Top 10 most-watched games on Twitch in 2022

Brad Norton
Twitch wallpaper

With 2022 now in the books, here’s a full look at the final figures for the most-watched games on Twitch across the entire calendar year. From the continued growth of Valorant to the continued popularity of GTA, League of Legends, and Fortnite, we’ve got a rundown on the games that dominated the year.

Much like in previous years, a handful of extremely popular titles led the charge on Twitch in 2022. With billions of hours of watch-time piled up, juggernauts in the esports scene, general gaming, and entertainment categories alike kept fans hooked once again.

Whether you’re an avid viewer on the platform or just a casual fan of competitive events, it’s almost a guarantee you tuned into a handful of Twitch streams over the year across a number of categories. But which games stood the test of the time and captivated the masses over the past year?

Here’s a complete look at the 10 most-watched games on Twitch throughout 2022, thanks to data provided by SullyGnome.

10. World of Warcraft

Breaking into the top 10 this year is Blizzard’s hit MMO World of Warcraft, as the classic release was reinvigorated with new content through the Dragonflight expansion, helping the game soar to a whopping 343,876,361 hours watched on Twitch.

wow dragonriding in dragonflight
With the launch of Dragonflight, WoW had one of its best years yet on Twitch.

9. Call of Duty: Warzone

While Call of Duty’s battle royale still cracked the top 10 in 2022, largely thanks to the release of Warzone 2 and its new Al Mazrah map, total watch time has plummeted to less than half of the game’s seventh-place finish in 2021. Over the past year, CoD fans watched 398,747,729 of Warzone streams on Twitch in total.

an operator pointing a gun and two players fighting in Warzone 2
Warzone 2 has kept interest alive, but failed the CoD BR to live up to previous highs on Twitch in 2022.

8. Dota 2

Almost matching its recorded viewership for the previous year, Dota 2 was once again a behemoth on Twitch in 2022. With 507,078,594 hours watched, it was the eighth-biggest game on the streaming platform last year.

weaver-dota2
Dota 2 continues to be one of the most popular MOBAs on all of Twitch.

7. Minecraft

More than a decade on from its release, Minecraft continues to be an absolute force in the streaming industry. With 521,336,157 hours watched in total, it was the seventh most-watched game on Twitch across all of 2022.

Minecraft 1.19.40 update
Minecraft’s momentum on Twitch didn’t slow down in 2022.

6. Fortnite

Another Battle Royale finds its way onto the list as Fortnite remained an extremely popular game to spectate in 2022. Although it fell slightly from its fourth-place spot in 2021, the game still saw fans tuning in for 585,300,670 hours all up in 2022.

A fortnite player completing weekly challenges
Fortnite remains among the biggest Battle Royale’s on Twitch.

5. Apex Legends

At the halfway point we have Apex Legends as Respawn’s very own Battle Royale climbed to new heights in 2022, cementing itself as the most popular in its genre on Twitch. With 631,929,500 hours watched, it was a cut above its rivals over the past year.

Horizon Apex Legends ImperialHal
Apex Legends jumped from the ninth-most-watched on Twitch in 2021 to the fifth-most-watched in 2022.

4. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

2022 was yet another year of immense popularity for CSGO. The classic shooter was once again a hit on Twitch over the past year, generating 673,892,116 hours of watch-time as the fourth most popular game on the streaming platform.

es3tag in Ninjas in Pyjamas jersey in front of computer with his name on
CSGO is still a force to be reckoned with on Twitch thanks to the popularity of its competitive scene.

3. Valorant

Riot’s tactical shooter has once again edged out the FPS competition as the third most-watched game on Twitch in 2022. With 1,106,987,262 hours watched in total, it was one of only three games to crack the one-billion mark in the past year.

Valorant Harbor gameplay
Valorant served as the most-watched shooter on Twitch in 2022.

2. Grand Theft Auto V

With the role-playing trend still as popular ever, GTA 5 continued to dominate Twitch throughout 2022, retaining its spot as the second most-watched game on the streaming platform for another year running. All up, fans caught 1,336,292,674 hours of GTA 5 content on Twitch over the past year.

GTA online character running with red gun followed by helicopter
Even with GTA 6 details still few and far between, the series remains as popular as ever on Twitch.

1. League of Legends

Rounding out the list with a staggering year is none other than Riot’s iconic MOBA League of Legends. With 1,499,478,263 hours watched on Twitch in 2022, it served as the single most-seen title on the platform throughout the year, climbing from its third-place finish in 2021 to take the crown.

League of Legends couldn’t be stopped in 2022 as Riot’s MOBA was the most single most-watched game on all of Twitch.

So that does it for the most-watched titles on Twitch in 2022. Any surprising names on the list? Any games you were expecting that didn’t make the cut? Be sure to join the conversation on Twitter @DexertoGaming.

About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com