TikTok trends rarely ever make sense, and the NPC trend is no different. Here are the top NPC streamers who have redefined roboticism.
TikTok trends usually fade quickly, but it’s been a year, and fans are still hooked on watching their favorite NPC streamers. In 2023, a new streaming genre gained popularity, featuring streamers like Pinkydoll and nateucoco. Despite its initial absurdity, it captured a massive audience willing to shell out thousands of dollars to watch streamers role-play as robotic characters. Reportedly,popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenatmade $6,000 from a single NPC stream. All of that money came from TikTok rewards donated by fans.
With the trend staying alive in 2024, these are our picks for the top five NPC streamers still putting on a show.
What is an NPC streamer?
NPC is a gaming term for side characters who are non-playable, and NPC streamers attempt to replicate their behavior in real life.
Since NPCs are not controlled by a real human, they are movements and dialogues are pre-decided and limited. For this reason, if you keep engaging with them for an unintended period of time, NPCs often start glitching and repeat the same script and movement. In actuality, it’s not super satisfying to watch this unfold in a real video game, but it turns out, in real life people like watching humans act as an NPC.
In 2023, NPC streams became a hot new trend that had all top streamers act like robots and add elements of ASMR, anime, and more. These streamers would use the virtual gifts feature on TikTok to earn money directly from the viewers.
It’s a pretty lucrative job considering TikTok stickers aren’t cheap, ranging from 70 coins for $0.74 to 7,000 coins for $74. Users can buy gifts, such as stickers, using these tokens. NPC creators earn 50% of the gift value, which they can convert into digital diamonds. Once they accumulate $100 worth of diamonds, they can redeem them for real money.
Naturally, almost all top streamers jumped on this fad, but only a few left a lasting impression. Here’s a list of the top 5 NPC creators in 2024.
Loczniki
Loczniki is a dancer by profession, but fans know her for her impeccable execution of an NPC. She’s one of the few creators who are still posting high-quality NPC content that takes talent and sometimes a lot of practice.
Her videos often include a playable character who’s holding the camera but has similar game-like hand movements. The videos often have texts similar to a video game that says, “Press X to interact,” and so on. Loczniki has 1.83 million subscribers on YouTube, and her NPC videos rope in millions of views regularly.
Pinkydoll
Fedha “Pinkydoll” Sinon was an aspiring Instagram influencer and TikTok when she leaned into NPC streaming. She has now become synonymous with the TikTok fad for her famous catchphrase, “Ice cream so good.” She’d add ASMR elements by clicking her long nails and popping corn kernels with a flatiron.
She started posting on TikTok in 2023, and her viewers would often tell her that she looked like an NPC. To capitalize on this idea, Pinkydoll then started playing Grand Theft Auto to get a better hang of side characters and emulate them on her livestream. She’s now one of the top NPC streamers on TikTok and often posts mukbang content as well.
CherryCrush_TV
CherryCrush_TV is a 33-year-old NPC streamer who has been posting e-girl and anime cosplays since 2015 on her Instagram. However, she rose to fame with her NPC TikToks, which gained thousands of viewers during the peak of the NPC trend.
CherryCrush is an NPC streamer and OnlyFans model known for her content, which combines elements of Amouranth’s ASMR style with the edgy e-girl aesthetic inspired by Belle Delphine. Her well-known NPC catchphrase is “feed me,” which she says when a viewer sends her an edible gift such as ice cream or a donut.
natuecoco
True NPC streams enthusiasts label natuecoco as the pioneer behind this unique fad. Thanks to her original NPC content, the Japanese streamer has garnered 1.8 million followers on TikTok.
natuecoco has been posting AI-inspired NPC content since 2021 on TikTok, and unlike other NPC streamers, she hasn’t stopped posting in 2024. Her new content is more AI and less NPC, but she has stayed true to the genre that propelled her to fame.
ExtraEmily
ExtraEmily is an One True King member and has been creating gaming content since 2020. She regularly streams on Twitch to her 389,000 followers but briefly dabbled in NPC content, which was a huge hit for her. She’s one of the many gaming streamers who jumped on the NPC bandwagon in 2023. ExtraEmily went live on TikTok in 2023 and left her fans and fellow streamer Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo surprised by a sudden switch to NPC content.
Although the NPC streaming craze has subsided since its peak in 2023, many creators continue to post quality content that can be addicting to watch, likely due to ASMR elements, which some viewers find satisfactory.
