Magic’s Twitch Numbers Are Down – How Bad Is It?

Last updated on April 4, 2025

Cursed Recording – Illus. by Kim Sokol

Magic content creator MTGNerdGirl has sparked a lively discussion on X after noting that Magic streaming numbers are down to pre-Arena levels, with MTG viewers being 10-15 years older on average than in the gaming industry.

Source: MTGNerdGirl on X

A lot of replies agreed with MTGNerdGirl's post, and also decried how expensive the game is (mostly referring to MTG Arena, one of Magic's digital platforms).

Does a deeper look at the numbers support this claim? And if yes, how bad is it?

Magic's Twitch Viewership

MTGNerdGirl's first claim – Magic's Twitch viewership is down to pre-Arena levels – is factually and objectively true, according to data both from Twitchtracker and SullyGnome.

Source: TwitchTracker – “Magic: The Gathering” category

Both sources paint the exact same picture: A huge boost by the time MTG Arena launched in Sept 2018, with viewers doubling overnight from about 5K to more than 10K, followed by a bit of downtrend in that late part of 2019, a small spike by the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, and then slowly dwindling to the about 3K-4K we have nowadays.

Source: SullyGnome – Average monthly viewers for Magic: The Gathering

Interestingly, what has stabilized at a much higher number (even if still below the 2019-2020 peak) is the total hours streamed per month:

Source: SullyGnome – Total hours streamed per month by Magic: The Gathering

This data takes into account all forms of Magic (that's to say not just MTG Arena streams, but also MTGO and Magic live tournaments), but MTGNerdGirl's first point still stand: These numbers are lower than when Arena launched.

Magic Viewership Age Distribution

MTGNerdGirl's second point, about the age distribution skewing older, seems to be a general trend of the times. According to the 2024 report from the Entertainment Software Association, 29% of US players nowadays are 50 or older. In 2004, only 17% of players were aged 50+. In 1999, this number was even lower at just 9%.

Source: Entertainment Software Association 

In particular, the ESA puts the average gamer at 36 years of age. Former MTG content creator Jeff Hoogland, who now streams Snap and Pokemon, considers that the CCG genre skews older in general.

Source: JeffHoogland on X

Why Are Magic Twich Numbers Down?

MTGNerdGirl's post blames WotC's pricing for the decline in Twitch numbers, but other prominent Magic creators answered with different explanations.

“I think part of it is Wizards paid a ton of streamers to play the game when Arena launched and they don't anymore,” posted Saffron Olive. “And also card games just aren't intuitive to new viewers. I can turn on someone playing Fall Guys and immediately “get it” even though I've never played the game. Even Marvel Rivals and LoL are fairly watchable for someone like me that doesn't play them. Card games are super tough if you aren't enfranchised.”

“Magic itself is horrible to watch, physical MTGO Arena doesn’t matter,” posted Patrick Sullivan. “Not the fault of the game, wasn’t designed with it in mind, but to the extent there have been success stories it's been something that you can have the sound on in the background while you do something else.”

Saffron also noted that this may be illustrative of the problems of Twitch as a platform, when compared with YouTube.

Source: SaffronOlive on X

Last but not least, there are more and more alternatives each year.

“Right now there's more content creators than ever, and less appetite for competitive content than ever,” notes Michal Sigrist. “Games in general, are MUCH better than they were 20 years ago, so MTG isn't only competing with hearthstone, its competing with mobile games etc as well.”

And, in that regard, Magic in general, and MTGA in particular, seem to be doing okay.

According to data from activeplayer.io, MTGA's player count has had its ups and downs, but it's doing fairly well:

Source: activeplayer.io

Numbers from SteamCharts tell a similar story (MTG Arena has been on Steam for only two years, that's why there's no data before that):

Source: SteamCharts, MTGArena players 

It seems clear by these numbers that, for better or worse, MTGA player activity does not correlate with Twitch viewership.

“Magic itself is bigger than ever in a lot of ways, Commander too,” notes Saffron Olive. So, it's only fair to say that MTGNerdGirl was partially correct here. “People watching Magic on Twitch is very much not bigger than ever though.” However, the data evidences a consistent base of devoted players who are always down to enjoy MTG streams, competitive and casual alike.