Twitch’s State of Gaming 2026 report highlights growth in indie and horror games

Twitch has released its first-ever State of Gaming report, combining viewership metrics from over 8.6 billion hours of gaming content watched between January 1, 2026, and September 1, 2026, with qualitative insights. According to Twitch chief product officer Mike Minton, the report provides a direct look at user preferences and behaviors backed by internal discussions and community observations.

The report highlights notable growth across several sectors of gaming culture. The horror genre accumulated 287 million hours watched during the tracking period, with content under Twitch's dedicated Horror tab pulling in 93 million hours—marking a 6 percent year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, indie games saw a significant surge, with total hours watched for channels featuring indie content increasing by 51 percent year-over-year. Titles including Meccha Chameleon, Slay the Spire 2, and Big Walk helped drive over 348 million total hours watched in that category.

Minton noted that in a saturated game market, streamers play a crucial role in highlighting top-tier indie releases. The platform's ecosystem tools also saw heavy use; streams featuring the DropsEnabled tag generated 1.6 billion hours watched, a 46 percent year-over-year increase. Twitch hosted over 7,500 Drops campaigns during the period, representing a 20 percent bump, while participating users who claimed rewards grew by 15 percent to reach 40 million.

Regarding creator distribution, Minton addressed concerns over platform concentration, stating that viewership has not shifted more heavily toward larger creators. While prominent streamers like Nicholas “Jynxzi” Stewart and TheBurntPeanut saw growth, Minton emphasized that there is no macro shift indicating audiences have stopped watching smaller streamers.

The report also outlined Twitch's most-watched titles: League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Grand Theft Auto 5, Valorant, and World of Warcraft. Engagement for Grand Theft Auto 5 experienced a particular spike following the release of an exclusive extended-look trailer on Netflix on August 27, which allowed creators to co-stream and temporarily overwhelmed the platform's infrastructure.