Twitch is a big deal and has become the go-to place for gaming fans wanting to stay up to date with the latest developers in the gaming space, being able to subscribe and pay their favorite creators to create content. As a result, a handful of streamers have been able to build fanbases in the millions, getting hundreds of thousands of views on their videos and reaching global audiences. This article will examine five of the most popular Twitch streamers in 2023, covering poker, chess, Fortnite, and more!
Lex Veldhuis
Lex Veldhius is arguably one of the most popular poker players on Twitch. He is watched by thousands and has a subscriber count that’s around the 300,000 mark. If you’re a big fan of poker and gambling-related content, we’re sure that you already know who Lex is and why he’s become so popular since joining the Twitch platform in 2016.
Coming from the Netherlands, as you can imagine, he has that unique blend of dry humor and stoicism that many of his fellow countrymen have. As a result, he’s a perfect fit for poker-related content, holding his cool when it matters most, especially in high-stakes situations where composure is critical. He excels at analyzing his style of play, giving users an insight into his game. And we know that he’s speaking the truth since he’s been able to win massive amounts of money as a professional player.
Ninja
While he rose to fame because of his Fortnite streaming sessions, he doesn’t do just that anymore and has diversified his offering and streams numerous games now, including Call of Duty. While he doesn’t quite have the same star power as a few years ago, likely due to the increasingly saturated gaming space, he still gets 100,000+ views on many of his full-stream videos and gets good levels of engagement. A former pro gamer, if there’s anyone who knows what it takes to get to the top, it’s Ninja.
Auronplay
While Ninja might be the most followed streamer on Twitch right now, his place is under threat thanks to the Spanish-speaking wave of Auronplay fans that are skyrocketing his account. With over 15 million followers at the time of writing and growing fast, Auronplay looks as though he could take the crown from Ninja, not to mention that he often gets five times the number of views on Twitch.
This reminds us that the English-speaking world is relatively small on a global scale, and for a Spanish speaker to push for the top spot on a relatively English-preferred platform, they must be doing something good. This is similar to how Bad Bunny, who few know outside of the Spanish-speaking world, got 8.5 billion streams in 2022, despite performing in Spanish and not being very well known globally. If Auronplay can maintain his current momentum and continue the push, he should be on top by the year-end.
xQc
Felix Lengyel, better known as xQc, is a Canadian streamer who has been making waves over the past few years, playing games such as Overwatch and Chess. As a former professional player at Overwatch tournaments, few have the kind of audience or pedigree as xQc, putting him at the top table of gamers on the Twitch platforms. However, he comes with his fair share of controversy.
Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura started mentoring xQc in mid-2020, showing that he has the skills needed to make it at the top, even if he has a lot of room to improve. By partnering with Chess.com, xQc has provided additional coverage to a game that has undergone a transformation of sorts over the past couple of years thanks to an increasing number of amateur and hobbyist streamers showing their game online, which has helped increase the number of players giving it a try and working on their game.
Pokimane
The most followed woman on Twitch, and by some distance, Pokemane is an established content creator who has been around for a while, building a dedicated fanbase who watch in their thousands. While she made a name for herself playing League of Legends and then Fortnite, Pokimane has started diversifying her gaming rotation over the last couple of years, opening her channel to new audiences.
To see a woman perform so well in the online gaming and streaming space is great to see, especially when you look at the other high-performers in a historically male-dominated space, building on the early success of streamers like SSSniperWolf. While she’s some way behind the top gamers, with almost 10 million followers, she’s still very much in the top bracket of content creators on Twitch and gets upwards of 200,000 views per stream, which is insanely good and will be sure to provide an amazing income.