ImperialHal fears Apex Legends viewership is ‘going downhill’ on Twitch after more streamers jump ship

Apex Legends was the fifth most-watched game on Twitch in 2022. However, ImperialHal has noticed a concerning trend. The biggest Apex streamers on the Amazon-owned platform all seem to be jumping ship and he thinks it could have major implications on the game’s viewership.

During his stream on Jan. 5, ImperialHal said former Apex regulars like Aceu, Daltoosh, LuluLuvely, and Sweetdreams have all moved on or started streaming it less than they used to.

Meanwhile, NICKMERCS has been dabbling in Warzone 2 despite previously saying he had no interest in it, and HisWattson has resorted to “smurfing” because it’s the “only way you can enjoy playing.”

All of this, paired with the fact that ImperialHal is also becoming tired of the game, has convinced him of one thing: “The Twitch category is going downhill.”

The numbers do support ImperialHal’s doomsday prophecy to an extent.

Aceu and Daltoosh have streamed Apex less than 50 hours each in the past 30 days. LuluLuvely has streamed it for two hours, while NICKMERCS and Sweetdreams have streamed it for around 80 hours.

The game’s viewership as a whole has also tanked. Total hours watched is down 13 percent along with average viewers. The biggest hit, however, has been on the max viewer count, which dropped by a whopping 44 percent.

But while this seems like a big deal—and could very well be—it’s important to note that viewership does ebb and flow depending on which events are happening and how active streamers have been.

Still, the viewership decline in the past three months and six months is ostensibly worse, so perhaps ImperialHal is onto something, but we’ll have to wait and see how it all pans out.