Cult of the Lamb

Cult of the Lamb is an action-adventure strategy game that achieved critical and commercial success shortly after its launch in August 2022 by embracing livestreaming engagement on Twitch. Developed by Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital, the title takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to the concept of a religious cult. The player controls a sacrificial lamb that fights through a series of dungeons to gather resources for its commune back at base.

Cult of the Lamb offers Twitch integration tools that boost engagement between the live-streamer and their followers. The livestream plug-ins allow Twitch followers to create in-game characters, dictate the difficulty, or donate channel points to bolster in-game resources. All these behaviours are designed to increase engagement with their favourite streamer. For Twitch streamers, the result is more memorable moments that increase the likelihood that followers will chat, watch until the end of the stream, subscribe to the channel, or offer a financial tip.

To create the experience, live-streamers install a Cult of the Lamb Twitch overlay onto their channel that links to their in-game save file. This allows the live-streamer to set up the channel point integration and decide the financial donation level for followers to acquire premium skins for their non-playable character. While watching, followers are prompted on-screen to engage in the action by entering a raffle to become a non-playable character or voting on whether to “help or hinder” the streamer by donating or removing resources.

The game was a big hit with Twitch streamers because it fed their followers’ insatiable appetite for engagement. Ultimately, engagement is key for creating Twitch communities that drive recurring revenues from advertising and subscriptions. With an average of nearly 100,000 streamers appearing live on Twitch at any given time, streamers are facing a relentless battle to create fresh and engaging content that keeps viewers loyal. Simply streaming the gameplay is not enough for the smaller and mid-tier streamers looking to scale.