TimTheTatman is certainly familiar with the concept of transitioning from one video game to another as a content creator. As one of the top personalities on Twitch, Tim has spent years playing a variety of games. And last night, Tim tweeted a clip from a previous stream where he addressed the people who think this strategy will negatively impact his career.
When Tim started out on Twitch, he played World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. But as his viewership expanded and the ecosystem changed, he’s been able to make adjustments to his content to maximize his reach.
Naturally, following the release of VALORANT’s closed beta, Tim was one of the top content creators out of the gates. Riot’s tactical shooter has the basic gameplay elements of CS:GO, a game that he spent a lot of time playing a few years ago. In addition, VALORANT has characters with abilities just like Overwatch, another game he spent a significant amount of time playing.
But an immediate response that Tim received from some viewers who relied on him as an outlet for battle royale gameplay in Fortnite and Call of Duty was less than encouraging. After getting a couple of negative messages about what VALORANT would do to his stream, Tim took a moment to call out the upset viewers who were lashing out.
“I can’t tell you how many times, every time I make a major switch,” he said. “Call of Duty: Black Ops II the very beginning of my stream. I started to play Counter-Strike, and people came into my stream saying, ‘dude, you’re not playing Call of Duty anymore? That game made you. This stream’s going to die now.’”
Over the course of Tim’s career on Twitch, he’s made some of the savviest business decisions in the industry by making strategic swaps in the games that he plays to maximize his audience—and it’s only helped his audience grow.
From CoD to CS:GO to Overwatch to Fortnite, Tim has consistently made major transitions in his content that have benefited his viewership, donations revenue, and subscriber count. VALORANT is yet another example of a new game that he’s been able to leverage.
While not every game that Tim plays in a given stream is a knockout for him, his ability to quickly gauge how successful he thinks he could be at the game gives him a leg up on other streamers.
At times, Tim has taken short divergences from the major games that he’s played, taking some time to try out GTA roleplay or test out a new battle royale. But more often than not, he quickly adjusts his content when necessary to keep the viewers coming back.
Even though some people in Tim’s chat like to poke fun at the hefty gamer’s perceived lack of intelligence, if there’s one thing Tim knows, it’s how to leverage the right game at the right time on Twitch.
