Fextralife is one of the most watched channels on Twitch, regularly dominating major releases like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Diablo 4. But some streamers feel left out by the channel’s methods and wish the streaming platform would put a stop to it.
what is the situation One of the most watched channels on Twitch right now is Fextralife. Measured by watchtime, the channel ranks 11th worldwide over the last 30 days (as of August 29, 2023). In June 2023, Fextralife even made it to number 1 with the release of Diablo 4 (via sullygnome).
But the channel is a thorn in the side of some Twitch streamers. They accuse Fextralife of “stealing viewers” and using other dubious methods.
The release of Baldur’s Gate gave Fextralife another boost on Twitch.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was played the equivalent of 1,225 years on the first release weekend – exciting facts and figures
Fextralife dominates big releases
What is the problem with Fextralife? Unlike well-known streaming personalities such as Asmongold or MontanaBlack, the channel is not an individual. Instead, 3 different people are streaming there, appearing under the names Cas, Tyr and Yuria.
By splitting the time, they can simply spend more time on the air than if everything has to be covered by a single person. This gives them an enormous advantage, especially when it comes to the hours watched.
But Fextralife takes advantage of another advantage that other streamers find annoying: behind the channel is a website that lists more than 150 wikis with guides and information on numerous major releases.
The in-house streams are then integrated into all wikis. If someone looks something up there, they are automatically counted as a viewer, even if they are not consciously aware of the stream. With this strategy, Fextralife came under criticism as early as 2022.
Now, Fextralife has once again managed to establish itself as the most-watched channel for two of the biggest releases of 2023 so far: Diablo 4 and Baldur’s Gate 3. Criticism of the website’s practices is thus coming up again.
The YouTuber Moistcr1tikal took a look at the company’s approach in a current video, which we have included here in the original English:
Streamer Says “You’re Taking Up Seats For Others”
What points of criticism are there? At the same time, Fextralife is under fire on Reddit. The mod of a Baldur’s Gate 3 subreddit with more than 31,500 members accused the operators of the website of using bots to automatically shower links to the competition and critical comments with downvotes so that they are no longer displayed.
The post was later supplemented with a statement from Fextralife. The operators of the website deny being behind the actions and emphasize that anyone could be responsible. A detailed statement was also posted in the website’s forum.
Cr1tikal also criticizes Fextralife for claiming that it has never known about Reddit bots. After all, the automated helpers should be familiar to every user: “It is perfectly fine to defend yourself against the allegations and to point out logical inconsistencies. But why tell such a brazen lie?”
However, the YouTuber has little hope that Twitch will do anything about Fextralife’s actions. After all, the platform benefits from the high numbers that the channel can show: “It’s not good for other streamers. It takes a spot away from streamers who deserve it more and who actually have communities.”
So while Fextralife’s methods do not violate Twitch’s policies, streamers want the platform to take action against the channel’s practices. It remains to be seen if that will happen.
Twitch is usually dominated by multiplayer titles and streamers who play them. With Baldur’s Gate, a rather atypical game was catapulted to the top of the streaming platform, giving smaller streamers a moment in the spotlight as well:
Baldur’s Gate 3: Twitch streamer kisses devil, runs invisible through minefields, enchants viewers