok depends on numerous factors and the algorithm is always changing.
I started on TikTok in June of 2020. I named my account after my favorite Pokemon because it was available. Vulpix. I was trying to grow a platform on Twitch, and someone messaged me with the idea:
On TikTok, it’s way easier to get discovered. The app WANTS people to find you. …
Mirage has always been an “off-meta” pick in Apex Legends. My teammates will often groan, “Oh great, a Mirage,” into their mics when I lock him on the legend selection screen. Even the Apex devs see Mirage as a challenging hero to use, admitting in the latest patch notes that “our bamboozler-in-chief is a hard legend to keep relevant.”
Mirage is challenging because his utility is based in mentally and optically confusing the enemy. Most other legends’ abilities enhance their mobility, loot or damage, while Mirage’s kit plays mind games that…sometimes work.
The drawbacks to choosing Mirage are obvious, but what are his strengths? Well, Mirage works with a range of playstyles, but I use him when I want to scout and aggressively push teams. I’ve been able to rack up over 8,000 bamboozles, over 1,400 kills and over half a million damage on him since I started casually playing Apex on PC earlier this year. …
The new Apex Legends map, Olympus, was released on November 4th. By now, a lot of you probably have your own favorite drop spot. But where are the hottest spots, time and time again? Where’s the new Skull Town?
There’s this spot directly in the center of Olympus on top of turbine that has a single building and a bunch of waterslides (yes, waterslides!) that lead down toward Hammond Labs. And, oh man, is that single building on top of Turbine third, fourth and fifth party central! If you go to this spot, get out your R-99 and be ready for that crossfire coming from all directions. Because it’s the center of the map, a lot of squads end up converging there. And it’s so openly visible that it’s easy to see when people are fighting up there, making it a tempting target for nearby squads. …
The multiplayer shooter gets a bad rap for its third-person playstyle, but the game brings something unique to the current gaming landscape.
If you like Valorant, Fortnite, CS:GO or Apex Legends, chances are, you’ll also enjoy Rogue Company, the new shooter from First Watch Games and Hi-Rez Studios. Or, at least, that’s probably what the developers thought when releasing the game.
The game released on October 1, 2020 for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and launched on Xbox on November 10, 2020.
The most common complaint I’ve heard about Rogue is the fact that’s it’s in third person. Most of my friends are die-hard Overwatch, Apex and Call of Duty players who will download pretty much any new multiplayer shooter under one condition: It’s gotta be in first-person. …
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