Star Wars: Battlefront

We started streaming Star Wars: Battlefront in 2015 when DICE and EA decided to reboot the beloved series. The announcement of this game had divided the community hard—people were nostalgic for the original Battlefront II (the 2005 one), and here came EA saying 'forget all that, we're doing something new.' Battlefront 2015 launched without a single-player campaign, which was controversial, and with limited multiplayer modes compared to what people remembered. But we jumped in anyway because, come on, it's Star Wars, and you can play as iconic units. Over 953 hours in 2015, we streamed massive multiplayer matches, we experienced the chaos of Walker Assault (a mode that was hilariously unbalanced), and we watched the community come to terms with what the game actually was versus what they hoped it would be. The building of expectation and the meeting of reality—that's what 2015 Battlefront was all about. We were there for that entire journey, warts and all.

Star Wars: Battlefront averaged 517 concurrent viewers across 2015, respectable for a multiplayer game that was getting mixed reviews. Our peak of 1,858 viewers probably represents those Launch week moments when everyone was excited or disappointed simultaneously. We watched 551,223 hours of Battlefront—that's substantial engagement for a title that had serious content concerns. The fact that we gained 6,188 followers during Battlefront's 2015 year shows something important: Star Wars still pulls people in, even when the execution is imperfect. Players show up for the IP first, forgive gameplay issues second. That's the power of an established universe.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2015 created a community built around unmet expectations trying to find joy anyway. People loved being Boba Fett. People loved the moment-to-moment gunplay. People loved that you could spawn as an AT-ST and do ridiculous things. The community wasn't defending the game—they were defending their right to enjoy it despite its limitations. That kind of community loyalty, where people show up even when a game isn't 'officially' cool? That's real.