Publishers don't send a game key to a "let's play" channel ... have an influencer use their product. Is a let’s player a creator or an influencer? Yes, they ar

Publishers don't send a game key to a "let's play" channel ... have an influencer use their product. Is a let’s player a creator or an influencer? Yes, they are playing someone else’s game. Yet many people prefer to watch their favourite let’s player over playing the game themselves. This indicated to me that the let’s player is creating some value that the game alone did not have. It may be, for some people, that they want to save money by not buying a game and instead enjoying the story as provided by their favourite let’s player. On the other hand, lots of people like to play the game alongside the let’s player and talk about it with the community. They also donate money to the let’s player directly so it isn’t necessarily about saving money. I think there is real value in these communities that gets built up around a game or genre of games, especially during the pandemic. Many people who would otherwise not get a lot of socialization in their lives are able to socialize with those in their favourite let’s player and streamer communities.