Elden Ring Nightreign - Influencer Budget, Twitch vs. YouTube Budget, Creators Hired
What is this and why am I doing it?
Welcome to my ongoing deep dives into influencer marketing for game launches! Today, I’m breaking down FromSoftware’s recently released Elden Ring: Nightreign, which launched on May 30th.
These analyses leverage Streamforge’s tech to give marketers transparent, actionable insights into how publishers are allocating influencer budgets. My goal remains consistent: help industry professionals benchmark their campaigns and uncover strategies that work.
I’m not affiliated with FromSoftware or Bandai Namco, and all budget figures here are estimates based on publicly available data and Streamforge’s creator market rate algorithm.
A Chronological Overview
Elden Ring: Nightreign’s rollout spanned over two years, each phase carefully timed to deepen engagement:
May 2022 – Concept & World-Building
FromSoftware moved into early design workshops, defining Nightreign’s new regions, enemies and the core “Nightfall” mechanic.August 30, 2023 – Summer Game Fest Reveal
A cinematic trailer unveiled Raya Lucaria under a blood-red moon, instantly igniting fan theories and social buzz.November 14, 2023 – “Bloodmoon Majesty” Gameplay Teaser
The first in-engine footage spotlighted mounted combat and spirit summons beneath a crimson sky, giving top creators fresh material to analyze.June 5–7, 2024 – Closed Beta Weekend
Invite-only streams over three days delivered real-time feedback from key influencers, leading to fine-tuned combat pacing and level tweaks.January 15, 2025 – Release Date & Collector’s Edition Reveal
During a State of Play broadcast, FromSoftware confirmed Nightreign’s May 30th launch and showcased a deluxe bundle (statue, artbook, SteelBook®).May 30, 2025 – Global Launch
Nightreign went live on PC and consoles, anchored by a Twitch Drops campaign.
From its “Nightfall” concept to the global launch, Nightreign’s phased teasers, betas, and reveals kept fans captivated every step along the way.
The Twitch Drops Program
Nightreign’s Twitch Drops offered three tiered rewards during the May 29–June 6 launch window:
Recluse badge for streaming together for at least 15 minutes
Wylder badge for downloading and sharing an Elden Ring clip
Wylder emote unlocked as a global Twitch emote
These aren’t the strongest Twitch drops incentives we’ve ever seen. While badges and emotes are heavily used on Twitch, these don’t compare to actual redeemable items in-game. On a personal note however, I think it would be distasteful for Elden Ring to do something like that. FromSoftware has built a reputation of making games straightforward and classic way, where you actually play the game to unlock things.
Content Volume & Platform Distribution
Nightreign’s 214.7 M views, far above Clair Obscur’s 35 M but below Monster Hunter Wilds’ 626 M, were almost entirely organic (0.3% sponsored), showing creators backed the game out of genuine interest. There are few games out there that would garner more organic buzz than a FromSoft game.
Short-form clips on TikTok and YouTube became word-of-mouth engines; with no budget behind them, they accelerated shareability.
Budget Allocation Breakdown
Nightreign’s co-op focus meant every sponsored Twitch stream delivered extra value. Boss rushes, co-op runs and endurance marathons all showcased teamwork, so partnerships were a natural fit. Of 57 sponsored streams, 33 (58%) featured multiple creators teaming up, merging audiences and driving organic views and clip sharing.
By contrast, under 9% of the budget went to YouTube for polished lore deep dives and post-launch highlights, while Shorts (0.2%) and TikTok (0%) were dropped due to low conversion on bite-sized clips.
Targeting Group & Market Capture
To assess how Elden Ring Nightreign landed with the core Soulsborne audience, I assembled a comparison group featuring the genre’s most influential titles:
Targeting Group:
Black Myth: Wukong (2024)
Lies of P (2023)
Lords of the Fallen (2023)
Remnant 2 (2023)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (2023)
Elden Ring (2022)
Thymesia (2022)
Nioh 2 (2020)
Nightreign attracted 26% of Soul-genre creators on Twitch, with more than one in four streaming the expansion during launch, and 20% of YouTube influencers producing early content. These rates exceed The First Berserker: Khazan by 2.6× on Twitch and 1.5× on YouTube, highlighting Elden Ring’s dominance in the Soulsborne space.
This success stems from early access previews and the “Nightfall Whisper” ARG, which provided creators with exclusive lore and gameplay clips well before launch. Core features such as spirit summons and dynamic night-day transitions offered fresh material for streams and videos.
Cost Efficiency Analysis
Nightreign’s YouTube Streams at $83 CPM delivered hours of live engagement at low cost, allowing players to dive into boss lore and co-op runs without a large spend. This format achieves sustained watch time and real-time feedback that fuels community conversation.
Standard YouTube Videos ran at $97 CPM, well above typical YouTube rates, suggesting these videos underperformed relative to expectations.
Twitch’s $491 CPM was far lower than last week’s Doom at $756 CPM, indicating creators streamed Nightreign well past their paid segments. Of the 57 sponsored streams, 33 were collaborations, representing about 58% of all streams and the highest collaboration rate across platforms, so each advertising dollar reached multiple audiences and drove longer watch times. It is important to note that when two sponsored creators teamed up, those streams did not generate additional unpaid reach but rather pooled existing spend to concentrate impact.
Language & Country Distribution of Sponsored Creators
English and German creators formed Nightreign’s core influencer base, together making up nearly 70% of sponsored talent. Germany supplied three in ten partners, while the US, UK and France each provided about one in eight.
Male voices predominated (68%) percentage wise, but a significant chunk of female streamers (26%) were sponsored to play. On that front, there are a large variety of very talented female souls-like streamers to pick from.
Top Creators Hired
Elden Ring: Nightreign’s top creator hires deliver a multifaceted showcase of skill, story, and community:
antoinedaniel ($26,050): France’s Souls stalwart ran high-intensity challenge runs and boss breakdowns, reinforcing the game’s punishing core.
lydiaviolet ($23,852): Her detailed build guides and marathon co-op streams invited both veteran and casual audiences into Nightreign’s world.
willneff ($11,761): Solo lore deep-dives uncovered hidden narratives, fueling curiosity about the expansion’s mysteries.
izakooo ($11,345): Speedruns and sequence-breaking tactics showcased precision play and drew competitive viewers.
shisheyu ($7,415): PvP duels highlighted Nightreign’s multiplayer arenas and engaged duel-hungry fans.
By distributing the budget across creators instead of backing a single megastar, Nightreign secured coverage across challenge runs, build guides, lore analysis, and PvP content. Notably, four of these highlighted creators regularly co-streamed with unsponsored partners, leveraging spontaneous dungeon runs and community shout-outs to double organic reach and emphasize the expansion’s co-op focus.
My Thoughts
I’m a little surprised the raw influencer marketing budget was so low. It’s possible budget was deployed outside of the raw “Let’s Plays” and into events, tournaments, etc.
It seems obvious, but Bandai Namco hiring creators to squad stream together and play the game co-op was surely the best format to show the game. I'm glad they didn't rely on the creators doing this purely organically.
What shouldn’t, but still does surprise me is the lack of investment in YouTube. I know firsthand however that Bandai Namco benefits immensely from having massive YouTubers like IronPineapple and VaatiVidya who make content regularly for them, organically, at the level that if they wanted those views sponsored would cost them like 100k each video.
As publishers and developers, it would be an absolute blessing to have creators like this on your side. I guess that speaks to the power of making a series of great games with high replay-ability.
Want to See More Data?
To view the full list of sponsored creators head over to Streamforge.com and create a free account. Registration is quick and free, and you’ll gain access to each creator’s key metrics, AI-analyzed interests, entire content library, and detailed demographic breakdowns.
After registering, head to the Lists page, and click "Public Lists" to see the list.
What's Next
My next deep dive will be Spligate 2 dropping soon, so hit that subscribe button to get notified!
What do you think about these findings? Please tell me if you find value, these take a long time to research and write! Share your thoughts in the comments!