Call of Duty fans believe streamers have "little impact" on the game after TimtheTatman and Nickmercs leave Warzone

In a post gaining traction on social media, Call of Duty fans have been discussing the impact of the streamer drama surrounding operator skins for Timothy "TimTheTatman" and Nicholas "Nickmercs" in June 2023. After the controversy surrounding Nicholas's comments regarding the LGBTQ+ community, Activision removed his affiliated bundle from Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2, with many fans boycotting the game.

With almost two months passed since the fallout over Nickmercs' comments, streamers such as TimTheTatman and DrDisRespect have also joined the boycott. However, as discussed by the Reddit post on r/CODWarzone, player numbers have remained quite stable, with Redditors saying that the streamers have "little impact" on Call of Duty Multiplayer.

Their arguments are also validated by numbers from Steam, which indicate that the average player numbers from the last couple of months have stayed in the vicinity of 60,000 to 65,000, including May, which precedes all of the Streamer drama.

Call of Duty player numbers as per Steam (Image via SteamCharts.com)

In fact, since the release of the brand new Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Season 5 on August 2, there has been a significant gain in the number of players consistent with previous season releases.

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"Now it's back to business as usual": Redditors comment on Call of Duty streamer drama about Nickmercs and TimTheTatman and its minimal impact on player numbers

Now that the dust has settled, I'm realizing just how little of an impact these big time streamers and youtubers have on the actual game or population. by u/MasterChiefwz in CODWarzone

Both Nickmercs and TimTheTatman are big streamers with huge audiences on Twitch and YouTube, respectively. While the former's insensitive comments and subsequent doubling down was the cause of much backlash, the latter chose to side with his friend and requested Activision to remove his operator bundle from the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 in an act of solidarity.

Popular streamer Dr DisRespect was another big name to support a boycott and uninstalled the game on stream to make a statement. However, readers should note that the Doc is known to have been beefing with Call of Duty and Activision for quite a while.

Irrespective of that, as noted by Redditors of r/CODWarzone, the initial wave supporting the boycott seems to have fizzled out, with the OP writing that Call of Duty is still the second most-played game on Xbox:

"Timthetatman and Nickmercs, both have completely stopped any type of cod playing, advertising and involvement with the series, and the game is still solidly the 2nd most played game right behind fortnite on Xbox, its placement has not changed."

While there is no official list, searching for the most played games on Xbox does return Modern Warfare 2 as second only to Fortnite and before Roblox.

Microsft most played games list (Image via microsoft.com)

The Redditor also noted how many videos and social media posts were calling for a boycott of the game with slogans such as "NICKMERCS WINS COD LOSES," but things returned to normal fairly quickly.

"It's funny how those videos were around for like five days after the news and now it's back to business as usual."

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More Reddit reactions

Most users in the r/CODWarzone appeared to agree that notwithstanding the huge audiences streamers such as Nickmercs and TimTheTatman have, the larger playerbase of games such as Call of Duty has little to do with them. Here are some of the general reactions to the post above:

Comment by u/Ndrade from discussion Now that the dust has settled, I'm realizing just how little of an impact these big time streamers and youtubers have on the actual game or population. in CODWarzone

Comment by u/Damien23123 from discussion Now that the dust has settled, I'm realizing just how little of an impact these big time streamers and youtubers have on the actual game or population. in CODWarzone

Comment by u/jnicholass from discussion Now that the dust has settled, I'm realizing just how little of an impact these big time streamers and youtubers have on the actual game or population. in CODWarzone

Comment by u/24Elsinore from discussion Now that the dust has settled, I'm realizing just how little of an impact these big time streamers and youtubers have on the actual game or population. in CODWarzone

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Readers looking for a full breakdown of the drama surrounding Nickmercs and TimTheTatman's Call of Duty Operator bundles should check out this article for a concise summary of the events.