Celebrity Streamers

With the current pandemic putting a hold on basically everyone’s professional lives, some are turning to streaming to keep busy and to maintain a connection with the outside world. Not only is your average Joe beginning to broadcast his gameplay to the world, but celebrity streamers have started as well, with people like Terry Crews, T-Pain, Post Malone, and Snoop Dogg streaming everything from Fortnite to Half-Life: Alyx, the streaming community has become saturated with these celebrity streamers playing their favourite games (or at least the most popular ones). Now celebrity streamers playing video games is not an entirely new idea. There are plenty of celebrities that have been streaming for years at this point: Mia Khalifa, Deadmau5, and Thomas Middleditch just to name a few. A handful of these celebrities have some experience with streaming; someone like Terry Crews who a few years ago in an effort to get closer to his son, built a gaming computer with the help of the online community, all documented in videos and streams. For some however, streaming is an entirely new venture. Both JuJu Smith-Schuster (wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Stealers in the NFL) and Seth Curry (point guard for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA) along with several other professional athletes have started streaming as a way pass the time, as well as to connect with their fans and create an opportunity to support various charitable organizations through donations and their streaming partners. With over $30 million raised for various charities by Twitch alone, this new influx of streamers should further the charitable support provided by these streaming services.

Is There A Reason To Be Worried?

In some people’s minds, celebrity streamers playing video games on the top streaming platforms might take the spotlight away from your standard streamers, people like Methodz, Dr. Disrespect, or shroud. In reality I don’t think this is the case. Celebrities have created their own, small segment of viewership (in comparison). There’s only a small chance that they’ll take away viewers from the big streamers, and even if they do, it’ll only be a few hundred, tops. I first became aware of this new trend when Mitch Marner (winger for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL) went live playing Warzone with Seth Curry and Methodz (professional Call of Duty player). All proceeds of the stream were being sent to the Marner Assist Fund; a charity created by Marner to support organizations helping children around the world. Being a huge Leafs fan I couldn’t help but tune in and see how I stacked up against Marner in Call of Duty, because I can’t really compete with him at the whole hockey thing. By the looks of his stream, he seems decent, but I still think I can take him in a 1v1. Mitch if you’re reading this, hmu. But let’s get back to the point. TwitchRivals even did a draft where a streamer gets to draft a pair of professional athletes to play in a Fortnite tournament for charity. These athletes come from all over the sports world including rugby, hockey, baseball, soccer, wrestling, basketball, and even racing. There is obviously a demand from viewers to see these celebrity streamers (athletes, actors, random famous people, etc.) put in a position where they just get to play some games. I also think that’s a major factor in the popularity of these celebrity streamers; you get to see these people, most of which are making millions of dollars every year, just sit in front of their computer or on their couch and play some video games. Granted their couch is probably a lot nicer than yours or mine, but you get the point. Watching these streamers play games also humanizes them; it’s a lot easier to ground someone when you see them get dunked on in Call of Duty, or all they do is throw picks in Madden, not to mention that it’s just fun. Head over to Twitch and Mixer to find other streamers, celebrity or otherwise, and while you’re at it, check out https://www.twitch.tv/nxlgamingca/ and https://mixer.com/NXLGamingCA