It seems like there’s a new sheriff in town—at least for now.
Tactical first-person shooter Escape from Tarkov is presently the most-watched game on Twitch with over 140,000 viewers, beating out League of Legends and Fortnite. The only category with a larger audience right now is Just Chatting at 176,000.
The jump in audience is likely tied to the limited-time Twitch Drops campaign, which began yesterday and awards viewers with a “New Year’s gift” by simply watching their favorite Tarkov streamers.
“During the campaign after some periods of time, you will be guaranteed to get one in-game item: a weapon, gear, various rare items, etc,” according to Battlestate Games. “You can watch multiple streams, but the watch time will be counted only if these live streams take part in the event.”
Though Tarkov is enjoying great success, the Battlestate Games Twitch channel appears to be temporarily suspended. Several Tarkov fans claim the ban may be a result of an employee pointing an unloaded gun to their head and pulling the trigger. But Twitch and Battlestate Games haven’t confirmed the cause for the suspension yet.
The game is set in Russia and focuses on survival, blending RPG and MMO elements together. Players can jump in the PMC Survival mode to Raid, picking up gear from looting enemies that they kill or scavenging locations. But deaths will result in the loss of all your equipment.
Tarkov fans eager to get their New Year’s gift can tune in to the numerous Twitch streamers participating in the event.
