GTA V dethrones Just Chatting as Twitch’s most popular category for a couple of weeks

For years, Just Chatting has dominated the content available on Twitch. It’s become even more popular since the COVID-19 pandemic started, which offered new opportunities for personalities outside of the gaming world to enter the platform.

But GTA V also has consistently gained popularity on Twitch over the last few years. And recently, it narrowly edged out Just Chatting as the top content on Twitch in terms of hours watched thanks to GTA V RP controversies and various events, according to The Esports Observer.

Grand Theft Auto V RP is a mod that allows players to gather in one server and roleplay in the game. It’s been around for years and has recently gained more popularity, proving to be a significant part of what makes the game from 2013 still relevant today.

From April 12 to 18, and then during the first week of May, the GTA V category surpassed Just Chatting in total hours watched, even by a few million. It totaled 66.03 million hours watched while Just Chatting hit 63.76 million in mid-April. They both surpassed the other Twitch categories by a large margin, however.

The streamer who’s gained the most attention recently, though, is xQc. The controversial streamer received his third ban from the NoPixel server in April, which most people thought was permanent. But he was then allowed to return to the server, making a spectacular comeback that brought in more viewers. The most-watched clips of April in the GTA V RP category are xQc’s, showcasing spicy roleplay moments and when the streamer crossed the line, resulting in him getting banned—again.

Since its release in February, the NoPixel 3.0 server has gathered many of the top English-speaking streamers on the platform and generated hundreds of millions of hours watched. The server includes Summit1g, Sykkuno, Pokimane, and many others, whether they play it for a few hours per week or for most of their channel’s uptime.

Although xQc played a part in GTA V reaching the top category on Twitch in mid-April, it’s also due to numerous other factors that have increased its popularity on the platform recently. Over the last few months, it’s cemented itself as the second top category in hours watched behind Just Chatting, surpassing all other games.

On top of the numerous English-speaking streamers who propelled the game’s popularity, it’s also gained more attention in other communities. The most-watched Twitch channel in the GTA V RP category in April was AuronPlay, the top Spanish streamer who’s been mostly playing this game over the past few months. Every month, he largely contributes to the total hours watched in the category.

In early May, the French community also played a major role in bringing in more viewers and helping the title become the top category again. Dozens of top French streamers gathered in a GTA V RP server created only for two weeks, which made it gain more attention in this limited period of time.

It was linked to the 2020 charity stream Z Event, which donated roughly $5.8 million to Amnesty International. The server was closed on May 5, which caused a significant viewership peak over the last two weeks. French streamer MisterMV is the 11th most-watched streamer in GTA V in terms of hours watched over the last 30 days with over 3.6 million and others fill up the following spots in the rankings, totaling over 22 million hours watched.

Although Just Chatting remains toe-to-toe with GTA V, the hype surrounding the game will likely persist over the next few months due to various activities and events in the GTA V RP mod. It’s been growing for two years and is showing no signs of slowing down.