Grand Theft Auto 5released eight years ago but is still one of the most popular games and best-selling games every month. Now,Grand Theft Auto 5sits comfortably on the top of the most-viewed games streaming list.
The title’s longevity comesthanks to the game’sGrand Theft Auto Onlinemode, which lets players join lobbies of up to 30 players to rob stores, perform heists, buy cars and apartments, and get up to all sorts of crazy antics. The mode has been supported by steady updates from developer Rockstar Games that frequently add new activities for players to do as well as new items to buy and play around with.
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Grand Theft Auto 5’s recent uptick in popularity, however, comes from the explosion in popularity of the NoPixel role-playing server that has been dominating Twitch the past few weeks. The server is a fanmade made mod that lets players take on different roles that can interact with other players under a strictly enforced set of rules. The mode has been picked up by some of the largest Twitch streamers like xQc.Grand Theft Auto RPhas recently even been given attention from celebritieslike LeBron James and Travis Scott, cementing it as a bonafide gaming craze.
A new report from Stream Hatchet listsGrand Theft Auto 5as having just over 536 million hoursof watch-time across Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and YouTube in just the first quarter of 2021. This instance number puts it ahead of previous leaderLeague of Legendsand attributes 6% of the total time spent watching streams so far this year to the game. The numbers putGrand Theft Auto 5comfortably in the lead withLeague of Legendstrailing behind by 2 million hours and the third-place game,Fortnite, trailing behind first-place by 147 million hours.
Grand Theft Auto 5taking the top spot is very impressive, especially with how far behindLeague of Legendsevery other game currently is. The popularity of the mod doesn’t come as much of a surprise, especially within the streaming community, but it is not clear just how long the popularity will last. With how large of a role the role-playing server has had on the game’s resurgence in popularity could lead to Rockstar Games considering find a way to integrate some similar features into the multiplayer ofGrand Theft Auto 6, whenever that is released. Until then, it is great to see the roleplay server bringing such new life to a great game likeGrand Theft Auto 5, and it will be interesting to see just where it goes from here.
Grand Theft Auto 5is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
