As the video game industry shows no signs of slowing down, there are limitless opportunities for blending or creating new genres each year. Some manage to remain popular among the multiple gaming genres available, whereas others start to fade away.
Interested in this, we wanted to discover which gaming genre has become the most popular in 2021. They did this by scraping Steam to find the 15 most popular games under each gaming genre. They then utilized the Twitch Tracker tool to analyze the peak Twitch concurrent viewers in April 2020 and April 2021, which allowed them to measure the percentage increase for each genre.
Key Points
- The Action RPG games genre shows the biggest increase in popularity in 2021.
- Real-Time Strategy games come second on the list, with 63,215 more Twitch viewers than April last year.
- Fighting & Martial Arts games are third with 383% more viewership.
- Remarkably, Grand Theft Auto V is the game with the biggest increase in popularity from 2020, with 883,000 more viewers this April.
Gaming genres with the biggest increase in popularity in 2021
| Rank | Gaming genre | 2020 peak April Twitch viewers | 2021 peak April Twitch viewers | Difference in viewership | Percentage increase (%) |
| 1 | Action RPG | 36,896 | 336,983 | +300,087 | +813% |
| 2 | Real-Time Strategy | 13,136 | 76,351 | +63,215 | +481% |
| 3 | Fighting & Martial Arts | 53,006 | 255,760 | +202,754 | +383% |
| 4 | Puzzle | 88,104 | 386,571 | +298,467 | +339% |
| 5 | Platform & Runner | 136,551 | 596,298 | +459,747 | +337% |
| 6 | Casual | 71,814 | 307,391 | +235,577 | +328% |
| 7 | Life & Immersive | 52,368 | 193,171 | +140,803 | +269% |
| 8 | Third-Person Shooter | 379,059 | 1,276,548 | +897,489 | +237% |
| 9 | Team Sports | 21,198 | 62,697 | +41,499 | +196% |
| 10 | Card & Board | 126,406 | 357,771 | +231,365 | +183% |
The video game genre with the biggest increase in popularity in 2021 is Action RPG. Thanks to games such as Path of Exile and Grim Dawn, Action RPG games have seen peak viewers rise by 300,087 in April 2021 compared to last year.
Coming second on the list is Real-Time Strategy. Games such as Age of Empires II and Total War: WARHAMMER II belong to this genre, so it is no surprise that it has received 63,215 more peak views since last April (+481%).
Coming in third is Fighting & Martial Arts games. The genre has seen a 383% increase in peak Twitch views compared to last year. It will likely remain popular for years to come due to classic games such as Mortal Kombat 11 and Brawlhalla.
Puzzle games come fourth, with a 339% increase in peak Twitch views compared to 2020. Thanks to games such as Portal 2 and Baba Is You, puzzle games have seen 298,467 more Twitch views in 2021 compared to last year.
Completing the top five, with a 337% increase in average Twitch peak viewers, is Platform & Runner games.
As well as finding the genres that have increased in popularity the most, here are the games with the largest increase in popularity since April 2020.
Top 5 games with an increase in popularity:
- Grand Theft Auto V: + 883,000 average viewers
- Path of Exile: +292,100 average viewers
- The Jackbox Party Pack 7: +128,000 average viewers
- Mortal Kombat 11: +111,700 average viewers
- Apex Legends: +101,800 average viewers
