The Game Awards continues to grow at a remarkable pace, breaking yet another viewership record in 2025. When the show first launched in 2014, it attracted fewer than two million livestreams. This year’s ceremony, held on 11 December, reached an estimated 171 million global livestreams, an 11 per cent increase over the previous high set in 2024.
The figure reflects only full livestreams of the broadcast and does not include short clips, trailers or additional viewing via Amazon Prime Video, which carried the show for the first time as a subscription streaming partner. As a result, actual audience reach is likely even higher.
The broadcast was streamed across a wide range of platforms, including YouTube, Twitch, Steam, TikTok Live, X, Kick, Facebook and Instagram Live, alongside major services in China and India. According to StreamCharts, Western platforms such as Twitch and YouTube recorded a combined peak of 4.4 million concurrent viewers, up 9 per cent year over year.
YouTube saw particularly strong growth. The official 4K stream reached nearly 1.4 million peak concurrent viewers, while total peak viewership across YouTube, including co-streams, exceeded 2.4 million. More than 8,600 channels co-streamed the event on the platform, setting a new record.
On Twitch, peak concurrent viewership surpassed 1.8 million users, with both total unique viewers and hours watched increasing by 5 per cent compared to last year. Co-streaming expanded rapidly, with around 16,500 creators rebroadcasting the show, a 50 per cent increase from 2024.
Engagement on social media also climbed. On X, posts related to the Game Awards rose 12 per cent year over year to nearly 1.8 million during the event window, while video views on the platform surpassed 60 million. Viewer participation through authenticated voting increased by more than 10 per cent, reaching over 123 million votes worldwide.
International distribution reached new heights, particularly in Asia. The ceremony was streamed live on a record number of platforms in China, alongside services in South Korea and Japan, contributing to the show’s strongest global performance to date.
‘International distribution reached new heights, particularly in Asia’
Held at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, the 2025 ceremony was dominated by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive, which won Game of the Year and multiple other awards, including game direction, narrative, art direction, music, performance, best indie and best RPG.
The show also featured a live musical performance by Evanescence, celebrity presenters from across film, television and gaming, and a wide range of world premieres. New titles and projects revealed during the broadcast included entries from major franchises such as James Bond, Resident Evil, Star Wars, Tomb Raider, Super Mario and Dungeons & Dragons.
The Game Awards is executive produced by Geoff Keighley and Kimmie Kim, with Richard Preuss directing and LeRoy Bennett serving as creative director, supported by a large international production team.
This rise in viewership indicates that interest in gaming is at an all-time high—not surprising since games are becoming more and more accessible with different handheld devices and high-tech smartphones. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s dominant sweep might indicate a global switch in the gaming industry. As mentioned in the previous Hungarian Conservative article about the title, the small studio set a precedent for AAA giants, showing them and their consumers that good games do not need thousands of people working on them, and they do not have to cost 80 dollars.
Related articles:
