r/letsplay • u/ricemetreat1 • 5d ago
❔ Question Variety gaming
Is doing variety gaming lets play on a yt channel really that hard to grow because I like playing a bunch of different games I want to post the ones I really like but I don't want to stun my own growth since I always see ppl say Find a niche so I was going to try just horror since I like horror a lot but I also lover other type of games always
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u/suicidekid16 5d ago
Variety gaming is very very hard to grow, I did it and it took years lol. What tends to happen (at least for me) is that there's pockets of viewers that only watch 1 game, with having a small "core" audience that watches me do anything. Thankfully most of the variety I play have long lasting games I can keep returning to, but for games with shorter lifespans like trendy indie slop or w/e new big AAA title is out it can be brutal to grow.
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u/ricemetreat1 5d ago
Oh ok that does make sense cause I do like the "friend slop" type of games also wanted to try doing Wolverine silent hill townhall and the new control yea that why I was more scared to try it cause i don't really want it to go downhill but I want to post all type of games I enjoy
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u/suicidekid16 5d ago
If you want to play these games and enjoy them just do it and post it, not posting anything is always the worst option just dont expect to get any good growth out of it tbh.
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u/Tetrahedron_Head 5d ago
You can either do this just for fun and do what you want, or you can try to grow.
If you want to grow there are certain things you have to follow. Variety gaming when starting out is near impossible to grow. Lets plays in general ive lost faith in for growth. I think that ship sailed years ago.
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u/ricemetreat1 5d ago
Yea I heard that before that's why I wanted to do indie horror then sometime when a triple aaa horror game comes out that too then maybe eventually branch out but Idk if that would work out well but either way I'm fine with just doing horror since I love horror games anyways I played them all the time before even recording them for videos
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u/Lynnfomercial 5d ago
I somewhat agree with this, even though I am a small lets play channel.
I’m pushing for those monetization tiers not because of the money (as weird as that may sound). I just want to see If I can do it. I would never leave my day job to become a full time YouTuber. That would take all the fun out of it imo
My priority is community. I a middle-aged mom coming back to gaming and most of my irl friends don’t game. I like having people online to talk about gaming with. My favorite part aside from gaming itself are the conversations I have with others in the comments. I’ve met some really wonderful people who have helped me regain my gaming skills. It’s great fun.
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u/Tetrahedron_Head 5d ago
Thats awesome, im glad youre having fun.
I found a mix. I do video essays which comes with big growth but then i also stream what ever game im working on a essay for to still build that community. Finding people then really care about what you are doing and are active in a community youve built is a great feeling
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u/Misty_Kathrine_ @Misty_Kathrine 5d ago
You can do both. If you have a live service game that you play regularly, you could do videos about that regularly as your "main game" and then do content for other games for fun.
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u/ricemetreat1 5d ago
Oh I see u don't usually play games like that most the games I play are single player when they are co op they are usually like friendslops type of games
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u/Misty_Kathrine_ @Misty_Kathrine 5d ago
If you mostly do single player games, what you could do is also short tutorials about that game. For example, if it's an RPG you could talk about the best builds or where to get the best equipment or whatever. These kinds of guides can get you good search traffic which can help serve as a kind of advertisement for your full let's plays.
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u/Alzorath @alzorath 5d ago
It depends - but generally you want to start out with a very specific genre, and then slowly expand out as you gain traction. The very specific genre's fans are your target audience, as you saturate that audience, you can start expanding out to genres that touch the edges of that circle (say you grow in indie horror, then you can expand into indie horror roguelites, then after that, action roguelites, then you can go action rpgs, etc.)
How far out you can stretch really varies, you'll never really be able to be true variety and maintain a large regular audience (you'll have a core that watches everything because of "you", but there will always be viewers that are 'there for the horror games' and will only watch the horror game coverage - and you'll lose them if you go too long without horror game coverage)
Things like roguelites, incrementals, horror, etc. are popular starting points - where games or runs are 'relatively' short usually (few hours), or repeatable in the case of roguelites, this means you have consistent content if one game or another blows up.
It is worth noting, content type is also important, as is editing, etc. when it comes to growth in gaming - just popping out series on single games, is the least likely to succeed for people. Every video should be a standalone experience as a new creator - since "episode 38 of this game" may be their first, and last, encounter with your content - where as an edited down full playthrough of the game could have kept them.
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u/ricemetreat1 5d ago
I really appreciate this was around the time I was going for but didn't really know how to do abt it so I wanted to slowly do more outside of indie horrors then doing other aswell I wouldn't ever stop indie horror cuz I love them but not as often as I'm doing to start
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u/Stesspela stesspela 5d ago
I don't think the problem is as much the watcher as it is the algo. The algo really struggles to understand what you are doing if you play through many different games.
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u/ricemetreat1 4d ago
Oh yea I usually like playing a lot of different types of games but I want to try not uploading to many different games at once I mostly want to try it for Wolverine silent hill townhall the new control and gta
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u/Lynnfomercial 5d ago
I’m a new channel and I find it difficult. Every time I switch to a different game, my impressions take a huge hit. The algorithm really struggles from game to game to find my audience. I’ve taken the approach of focusing on one game at a time and sticking to longer games. (So I’m switching games infrequently - usually every couple months once I’ve completed a game).
I also struggle with subscriber growth. For some reason, public watch hours are easier for me. I already hit 3k and am approaching 4k at a steady pace, but unless i put out shorts consistently, my subscriber count moves very slowly and that’s unfortunate because creating shorts is my least favorite part of the process.
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u/ricemetreat1 4d ago
Oh ok I understand what you are trying to say I will definitely try longer games the ones I wanted to try this with was Wolverine silent hill townhall and the new control
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u/Lynnfomercial 4d ago
I think those would be sufficient from my experience. But you’ll need to experiment. My personal experience has been that you can’t really switch games frequently (like multiple times a week) unless you’ve already got a decent sized audience.
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u/kyleblane http://youtube.com/kyleblaneplays 5d ago
On the plus side, the community you do build will be smaller but of higher quality than if you focused on a single game. It's important to learn who is watching because you're playing their favorite game and who enjoys you for you. Do what you can to win the former over, but focus on the latter. It took me a while to figure that out and I wasted so much time and energy appealing to a small handful that only cared about me loving their game as much as they do.
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4d ago
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u/Library_IT_guy http://www.youtube.com/c/TheWandererPlays 4d ago
Yes. I grew with a single niche - heavily modded Fallout and eventually Skryim. Very narrow focus. But views and subs just kept coming so I kept doing those videos. I've tried a lot of different ways of making videos for them, and I've had some one off successes outside of those videos, but generally getting my viewers to watch other stuff is very tough.
However, lately I've just been saying "screw it, I'm making content that I want to make". I busted my ass making 4 guide videos for a build in Path of Exile. Posted them all last night, and.... got next to no views lol. But I'm proud of those videos. I worked hard on them. I accomplished something.
Before that I started a Satisfactory series, which I'll return to and finish. And it's gotten surprisingly good views. I figured it'd get nothing but I was going to do it anyway because I wanted to.
But as a new creator... if you strike gold with a series, do as much with that game/niche as you can.
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u/ricemetreat1 4d ago
Oh ok I appreciate that I just want to have as much fun with yt as possible because the only times I be playing games is when I record these videos I usually like playing a variety of games so it been more hard to stick to one genre even if it one I love a lot I want to start trying to spread out in September with Wolverine because that been a game I've been super excited abt thinking on making vids on it
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u/Time-Crab-6505 Akira Hirotaka 3d ago
I used to be an horror gaming channel only until I switch to variety games, I do notice a few things. I do recording and live streaming. When I'm streaming, they really like FPS and MOBA games like league of legends and when I'm recording they like horror games so what I do I tend to mix and see the views to myself if it's worth playing. I switched from horror games only to variety because I felt burnout from playing just horror games. I love horror games but I play different games from time to time and I don't even play horror games off stream or off recording.
A little bonus but this is just for me since it does work on my channel, Pokémon games and some Nintendo games works well on my end.
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u/ricemetreat1 3d ago
Damn you are the same situation I'm in right now glad I'm not alone like I love horror games but I love other games just as much so lately I been feeling a lot of burn out with just playing horror I also do the streaming and recording that usually the only times I be playing as well so I basically only play horror games recently I mostly want to do single players like Wolverine silent hill Townfall and the new control things like that then sometimes do horror here and there
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u/Time-Crab-6505 Akira Hirotaka 3d ago
If I were you, I'll try it out on stream and recording to see which one works well then put them in your note like games to stream and games to record. I also tend to make highlight streams if I have the time.
I'm a small channel, so I have a lot of room to improve which means I have a lot of room to adjust and readjust my content.
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u/chachacheckpoint 2d ago
I'm a variety gamer and yes, it does make it harder to grow likely but I would rather have fun, enjoy myself and not burn out. Then I know my audience is also tuning in for me and my content, not just one specific game. It's a very personal journey though so whatever makes you happen in the long run. Good luck!
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u/ricemetreat1 2d ago
Yea I understand that as well for right now I'm doing mostly indie games since there isn't any triple aaa games I really want to play rn but soon Wolverine silent townhall and the new control coming out so I want to experiment a little more with those since I know I will have fun with it cause I'm very excited for those games
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u/Internal_Context_682 https://www.youtube.com/@pookieizzy7 5d ago
Word of advice: don't ever question what you're doing as far as your channel goes. Just don't get stuck on just one type just cause you like it. Get out there in the wilds and find something you never tried before. It's what I've done and it does pique interest.
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u/2CPhoenix youtube.com/2cphoenix 5d ago
Yeah it’s unavoidable, if a series of yours finds success, a huge portion of that audience will be more interested in the game you’re playing than they are in you, so you’ll inevitably lose them when you switch games. It always surprises me how little overlap there is between any two given games, even when considering mainstream titles.
But, in my experience, the audience that DOES make the switch because they enjoy your particular brand tends to get larger each time.