How many indie game streams on Twitch are not in English?
Published · Numbers as of
94 of the 258 Twitch streams of 46 indie games we analysed in the week of 21 Sept 2026 (36%) were not in English, judged by a speech model from the first 30 seconds of speech. The most common other languages were Russian, German and Japanese.
The share swings from game to game: in 14 of the 46 games, most of the 3 to 8 streams we picked were in another language.
Languages of the streams we analysed
| Language | Streams | Share |
|---|---|---|
| English | 164 | 64% |
| Russian | 20 | 8% |
| German | 19 | 7% |
| Japanese | 16 | 6% |
| French | 13 | 5% |
| Chinese | 9 | 3% |
| Spanish | 6 | 2% |
| Portuguese | 4 | 2% |
| Arabic | 2 | 1% |
| Polish | 2 | 1% |
| Thai | 2 | 1% |
| Hungarian | 1 | <1% |
Games where English was the minority
These are the games in our sample with the highest share of streams in other languages. Each links to its page, where you can see what the streamers ran into.
| Game | Not in English | Languages |
|---|---|---|
| Dub Together | 8 of 8 | German, French, Russian |
| Big Walk | 3 of 3 | Japanese, Arabic |
| CloverPit | 3 of 3 | German, French, Japanese |
| Waterpark Simulator | 3 of 3 | German, French |
| MIMESIS | 6 of 8 | Russian, German, French |
What it means for your demo
A confused player in a German or Japanese stream is as much a playtest session as one in English. If you watch only the streams you understand, you skip them: in our sample, 94 of 258, about one stream in three.
These numbers show which languages the streams were in. They don't show whether a translation would pay off; for that, look at where your wishlists and sales come from.
How to check your own game
- During the fest, list the streams in your game's Twitch category and note the language of each one.
- Treat the language tag as a hint. The streamer sets it for the channel, and it doesn't change with what they say on a given stream.
- For a stream in a language you don't speak, use the gameplay to find the moments worth checking: the player stops, restarts or goes quiet. Then have someone who speaks the language listen to those minutes before you decide what went wrong. A machine translation is a start, not an answer.
How we counted
The streams are the ones on our game pages: 3 to 8 Twitch streams per indie game, longest first. We detect the language from the first 30 seconds of speech with a speech-recognition model (Whisper). 1 stream without a detected language is left out.
What this doesn't tell you
- It is a sample of what we analysed, not a census of Twitch. A stream enters only if its VOD was still online, and we take the longest streams first.
- A stream that switches language after the first 30 seconds of speech counts in its first language.
- We haven't measured how often the speech model gets the language wrong.
- It covers Twitch only. YouTube and Kick streams of the same games are not in these numbers.