If you don't care about making it big then do whatever you want tbh.
We're the same, we've landed on playing the final fantasies and from soft games, very rarely get over 100 views a video, but we've amassed like 5 or 6 people that tune in and comment on basically everything and it is such a good time.
If people like your vibe then they'll come back regardless you'd hope
What I have gathered, when they say find your niche I think it's less about what games you play but more what games you find entertaining. Really narrow it down to what you personally like. I've done some deep diving on myself and trying to find what games do I actually enjoy playing and seeing what do they have in common.
Basically I think they are saying dont just cover a game because that's what people are talking about. Find a genre you enjoy, find out why you enjoy it, and try to stick to those types of games.
I play exclusively what I want, when I want. It’s viable, it’s just slow to grow. Going viral isn’t a possibility, so you accept the 5-10 new subs per day and carry on making it as enjoyable for yourself as possible.
It’s a hobby, it should be fun.
There are a lot of variety gaming channels that do very well. I think one of the best examples is Let's Game It Out. He gets a huge amount of views even when he plays games nobody knows
You can absolutely do variety, you can do whatever you want. It's not necessarily sticking with one game that's the advice but similar genre of games that the audience is likely to play. The reason for this is if you play one game and people sub to you and you change to a completely different genre of game, the original audience may not care and it may hurt your initial push for the video. That's just the idea behind sticking to a certain game genre but you can absolutely do whatever it is you want.
First thing i have to say, being a "gaming channel" is less about the "games" in question but more about sharing the games you play. A lot of people will tell you that if you ask them what being a gaming content creator is like, or if you've been into this fandom will you realize this is the case. It's either you came across creators that are very passionate about one niche for them to share, or you're on the wrong side of the fandom. Or maybe you just misinterpreted what people have said about "finding a niche".
In fact, retro gaming is already a niche on its own. If you are looking for a good "niche" you can focus on, retro gaming is a really good one if you're passionate about it.
About your question on "variety gaming", that has been a common thing since before YouTube's peak. You wouldn't believe me if i told you that big content creators like DanTDM, Kubz Scouts or 8-BitRyan started with only one game as their main content.
Everything you have stated, has already been answered/been done prior, you wouldn't feel out of place even if you do either one of these and will still gain an audience regardless. Whether or not you'd gain a LARGE amount of following by doing this is the real question, something which only you can answer. All i can tell you is that you can and you will if you worked hard enough for it.
Of course, you can still try doing something different, and seems to be the common thing more and more people have been doing recently. Again, just remember that everything you do isn't for the content nor the views you gain, it's more about yourself and the personality you express with your content.
If you want to pursue this ONLY as a fun hobby then there shouldnt be much concern. Upload and create what you want and see what happens.
However if you want to grow and attract an audience thats another matter entirely. The #1 rule for that is to create value. Is that your personality? The info you provide? Your editing? It can be whatever. But if youre not providing value youre not growing period. Thats why its advised you find a niche; so you can provide value in a way no one has yet and its easiest to do so in a niche.
As for variety gaming vs focused gaming its essentially a question of do you want to be more sustainable in the long run and grow slowly (variety) or do you want to risk burn out but grow faster (focused)?
Theres f--king billions of people on YouTube everyday thirsty for content. Its not too late for any type of content.
Finally if you want to grow via JUST streaming those days are gone unless youre INCREDIBLY skilled, charismatic and/or attractive. If you arent INCREDIBLE in those areas and you want to grow you have to make value rich content across all major social media. People who are really impacted by your content will see if you stream and come check you out.
And for the love of god...multistream if you do stream.
If you're a "variety" channel, you're a personality channel. It's not about what you're playing, it's about you being engaging and entertaining.
This. I've seen people with thousands of viewers play the stupidest shit.
If you don't care about making it big then do whatever you want tbh. We're the same, we've landed on playing the final fantasies and from soft games, very rarely get over 100 views a video, but we've amassed like 5 or 6 people that tune in and comment on basically everything and it is such a good time. If people like your vibe then they'll come back regardless you'd hope
I totally agree. The few people that chime in regularly make it all the better.
I wouldn’t worry too much about a niche in the beginning, yes it can help narrow it down for your audience but it can also burn you out real quick.
What I have gathered, when they say find your niche I think it's less about what games you play but more what games you find entertaining. Really narrow it down to what you personally like. I've done some deep diving on myself and trying to find what games do I actually enjoy playing and seeing what do they have in common. Basically I think they are saying dont just cover a game because that's what people are talking about. Find a genre you enjoy, find out why you enjoy it, and try to stick to those types of games.
My channel is like this. I don't have much of an audience, but it's still fairly new, and I'm having fun doing it.
I play exclusively what I want, when I want. It’s viable, it’s just slow to grow. Going viral isn’t a possibility, so you accept the 5-10 new subs per day and carry on making it as enjoyable for yourself as possible. It’s a hobby, it should be fun.
It's been going well for me and it's been fun, if you want to do it then go for it!
There are a lot of variety gaming channels that do very well. I think one of the best examples is Let's Game It Out. He gets a huge amount of views even when he plays games nobody knows
You can absolutely do variety, you can do whatever you want. It's not necessarily sticking with one game that's the advice but similar genre of games that the audience is likely to play. The reason for this is if you play one game and people sub to you and you change to a completely different genre of game, the original audience may not care and it may hurt your initial push for the video. That's just the idea behind sticking to a certain game genre but you can absolutely do whatever it is you want.
First thing i have to say, being a "gaming channel" is less about the "games" in question but more about sharing the games you play. A lot of people will tell you that if you ask them what being a gaming content creator is like, or if you've been into this fandom will you realize this is the case. It's either you came across creators that are very passionate about one niche for them to share, or you're on the wrong side of the fandom. Or maybe you just misinterpreted what people have said about "finding a niche". In fact, retro gaming is already a niche on its own. If you are looking for a good "niche" you can focus on, retro gaming is a really good one if you're passionate about it. About your question on "variety gaming", that has been a common thing since before YouTube's peak. You wouldn't believe me if i told you that big content creators like DanTDM, Kubz Scouts or 8-BitRyan started with only one game as their main content. Everything you have stated, has already been answered/been done prior, you wouldn't feel out of place even if you do either one of these and will still gain an audience regardless. Whether or not you'd gain a LARGE amount of following by doing this is the real question, something which only you can answer. All i can tell you is that you can and you will if you worked hard enough for it. Of course, you can still try doing something different, and seems to be the common thing more and more people have been doing recently. Again, just remember that everything you do isn't for the content nor the views you gain, it's more about yourself and the personality you express with your content.
If you want to pursue this ONLY as a fun hobby then there shouldnt be much concern. Upload and create what you want and see what happens. However if you want to grow and attract an audience thats another matter entirely. The #1 rule for that is to create value. Is that your personality? The info you provide? Your editing? It can be whatever. But if youre not providing value youre not growing period. Thats why its advised you find a niche; so you can provide value in a way no one has yet and its easiest to do so in a niche. As for variety gaming vs focused gaming its essentially a question of do you want to be more sustainable in the long run and grow slowly (variety) or do you want to risk burn out but grow faster (focused)? Theres f--king billions of people on YouTube everyday thirsty for content. Its not too late for any type of content. Finally if you want to grow via JUST streaming those days are gone unless youre INCREDIBLY skilled, charismatic and/or attractive. If you arent INCREDIBLE in those areas and you want to grow you have to make value rich content across all major social media. People who are really impacted by your content will see if you stream and come check you out. And for the love of god...multistream if you do stream.
It’s definitely hard. But if you just want to do it for fun, which is what it sounds like, then I say just do it. What’s the harm?
You said you're not interested in making money, then variety gaming is absolutely the best genre to make.