Rust

We went back to Rust in 2013, the same year we started StreamerHouse itself. Facepunch Studios' brutal survival sandbox predated the survival boom but perfected it—and by the time we streamed it, Rust had been meaner for eight years straight. Getting killed naked on a beach by a 12-year-old with an AK is a rite of passage. Spending six hours building a base only to get raided while offline teaches you the game's real lessons. The rare victories when careful planning paid off—when your trap worked, when your pvp outplay landed—those moments made the brutal losses feel earned. We rode Rust's Twitch explosion thanks to high-profile streamer servers creating their own political ecosystems. Our own server streams captured the full experience: server politics, betrayals, revenge raids, the constant arms race of who has the better gun right now. The peak of 263 viewers watched the house prove that Rust doesn't get easier with age—it just finds new ways to humble you.

We streamed Rust for 59.8 hours in 2013, pulling 11,931.5 hours watched at an average of just 197 viewers. That 263 peak showed moments when the brutality broke through to broader audiences. The lower average reflected Rust's punishing difficulty and niche appeal—most streamers either stuck with it and built loyal communities or bounced off frustrated. We stuck with it, and the peak proved the investment paid off.