Gaming YouTube Just Had Its Wildest Month Ever.
Here's What Smart Creators Are Doing About It.
$42M box office from a YouTuber. 360K subscribers in a single day. A publisher's stock crashing 30%. And an algorithm rewrite that changes everything.
If you're a gaming creator on YouTube and the last month felt like trying to drink from a firehose — you're not wrong. Between mid-January and mid-February 2026, the gaming corner of YouTube experienced more seismic shifts in 30 days than most niches see in a year.
We spent two weeks pulling data from Streams Charts, TwitchTracker, Google Trends, GDC reports, and YouTube's own creator updates to distill what actually matters for gaming creators trying to grow right now. Not vibes. Not guesses. Data — and the specific moves you can make this week based on it.
The Month That Changed Everything
Click each week to expand the key events and creator takeaways.
The Algorithm Rewrote the Rules (Again)
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan confirmed in his January 2026 priorities letter that the platform now processes over 80 billion signals daily across five separate recommendation engines. But the biggest shift isn't about scale — it's about what the algorithm rewards.
The move from raw engagement to "satisfaction-weighted discovery" means a 10-minute video with 50% retention now outranks a 20-minute video with 25% retention. YouTube calls this "Valued Watch Time" — and it fundamentally changes how gaming creators should think about video length.
What's Actually Working Right Now
We analyzed format performance across gaming YouTube this month. Here's the optimal content mix based on current algorithm behavior and monetization data.
Recommended Content Mix for Gaming Creators
Based on algorithm signals, monetization data, and growth rates
The channels growing fastest right now are the ones treating Shorts as a discovery engine and long-form as a retention + revenue engine. Data shows channels using both formats grow 41% faster than single-format channels. One 15-minute video cut into 5 Shorts generates 4.8× more total reach.
Shorts Watch-Through Rate by Length
Gaming content — shorter is dramatically better
Sweet spot: 50–60 second gaming Shorts hit 76% watch-through
Engagement Rate: Shorts vs. TikTok vs. Reels
YouTube Shorts now leads all short-form platforms
74% of Shorts views come from non-subscribers — your best tool for audience growth
YouTube Gaming Is Eating Twitch Alive
YouTube Gaming's live streaming hours hit 2.2 billion in Q2 2025 — up 25% year-over-year — while Twitch declined 4.6%. And YouTube just dropped its most significant live streaming update ever: React Live, dual-format streaming, and Best Moments AI that auto-clips your stream into ready-to-publish Shorts.
Gaming Live Streaming Hours (Billions)
YouTube has overtaken Twitch and the gap is widening
The Niches Everyone's Sleeping On
Search demand is exploding in categories where creator supply hasn't caught up. These are the low-competition, high-growth opportunities that small-to-mid channels can own right now.
Rising Search Topics: YoY Growth %
These topics have massive demand and near-zero established creator coverage
Browser & Casual Games
Polytrack alone has 673K monthly searches (+399% YoY). Spacebar Clicker: 301K (+174%). Almost zero established YouTube coverage. Quick "play-along" Shorts with no competition.
MLBB in English
The M7 Championship generated 17.77M hours watched on a single Indonesian channel. VTubers and Southeast Asian creators dominate. English-language MLBB content is a massive open gap.
Indie Horror
Growing at 18.3% annually (~$3B market). Markiplier turned an indie horror game into a $42M film. This niche rewards personality-driven content over production value.
Handheld Gaming
135K monthly searches (+123% YoY). Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Switch 2 driving demand. "Best handheld games" content is dominated by small channels — room to become the authority.
Let's Talk Money: Gaming CPM Reality Check
The uncomfortable truth: gaming has one of the lowest CPMs on YouTube. At 100K views, you're looking at roughly $100–$275 in ad revenue. And Q1 is seasonally the worst quarter for CPMs. But that doesn't mean you can't build a real income — it means you need to be strategic about how you monetize.
YouTube CPM by Niche (USD per 1,000 Views)
Gaming's low CPM means diversified revenue isn't optional — it's survival
Your Action Plan for the Next 2 Weeks
Stop reading. Start doing. Here's exactly what to prioritize based on everything above.
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Sources: Streams Charts, TwitchTracker, Google Trends, GDC State of the Industry 2026, YouTube Creator Updates, Little Dot Studios Whitepaper (Feb 2026), Kapwing AI Slop Report, Take-Two Q3 Earnings Call, industry reporting from GameSpot, Variety, Tubefilter, and Digiday.
Published Feb 13, 2026 · MyCoCreator Research · mycocreator.ai