Twitch Drops after a DLC release

[wooden cedar]

After noticing how much viewership and community engagement in several other categories increases during twitch drops events, I feel it would be a great benefit to start having twitch drops when a new DLC releases. The rewards don't have to be huge. They could be some in game currency, some in game item, and/or maybe a drops exclusive cosmetic. Events like this would greatly help to build hype around a release as well as reward the content creators who put in so much time and effort building a community.

[vocal jasper]

I really agree with this. There’s actually solid data showing how much Twitch Drops boost engagement across other games. VALORANT’s closed beta hit 1.7 million concurrent viewers on Twitch during its Drops campaign, one of the platform’s highest ever, and generated 100M+ hours watched in a single week. Escape from Tarkov also publicly reported 200%+ increases in viewership during its major Drops events, along with huge spikes in returning players. Black Desert Online saw similar results, with a 350% jump in Twitch viewership tied directly to their Drops weeks.

Drops don’t even have to be huge rewards either, players just psychologically love earning something passively while watching. Pairing Drops with a new DLC release would almost guarantee a surge in hype, pull lapsed players back in, and reward the creators who keep the category alive year-round. It’s one of the easiest and most proven ways to boost visibility and strengthen the community.

additionally from a tech standpoint it actually shouldn’t be too crazy for COTW to do Drops. The game already uses Avalanche’s Apex Connect system, and their other title Second Extinction has Apex Connect hooked up to Twitch Drops already. So the backend for account linking + reward delivery exists, they’d mostly ‘just’ need to wire COTW into that system, design the rewards, and run it as a proper event.

[wraith warren]

I agree! That would be so amazing and would definitely bring a lot of viewers into our Twitch streams!!! It would be amazing for the creators and amazing for the players! And since it's never been done for COTW, it would get a lot of attention!

[wanton badge]

Fantastic idea!! Would love to see this brought to the game for players to help interact with streamers more and have something new to earn in the game!

[quasi prawn]

Unfortunately it's not the tech side that stops most games from doing this. It's the amount of $$$ it costs. I think this would be awesome but I also know it's very unlikely because of that.

[wooden cedar]

The thing is, they don't have to go overboard with drops. In-game currency (which, in effect, costs them $0 since it cannot be purchased with real money) would be a super simple and effective reward. Typically we see several in-game cosmetic items offered alongside a map release. It wouldn't take much more time or effort to design a simple map-related cosmetic to offer as a reward. Heck, create a different cosmetic such as a small badge that can be placed a weapon as a drops reward.

[quasi prawn]

It has nothing to do with how much work it would be to implement or how much it would "cost" them to give us X item for watching streams. It's literally the cost of setting up a twitch drop that will likely prevent this. It is not cheap which is why you almost exclusively only see AAA titles and massive draw games use them. At much as I love cotw, it's unlikely

[wooden cedar]

There are lots of smaller titles that run twitch drops. Just a simple search of the active drops campaign shows that

[quasi prawn]

Note the word "almost"

[wooden cedar]

I cannot find any proof that twitch charges money to run a drops campaign either. The cost would be marketing and reward development. Marketing is as simple as adding a text box to an ad that will already be in place stating that drops will run from this date to this date

[quasi prawn]

I worked for an indie publisher. Twitch drops were a conversation that came up frequently for our high performing games but it was never worth it. I know exactly how much it can cost lol. Same with Discord drops. It's basically an ad push

[wooden cedar]

Then enlighten those of us who are ignorant on the costs instead of being mysterious about it

[quasi prawn]

I'm not being mysterious about it with intent. There's a lot of stuff I know that I can't say due to NDAs in relation to the game industry. I may not work that job anymore but I'm still bound by the NDA

[wooden cedar]

We're also not talking about an indie publisher with EW. They're a subsidiary of a much larger corporation. I understand they have their own budget constraints to work with. This is merely to start a discussion and try to gain community support to show that a drops campaign could be successful and well-received

[quasi prawn]

How about you read my original message again. I simply added in my thoughts and that as cool as it would be, I find it unlikely to happen. Not that it's impossible or will never happen. I don't know why this had to turn into a whole thing when I already stated my support is behind it.

[wooden cedar]

It's not to turn this into a whole thing. Discussion between the pros and cons is necessary from both sides. Even if someone presenting the cons ultimately supports the idea. It shows that each side has thought about it from multiple perspectives instead of just the original. I apologize if I've made it seem like I'm angry or condescending. I'm merely trying to obtain more information and form a better viewpoint.

[quasi prawn]

I appreciate that. As a lover of knowledge myself i get that 100%. You are currently dealing with pre-caffeine me so I may be reading into things overly so, so apologies on that. I wish I could give exact data and would in a heartbeat, lol.

[wooden cedar]

I understand NDA and would never ask anyone to break one. The more information I have, be it for or against, helps me to present a better plan