What is Crab Game, and how did it get popular among xQc, Pokimane, and other streamers?

A free-to-play video game created by Daniel Sooman, Crab Game is based on the hit Netflix series Squid Game that broke multiple viewership records after its release in September 2021.

The title was initially released around a month later, on October 29, 2021. The game involves players participating in various children’s games and getting eliminated until only one contestant is left.

Multiple popular content creators, including Imane “Pokimane” Anys, Chance “Sodapoppin” Morris, Felix “xQc” Lengyel, and Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang, have been playing the game regularly recently. Here’s a look at how Crab Game blew up in popularity on Twitch.

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What is Crab Game, and how did it gain traction on Twitch?

The hit Netflix series, Squid Game, broke multiple viewership records and will receive a second season as well. The TV show involves contestants participating in a series of deadly children’s games to ultimately win prize money of ₩45.6 billion.

Most popular content creators were also among the show’s audience. Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson even went as far as creating his version of the show, which proved to be a huge success.

Due to the engaging premise and the overall nature of the games involved, Daniel Sooman’s Crab Game effectively managed to combine all the thrilling elements of the games.

This game was created within two weeks of the TV series blowing up and was named differently to avoid legal troubles with Netflix. Apart from the nomenclature, the other elements have been directly picked up from the series, with multiple children’s games making the cut.

As a result, Twitch streamers in recent months have been streaming the game pretty much continuously. The title registered 19.6k concurrent viewers on Twitch in November 2021, with a peak viewership of 283k and close to 300 concurrent streams.

While the overall title is entertaining, Crab Game’s popularity can, at the end of the day, be attributed to the popularity of the TV series.

This can be easily seen with respect to the statistics as well. According to Twitch Tracker, the game registered its peak viewership in November but has since undergone a steady decline in popularity. This can be attributed to the fact that Season 1 of the Netflix show has already aired fully.

The video game can be expected to undergo a similar spike when Season 2 of Squid Game is released.

Monthly Twitch stats of Crab Game (Image via Twitch Tracker)

In January, according to Twitch Tracker, Sooman’s offering has registered just 1.2k concurrent viewers along with 51 concurrent streams on Twitch so far. The game made good use of the hype created by the TV show but has failed to maintain the hype in the months since.