hollow pendant
I appreciate that COTW is investing in creator promotions, but as someone who watches the game daily and is really involved in the community, I’m honestly confused by the direction the budget is going. Sponsoring creators like SheefGG, Baddie, and Chiblee doesn’t make sense for the type of audience that actually plays COTW. Their communities are built around Escape From Tarkov, fast-paced shooters, and chaotic social variety games. Those viewers come for high-energy content. not a calm, methodical hunting sim. So even if their sponsored streams give the game a quick visibility bump, it’s not going to convert into long-term players or people who engage with the COTW category. The interest ends the moment the sponsored stream ends. That’s just the reality of cross-genre marketing.
What makes this even more frustrating, from a viewer’s perspective, is how it looks for the creators who actually carry this game every single day. Yes, they get early access and DLC codes, but they’re not being paid for the massive amount of work they put in. They make guides, showcase every update, help players understand mechanics, test things on their own time, stream COTW consistently, and basically keep the entire category alive. And all of that is done for free, purely because they love the game.
So seeing the marketing budget go to creators who have zero audience overlap, while the people who have built and grown this community for years, honestly feels disrespectful. As a viewer, it genuinely feels like the devs are overlooking the creators who actually put in the work and represent the game long-term. It comes across like rewarding outsiders to show up for one stream while ignoring the people who make COTW what it is.
The frustrating part is that COTW already has proven, effective ways to grow the category in a real, sustainable way: Twitch Drops, exclusive creator drops, and programs that highlight the creators who actually stream this game consistently. Drops especially are one of the few methods that reliably boost viewership, bring back players, and increase retention across the board.
If the goal is real growth, I hope the team considers putting that marketing budget toward the creators who actually support this game every day, or toward drop systems that benefit the community as a whole. As someone who is extremely active in the COTW community, it’s very clear where the impact would be felt the most and it’s not through paying variety streamers whose audiences will never stick around.