Business Insider: More than 15 years after the game's release, there's a new peak viewership record for "World of Warcraft" on Twitch, the most popular platform for video game streaming. Blizzard Entertainment is currently celebrating "World of Warcraft's" 15th anniversary with the release of "WoW Classic," and more than 1.1 million concurrent viewers tuned in to watch "World of Warcraft" streams on Twitch.
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Over a million people tuned in to watch World of Warcraft on Twitch - a live streaming website that a lot of youtubers use as a second form of revenue. However, how does theatre continue to reach so few audiences. How can we stream theatre? Is it possible? I feel like it could potentially bring theatre into a new age of storytelling and innovation. Also the fact that so many people took time out of their days to watch this stream when in fact this game launch was not of a new game, but of a remake of the 2006 original version, is absolutely insane. If people say the gaming industry is not a big deal than they’re obviously living under a very large rock. This massive multiplayer role playing game has been a big deal since its release fifteen years ago. I can’t believe people would be interested in playing the original model of this game when it’s more difficult and has less features than the current version. However, looking at the number of people watching these twitch streams, it appears that World of Warcraft is making a reappearance.
This is one of those events or moments in a lifetime that is nostalgic and informative. While I never played World of Warcraft, I am very familiar with it and especially its popularity. The game has evolved so much since its initial place, releasing the classic brings on all those old memories, either of playing the game or things that were going on around the time the game was out, for those who played it of course. However, it is also very informative. The fact that over one million people tuned in to watch live streams of people playing the game on twitch says a lot. First, it says this game means a lot both in its creation at the time and its base foundation for what it is now and influenced other games to be. This inherently says that video games are a big part of our society. Among being parts in our society is also live stream and individual produced content, commonly known as digital content. Our society is growing in the digital era and what we do and hold as parts of our lives are reflected here. We are a digital people.
Although I was never a World of Warcraft player myself, I have vivid memories of all the adverts and publicity that I always saw of the game. The past decade has seen an explosion in gameplay streaming, which is a somewhat controversial subject. “Why not just play the game yourself?” many ask. Many respond they have no access to the game, or they enjoy the commentary from the streamer. It is evident, however, that streaming is becoming ever so popular, as evidenced by the million viewers of World of Warcraft. Not even any modern game like Grand Theft Auto or some other massive-multiplayer-online game, which are also popular streaming games. More than a million people chose to watch streams of more than decade old game reboot. It begs the question, though: in the distant future, will streams of gameplay, such as this example of World of Warcraft, gain more viewership than classic sports? There have already been streamed world championships, of games such as Fortnite, with multi-million-dollar prizes. With the new generation of tech-savvy youth, this may be possible.
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