Since I'll be missing GDC this year, here are some notes from a talk I did recently about Twitch integrations. I'll spare you the general principles for length and just highlight some bits around the Cult of the Lamb case study portion.
When I first played an early 2021 build of Cult of the Lamb after we'd signed the game at Devolver Digital, I knew instantly this was the perfect candidate to prove out the efficacy of investing in a Twitch extension. I had been consulting on Twitch integrations and also been in contact with Streaming Toolsmith, who had worked on Twitch extensions for games like Baldur's Gate 3 prior. I knew I wanted an extension made rather than the more typical chat integration, so this was the perfect opportunity to work together on something.
Just to be sure, I asked this question in the early creator request form for Cult of the Lamb: "Would you play this game with Twitch integration?" Of over 3,000 requests at the time, 90.1% responded "yes."
One week after launch:
- 15,600,000 hours watched on Twitch
- 354,039 hours streamed on Twitch
- 49,959 streamers covered the game
- 140,023 extension installs
- 109,170 in-game cultists created by viewers
Here are some of the talk highlights:
- The Twitch extension became a big part of my influencer marketing push to ignite interest early and keep eyes on updates.
- The features were thoughtful, deeper than the average integration, and tied into the game's theme seamlessly.
- In exchange for higher effort (vs chat integration), extensions allow viewers to opt in individually, preserve a clean chat experience, and use a visually branded interface.
- I worked closely with Streaming Toolsmith and Massive Monster to ensure features kept both streamer and viewer experiences meaningful and top of mind.
- The extension added replayability beyond the game's ending.
- Game previews included the extension to hook viewers in and generate social content early.
- Creator roll-out was staggered pre-launch to test extension server load (we still got hammered at launch).
- Viewer ratio normally drops when streamers play new IPs, but for Cult of the Lamb's launch week, average viewer ratio was +216% - meaning when streamers streamed the game, they were seeing, on average, over double their usual concurrent viewers, making it organically enticing to continue covering the game.
- Cult of the Lamb remained in Twitch's top 10 most watched games far longer than anticipated during a competitive period.
- Creators outside our core target groups were enticed to stream the game for the enriched audience experience, which positively impacted YouTube and TikTok coverage.
- Social content generated by extension experiences kept hype up. Twitch also tweeted a compilation of extension reactions: https://lnkd.in/gF2BipQa.
- We updated the extension and added Twitch Drops campaigns at major game updates to continually boost the value of streaming Cult of the Lamb.
Marketing & Branding Director for the Largest Creators on Twitch & YouTube | Part-Time Marketing & Creator YouTuber
1mo😄