The world has started embracing live events again. For gamers, that meant LAN parties would commence for esports enthusiasts, both players and viewers, to enjoy their games in the best way. Let’s start with a few fascinating facts before we delve into the list of the top 10 most watched Esports games.
With 4317 tournaments in one year, along with 25715 active players, it’s no wonder that the total prize money pulled for the year came up to $221 564 386. 95. Now that we have those stats about the players out of the way, let’s look into what the viewers of Esport games were into.
10. PUBG: Battlegrounds
Although BMGI was not released in India for almost 5 months, PUBG: Battlegrounds was watched for the same hours as Battlegrounds Mobile India, which is the Indian take on PUBG mobile. From the tournaments, a total of over 29.63 million hours of watch time was collected, which moved PUBG: Battlegrounds up to number 10 on the list. Plus, 239112 people viewed PUBG: Battleground Nations Cup at its peak.
9. Fortnite
Fortnite has seen a steady rise in viewership since 2021. With participation in tournaments, the game has accumulated a total of more than 38.96 million hours of viewing time. To top that, during the Twitch Rivals Creator Series: North America Kickoff, Fortnite rose to its peak audience of 557 722.
8. Free Fire
In Asia and Brazil, Free Fire is extremely revered. Unfortunately, its restriction in India has had a negative impact on its broader viewership. Not that the fact could stop the game from reaching 1.4 million viewers at its peak. Between 2021 and 2022, Free Fire lost 50% of its total watch time and still managed to accumulate a total of 43.83 million viewers.
7. Apex Legends
Although it may not be in the top 3 yet, Apex Legends had a significant year, as it drew a lot of new viewers. The same happened in Asia after the release of its mobile version of Apex Legends Smartphone. More than 62. 47 million viewing hours were logged in the previous year. The Global Series 2022: Split 2 Playoffs peaked its viewership at 676 653.
6. PUBG Mobile
Of the esports battle royale titles, PUBG Mobile was the most popular. Even though it was unavailable in most parts of the world. The number of watch hours added up to 112.09 million. A peek into the games’ popularity in Asia shows 903 011 views reached their peak during the Southeast Asia Games.
5. VALORANT
Though relatively young to the scene, it continues to grow beyond expectations. Collecting 283. 4 million hours last year, it keeps proving itself as a force to be reckoned with. Raising its viewership by 32.9% more than the previous year. The main tournament from last season was VALORANT Champions, with 1.5 million online concurrent viewers.
4. Dota 2
Another brainchild of Valve, which falls under the MOBA genre, collected 313.6 million hours. Resulting in 10% fewer viewers in under a year. According to TBS, The peak of the games’ online broadcast at The International Championship only reached a modest 1.7 million viewers.
3. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
Apart from earning its place in the third position of the most watched games, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang also became the top popular mobile discipline. It also dropped in viewership hours from the previous year by 14.4%., the matches viewed collected 331.4 million hours.
2. CS: GO
The FPS genre from Valve has turned out to be quite the cult game for many viewers. The hours have risen by 8.5% more than the previous year, with match viewings mounting up to 448. 4 million hours.
1. League of Legends
Regardless of the decline in the number of championships held by Riot Games, League of Legends was predictably ahead of its rivals by far. Thus taking first place. In hours, that’s 611. 77 million viewership time in one year. All in all, the World Championship has set a new world record and set a new record for the number of viewers.
Krishan Jangir