Twitter Shares New Data on the Evolving Gaming Conversation via Tweet

Gaming chatter continues to rise on Twitter, and with gaming becoming a key pillar of modern online culture – arguably now even more influential than ever, after two years of lockdowns which forced youngsters to find alternative means of social connection – it’s a key aspect for Twitter’s ongoing growth and development.

Today, Twitter’s Head of Creator & Gaming Content Partnerships Rishi Chadha has shared some new insights into the evolving gaming conversation via tweet, including new data on the most popular games, gaming teams, players and more.

First off, Chandha notes that there were almost 800 million gaming related tweets in Q1, 2022.

That puts Twitter on track to break last year’s record for gaming tweets, with 2.4 billion for the full year. At 800m in a quarter, Twitter looks set to break 3 billion total gaming tweets in 2022, which underlines the growing momentum in the sector, and the role that Twitter is playing in facilitating that engagement.

As you can see from the above chart, Elden Ring and Fortnite were among the top games mentioned, though one of the most tweeted games is not a traditional gaming focus, as such.

That’s right, Wordle, the viral word game that’s captured everyone’s attention this year, and ended up being sold for ‘low seven figures’, ranked second in total gaming mentions within the period.

Though classifying Wordle in the ‘gaming’ category feels like cheating a little bit. I mean, it is a game, I guess, but I would also suggest that the people that are playing Wordle are not ‘gamers’ as such, at least from a generalized perspective.

If you were a marketer looking to target your ads about a new video game, would you want to reach Wordle players? There are probably some specifics to clarify there, but overall, I would say that this is not the same as the traditional gaming audience, and as such, it seems like Twitter might have juiced its ‘gaming’ data a little bit by including Josh Wardle’s simple puzzle app.

In terms of gaming creators, Twitter has also provided a listing of the most mentioned gaming teams:

And the most mentioned pro players, who have now become major stars in their own right:

Remember when your parents used to be like ‘get outside and get some fresh air’, noting that sports stars and other inspirational figures didn’t spend their days locked in their room, staring at a screen?

Now, they kind of do, and kids can snap back by noting that FalleNCS earns millions just by playing video games.

Not sure that’ll do much for household harmony, nor to improve generational understanding – and it is worth noting that only a fraction of a fraction of the best video game players ever earn any money from doing so.

But that’s pretty much the same as top sports stars, and there is a case to be made that practicing a game for eight hours a day could be just as valuable, as a future career prospect, as running around outside shooting hoops.

Maybe not as healthy, in a physical sense, but…

Either way, the gaming conversation continues to evolve on Twitter, and while I do think these numbers have been inflated a little by the inclusion of Wordle, it’s still a key growth element to watch, and to note in your marketing efforts.