The rise of Escape from Tarkov on Twitch has shone a spotlight on Pestily, as the Australian streamer has achieved some remarkable success. But, who is he and why is he so popular?
With Escape from Tarkov dominating the charts on Twitch at the start of the new year, streamers who have been committed to the game for quite a while are getting their moment in the spotlight – even though bigger names in the streaming scene have tried their hand at the game.
It’s not Dr Disrespect, Tim ‘TimTheTatMan’ Betar, Ben ‘Dr Lupo’ Lupo, or even Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel who has cemented themselves at the top of charts though. That accolade falls to Pestily, an Australian streamer who had a pretty interesting way to celebrate gaining 30,000 viewers on one stream – although, he has managed to triple that on a few occasions since.
As previously stated, Pestily is a former Australian military member turned Escape from Tarkov streamer that has been creating content around the game since 2018. With the game hitting the heights on Twitch as the most popular title because of in-game drops, he’s been thrust into the spotlight.
Per statistics from SullyGnome, he had been averaging a few thousand viewers per stream throughout the end of 2019, but as soon as the drops became available in December, he skyrocketed.
Since December 29, he’s averaged well over 50,000 viewers, with three streams – January 2, 4, and 5, peaking over 100,000 viewers – as he’s also found himself gaining tens of thousands of interested followers as well.
Pestily is well aware of his meteoric success too, as he addressed the insane growth on stream, seeing as he’s become the fastest-growing streamer on Twitch for the last few weeks.
“I started this event with 140,000 followers – and that’s two years of streaming, content creation and in seven days, I’ve got 115,000 followers,” he said during his January 5 stream. “And, I’ve gone from 5,000 subs to nearly 17,000 – that’s a massive growth. Massive.
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With him being an incredibly experienced Tarkov player, Pestily has been able to showcase his high-level gameplay and also offer tips out on stream.
However, for anyone who wants to take the game a little more seriously and perhaps try to replicate his current success, he provides deeper dives on YouTube channel. He’s even appeared on podcasts with the game’s developers to discuss updates and the state of the game.
Now, if he’ll be able to maintain his current level of success, is another question – especially as the drops that have made the game so popular on Twitch won’t last forever.
Either way, anyone with an interest in Tarkov will likely still be able to find him making content about the game, regardless of it staying as a mainstream hit or not.
His increase in followers also give him a boost if he chooses to move onto another game, so as long as he can retain some of his newfound viewers, it could be the kickstart to Twitch’s next big star.