The feature that’s driving this sudden groundswell of support for Escape from Tarkov is a new loot drop system on Twitch. Viewers can earn in-game loot for Escape from Tarkov simply by watching the streams of certain partnered Twitch streamers. These loot drops have are exclusively available as part of a New Year’s event. Today, January 5, is actually the final day that loot drops will be available. It will be interesting to see if the event’s end will slow Escape from Tarkov’s momentum.
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Just as important to Escape from Tarkov’s surge of popularity has been the rise of a single streamer named Pestily. Heres’s an example of Pestily’s growth. Between January 2019 and November 2019, Pestily’s average viewership grew from around 1,400 to around 3,100. Pestily currently has over 100,000 viewers on Twitch. The new Escape from Tarkov loot drop event has led to Pestily being the most-watched streamer on Twitch in recent days.
Pestily isn’t carrying Escape from Tarkov’s popularity by himself, however. A ton of Twitch’s top streamers have watched Pestily’s climb and are joining in on the game’s success. DrDisrespect loves Escape from Tarkov, for example, and even Fortnite’s DrLupo is taking a break to capitalize on the loot drop event. The game’s averaging 1,500-2,000 total streams over the past week. For a game that was averaging a fraction of that prior to the start of the loot event, those numbers are pretty amazing.
Escape from Tarkov is a looter shooter where loot is permanent. It has to be earned by doing in-game scavenging runs where other players can PvP and take opponents’ loot. Having loot drops outside of the game is a rare and valuable opportunity. While some players may dislike the idea of loot being given away without being earned, they’ll likely agree that the surge of players in-game is worth the temporary loot event.
Escape from Tarkov is available now on PC.
MORE: Escape from Tarkov: How to Get Twitch Drops From Watching Streams
