Esports has a vast ecosystem that spans across a variety of games, each with its own unique structures and calendars. As such, fans of multiple esports are treated to major tournaments and events throughout the entirety of the year.

To help navigate esports’ hectic calendar, Esports Insider has created a month-by-month list of events that are taking place in 2025. These competitions range from annual World Championships to major leagues that cover entire regions. 

This list will be updated periodically as more major esports events and dates are announced. First published: 13/01/25.

League of Legends and VALORANT kick off esports’ competitive calendar with their international respective leagues all commencing. However, the first month of 2025 also concludes Apex Legends’ latest season as the 2024 ALGS Championship heads to Japan.

February sees some of the best teams across Rainbow Six Siege, VALORANT and Counter-Strike 2 collide with the Six Invitational 2025, VALORANT Masters Bangkok 2025 and PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 all taking place, respectively. Meanwhile, Fortnite’s esports ecosystem takes centre stage across the world with its online Major 1 Grand Finals.

League of Legends’ esports ecosystem will debut its new tournament, First Stand, in March. Meanwhile, Capcom Cup 11, Street Fighter 6’s biggest event of the year, and Rocket League’s RLCS 2025 Birmingham Major stand out within a very busy month in esports.

Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 largely dominate April 2025, with the likes of PGL Bucharest, BLAST Rivals Spring 2025, IEM Spring, ESL One Raleigh and PGL Wallachia Season 4 all starting in the month. Call of Duty League’s Stage 3 Major and ESL Snapdragon Pro Series: Mobile Masters 2025 are other stand-out events in April.

Counter-Strike 2 continues to dominate the 2025 esports calendar with four significant events happening in May alone. Notably, this includes ESL Impact League Season 7, Counter-Strike 2’s women’s-only esports competition.

June is jam-packed with international events. VALORANT, Counter-Strike, Rocket League and League of Legends will host notable global competitions to find the best teams in their respective games at 2025’s mid-way point.

July marks the start of the 2025 Esports World Cup, a multi-title esports tournament in Saudi Arabia. As such, a range of major esports events will be scheduled throughout the month. As of right now, the biggest events announced are the PUBG Mobile World Cup 2025 and its new Chess competition.

Alongside the continuation of the Esports World Cup, August will see titles such as Pokemon UNITE and GeoGuessr conclude their respective esports ecosystems.

September sees various Counter-Strike 2 competitions commence, including the ESL Pro League and the StarLadder StarSeries. However, headlining this month is the RLCS 2025 World Championship, which has yet to reveal its location.

So far, very little has been announced for October. However, the 2025 League of Legends World Championship, one of esports’ biggest events of the year, is set to be held in China with PGL hosting another significant Counter-Strike 2 tournament in Serbia.

November sees the conclusion of PUBG Mobile’s esports ecosystem, whilst Rainbow Six, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2 all host notable competitions.

Written by: Tom Daniels & Olivia Richman

Earlier this month, the Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) announced the nine teams that would be part of its new partner programme for the 2025 season. 

These teams have been selected across three OWCS regions — Asia, North America and EMEA — and will provide additional commercial benefits to the organisations.

This article takes a look at each OWCS 2025 partner team and details their history within Overwatch esports. 

For 2025, OWCS has awarded three EMEA teams with partner status. 

Marking its return to Overwatch esports is the Gen.G brand, this time representing a new region. Previously the organisation owned and operated Overwatch League franchise Seoul Dynasty, whilst also having an academy team under the Gen.G moniker until 2022. 

As Seoul Dynasty, the franchise’s greatest achievement occurred at the Overwatch League 2020 Playoff Grand Finals, finishing second place in the event. Following the end of the Overwatch League in 2023, Gen.G and Seoul Dynasty haven’t competed in the Overwatch 2 scene. 

Joining Gen.G is Twisted Minds, an organisation that has been active within the Overwatch esports scene since 2021. Alongside competing within the Saudi eLeague — a regional league that aims to develop Saudi Arabia’s esports scene — for the last few years, the organisation has gone on to qualify for OWCS’ first Major in 2024 as well as the OWCS World Finals. 

For 2025, the organisation has revamped its roster, singing the likes of former Spacestation player Daniel ‘FunnyAstro’ Hathaway.

The final organisation that will represent EMEA as a partner team is Virtus.Pro. Entering the scene following the introduction of the OWCS in 2024, the Armenia-based organisation signed a roster ahead of the inaugural Esports World Cup. The team went on to secure a top-eight finish in the event, whilst also claiming back-to-back fourth places at OWCS 2024 Stage 3 and 4.

Similarly to Twisted Minds, Virtus.Pro has also shifted its roster around for the 2025 season, announcing three new signings including former ENCE player Ilari ‘Vestola’ Vestola.

Only two teams have joined the OWCS 2025 partner programme from North America. However, the line-up includes a major name making its return to the scene. 

After more than seven years away Team Liquid has joined the Overwatch 2 ecosystem. The organisation’s last competitive match occurred in Overwatch Contenders 2017 Season Zero: North America with a roster that included former London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion player Kim ‘Fury’ Jun-ho. 

A few days after being announced as a partner team, Team Liquid revealed its Overwatch 2 roster which features former Toronto Defiant players Rupal ‘Rupal’ Zaman and Diego ‘Vega’ Moran.

Alongside Team Liquid will be Spacestation, which is making its debut in the North American scene after competing in EMEA last year. Whilst plying its trade in OWCS’ EMEA scene, the North American team placed third in the OWCS 2024 Major and secured top-eight finishes at the Esports World Cup and OWCS World Finals. 

Following its move to North America, Spacestation revamped its roster for the 2025 season, with five new players including former Toronto Defiant and NRG Shock players, Kamden ‘Sugarfree’ Hijada and Kim ‘Kellan’ Min-Jae, respectively. 

Asia has secured the most amount of partner teams for the 2025 OWCS season with four teams announced. Interestingly, all four of Asia’s partner programme representatives are competing in the Korean league. For context, OWCS Asia is split into Japan, Korea and the Pacific, with the top teams entering OWCS Asia.

Unspurisngly, OWCS 2024 World Champion Team Falcons has been announced as one of Asia’s four representatives. After joining the Overwatch scene in 2021, Team Falcons entered the OWCS following its formation last year and secured a top-two finish in the competition’s first Major. 

Following its triumphs in 2024, it is also no surprise to see that the Saudi Arabian organisation has made no changes to its majority-Korean roster. 

Also securing a partner team spot is OWCS 2024 world finalist Crazy Raccoon. The Japanese esports organisation entered Overwatch 2 following OWCS’ launch and has achieved several accolades already. 

With its Korean roster, Crazy Raccoon won OWCS Asia Stage 1, the competition’s first Major and the Esports World Cup. Similarly to Team Falcons, the organisation has not announced any changes to its line–up for 2025.

Making its return to the Overwatch scene is South Korean esports powerhouse T1. Whilst the brand hasn’t officially been seen since Overwatch Contenders 2022, the team is part of a joint venture with one of Overwatch League’s previous franchise owners, Comcast Spectacor.

As Seoul Infernal (formerly Philadelphia Fusion), the franchise was a regular competitor in the Overwatch League until the competition’s cancellation. 

OWCS’ final Asian representative is Japanese esports organisation ZETA Division. Operating with an unchanged squad from its 2024 season, ZETA’s Korean roster notably finished in the top four at the Esports World Cup. 

Prior to its re-debut in 2024, ZETA Division previously competed in the Overwatch scene back in 2019.

As OWCS partner teams, the organisations are entitled to greater commercial opportunities throughout the year. 

According to OWCS, this means that teams will receive a portion of the proceeds from crowdfunded in-game team packs. This includes branded in-game cosmetics. The exact percentage that teams will revive has not been disclosed.

Overwatch 2 is not the only esport to launch a partner programme that includes crowdfunding initiatives, with titles such as VALORANT and Rocket League using similar revenue methods for teams.  

Similarly to 2023, this year in esports has had its highs and lows. However, no matter the scene, a dotted line has always been signed as a myriad of esports partnerships are born. 

Layoffs, closures and questions surrounding esports’ sustainability have plagued the industry. Yet, despite these conversations, companies have expanded. Organisations are finding new ways to make revenue and non-endemic brands are still teaming up with esports teams to bolster revenue opportunities.

2024 has seen high-profile partnerships and sponsorships, with some of the biggest brands in the world getting involved in esports. From supermarkets to drinks brands and even one of the biggest sporting bodies in the world, esports has seen investment from all sectors. 

In line with this, Esports Insider has compiled some of the biggest and most notable partnerships from the last year in one article.

A partnership can be big for many reasons; maybe because it brings a mainstream brand into esports or it has a specific purpose that people can get behind. For French esports organisation Team Vitality, this partnership has both.

The organisation renewed its partnerships with four companies at the beginning of 2024, one of which was supermarket chain ALDI. The partnership was centred around Team Vitality’s League of Legends women’s roster, Rising Bees, to help grow the team’s appeal and audience outside its home country.

In October, the two brands unveiled a further collaboration focusing on toxicity towards women in gaming and specifically how to combat it whilst promoting diversity in esports. The collaboration resulted in a video titled ‘Des Failles dans La Faille‘ (Rifts in the Rift in English) which featured Rising Bees players and other figures discussing their experiences with misogyny in gaming and esports.

The company first became a partner of the organisation in 2021 and focused its efforts on the Rising Bees since its inception in 2023, but this year has increased its collaboration with Team Vitality including the co-created video.

In a year when fewer major brands were unwilling to invest in esports, Pepsi’s involvement with MAD Lions KOi was refreshing.  

In August Spanish esports organisation MAD Lions KOI, owned by Overactive Media and soon to be renamed Movistar KOI, announced a partnership with beverage brand Pepsi. 

Towards the end of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) campaign, Pepsi became the organisation’s official beverage sponsor and as such featured on MAD Lions KOI’s front jerseys for the prestigious competition. Luckily for Pepsi, MAD Lions’ achieved an incredible feat in qualifying for Worlds and as such the beverage brand was displayed at the event which later became the most-viewed esports event of all time.

Alongside the partnership with MAD Lions KOI, Pepsi also partnered with The Esports World Cup, a multi-title esports event organised by the Esports World Cup Foundation.

Global football governing body FIFA announced two major partnerships in June which reshaped the future of the FIFAe World Cup and many of its other events. 

The first announcement detailed that the FIFAe World Cup will make its return, with national teams now competing in the vehicle football game Rocket League due to a partnership between FIFA and Psyonix. Given that FIFA no longer has an official game to its name, with Electronic Arts now donning the EA FC moniker, this was the first major sign of FIFA’s esports priorities.  

The second announcement was a partnership with British game developer Sports Interactive to launch the FIFAe World Cup of Football Manager. Whilst Rocket League is an already established esport title, the expansion to the more niche Football Manager, displayed FIFAe’s willingness to expand into the unknown of football esports.

LCS is no stranger to large partnerships, but for its final season, the brand went out with a bang. This is the last major partnership for the LCS, with the competition being replaced in 2025 with the LTA.

The League Championship Series (LCS), Riot Games‘ franchised North American League of Legends competition, announced a partnership with American multinational conglomerate AT&T in February. 

The deal saw AT&T hosting a segment in the broadcast that was meant to be a ‘peak behind the curtain’ and focused on behind-the-scenes content when matches were taking place. This included clips of real-time audio from the matches. 

The company was also named the primary sponsor of the LCS Fan Fest and had its logo integrated into the broadcast and at the event, with it featuring on the headsets of players, referees and commentators.

Potentially the most controversial entry on the list, esports industry awards show Esports Awards announced a three-year partnership with Saudi Arabia-backed multi-title esports tournament Esports World Cup (EWC).

This resulted in the first of two Esports Awards ceremonies being held during EWC in August in Riyadh. The partnership garnered criticism due to Saudi Arabia’s stance on women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and censorship. Moreover, several notable industry stakeholders withdrew from the Esports Awards panel following the partnership’s announcement. 

At the time of the announcement Esports Awards CEO assured that EWC will have no control over the award nominations or the adjudication process and that Esports Awards will remain an “independently owned and operated entity.”

Multi–title esports competitions are all the rage in recent memory, whether it’s the Esports World Cup held in Riyadh, FIFAe’s football-focused World Cup or esports being featured at the Asian Games.

In 2024 another brand entered the conversation as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) partnered with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia to launch the inaugural Olympic Esports Games 2025. 

This is the biggest attempt from the IOC to create a multi-title esports competition, complete with its own esports commission. As part of this deal, the 2025 games will be hosted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The specifics of the partnership are just as large, with the collaboration between the IOC and the Saudi NOC announced for the next 12 years.

The partnership is driven by Saudi Arabia’s social and economic transformation under Vision 2030.

Movember is an annual international event that aims to raise awareness and funding for men’s mental and physical health issues. It has a long-standing connection in esports with various organisations running campaigns and raising money for the charity involved. 

This year tournament organiser BLAST and German esports organisation Berlin International Gaming (BIG) were among a list of companies that launched notable campaigns. 

BIG launched its campaign alongside L’Oréal Men Expert and Movember called #GROWBIG. The collaboration was aimed at a younger male audience and focused on mental health as well as prostate cancer and testicular cancer awareness and prevention.

BLAST partnered with the men’s health charity Movember and made the charity the official mental health partner of BLAST Premier. This deal included activations focused on men’s mental health at the BLAST Premier World Final 2024.

Anime and esports have created an almost synonymous relationship of the year. So it’s no surprise to see that in June, Brazilian esports organisation FURIA announced a partnership with American streaming service Crunchyroll centred around the anime series My Hero Academia.

The two brands worked together to create a merchandise line inspired by FURIA and the My Hero Academia which launched later in the year. The collaboration was presented by Red Bull Ladeira Abaixo, the Brazilian version of the Red Bull Soapbox race, where FURIA fielded a car with My Hero Academia branding.

Apparel collections have been all the rage this year as FURIA also partnered with Champion later in the year, whilst other esports brands, such as 100 Thieves, G2 Esports and OpTic have done similar deals to create clothing lines and exclusive apparel packages. 

Following the conclusion of Mobile Legends Bang Bang’s M6 tournament, there are officially no large-scale esports events left in 2024.

Looking back, several major events caught the eyes of esports fans across the globe.  From regional leagues such as South Korea’s LCK to mammoth spectacles across the FPS, MOBA and mobile scenes, esports has flourished from a viewership perspective.  

In this article, we have compiled a list of the top 10 most-viewed esports events of 2024, according to esports data and viewership platform Esports Charts. This list does not include Chinese viewership, as well as data from Facebook Gaming and battle royale games.

It should be noted that this is the last list before League of Legends and Counter-Strike undergo significant ecosystem changes. In the case of League of Legends, there is an entirely new international event to be played in 2025, which is sure to attract substantial viewership.

VCT Masters Madrid 2024, which took place early in the year, was the most popular VALORANT event of the season. Garnering more viewers than its season-ending World Championship, the Madrid event saw a peak of 1.68m viewers. This makes it the most popular VALORANT event in history. 

For context, VCT Champions 2024 managed to attract 1.41m peak viewers, making it the fourth-most-watched event in the game’s history. The popularity of VCT Masters Madrid 2024 shows that VALORANT is steadily growing to be the world’s most-watched FPS game overall.

However, this is still the only VALORANT event on this list. 

The final event of the 2024 LCK season, the Regional Finals, was held in September 2024 just before the League of Legends World Championship. The event, won by Dplus KIA, recorded an impressive 1.82m viewers. 

The growth of South Korea’s franchised league cannot be understated in 2024 with this year’s Regional Finals dwarfing previous editions. The second-highest Regional Finals peak viewership was in 2020, which garnered just over 1m viewers.

Overall, the LCK was the most popular regional League of Legends competition in 2024, with its Summer split also recording an impressive 1.6m viewers, just barely missing the top 10 this year. 

The only CS2 event on this list, the PGL Major was the first-ever Major to take place in CS2 following Counter-Strike’s shift to the new game in late 2023. The Major was won by Ukrainian team NAVI and was the fourth-most watched Counter-Strike event in history. The event is behind two other PGL-organised Major competitions — Antwerp 2022 (2.1m peak viewers) and Stockholm 2021 (2.74m peak viewers). 

PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 garnered a peak of 1.85m viewers, making it more popular than the likes of the 2023 Blast.tv Paris Major and 2022 IEM Rio Major. Still, it is far off the all-time CS:GO peak recorded in Stockholm in 2021.

The second Major of the season, the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 in mid-December, recorded lower viewership (1.3m peak viewers). This could be attributed to time zone differences, the lack of NAVI — one of the world’s most popular teams — in the finals and Chinese viewership not being recorded by Esports Charts.

By now, esports fans should know to keep an eye out for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The mobile MOBA is not only growing, but it has one of the strongest viewerships of any esports game, only outdone by League of Legends. 

The first of several entries on this list, the franchised Indonesian league has recorded an impressive amount of views in its 13th season and is the first event on this list to break two million viewers at its peak. With 2.25m viewers watching Fnatic ONIC vs EVOS Glory, it’s perhaps surprising to note that this is only the fifth most popular MPL Indonesia season.  

The main event for MLBB at the Esports World Cup 2024 was the Mid Season Cup. Similar to other titles that featured during the EWC, the tournament saw the best teams from multiple regions compete against each other in Riyadh for a sizable prize pool.  

With 2.38m peak viewers, the Mid Season Cup was an overall success and provided a major boost to the overall viewership of the EWC. Still, despite its $3m (£2.36m) prize pool, it was the lowest-viewed edition of the tournament since 2021. 

Going back to South Korea, LCK Spring 2024 was much more popular than Summer this year, garnering a peak of 2.65m viewers. 

Interestingly, this was another event where the eventual League of Legends world champions, T1, were defeated in the grand final. However, the team’s appearance alone provided a massive boost to the tournament’s viewership.

Looking back, T1 had more than 12m more hours watched than the split’s eventual winner Gen.G, which goes to show just how popular the team is in South Korea.

League of Legends continued to break records this year, with its well-known mid-season tournament, MSI, peaking at 2.82m viewers. This makes it the most popular edition of MSI in history and the seventh-most watched League of Legends event ever. Taking place in Chengdu, China, the competition was won by a returning name, Gen.G.

The first six most viewed League of Legends events are, of course, six editions of the World Championship. An interesting piece of information to round up this entry: MSI 2024 was more popular than the 2017 and 2018 editions of Worlds. 

The second season of MPL Indonesia in 2024, Season 14, was much more popular than its predecessor earlier in the year. MPL Indonesia Season 14 saw a peak of 4m viewers, almost double the amount of Season 13. The new season also saw two different finalists with eventual winners Team Liquid ID defeating RRQ Hoshi.

The Indonesian league is the most popular mobile esports league of the year, with only the LCK comparable in terms of sheer numbers for a regional competition.

With just 120,000 viewers more than MPL Indonesia Season 14, generating 4.13m peak viewers, the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s World Championship, M6, takes the runners-up spot. Interestingly,  M6 recorded a lower peak number of viewers than last year’s event, which had more than 5m peak viewers. However, this year’s edition has shown large increases in average viewership. 

M6, and Mobile Legends in general, are proving that mobile games are showing no signs of slowing down, especially in Southeast Asia where the scene is at its strongest. 

The League of Legends World Championship is once again the most popular esports event of the year, and also the most popular event in esports history. 

Esports Charts started collecting data about viewership in 2017, and Worlds has been the most-viewed event every year except 2021 when the Free Fire World Series took its place at the top. With a peak of 6.91m viewers, the biggest tournament in all of esports has once again proven that no other event can come close to it in terms of numbers. 

The tournament had around 500,000 more viewers than the 2023 edition and has once again raised the bar for esports events.

In 2022, VALORANT publisher Riot Games unveiled its list of partner teams which where split across three international leagues: EMEA, the Americas and the Pacific, with China added to the fold in 2024. The publisher’s hybrid franchise system sees permanent partnered teams compete against each other alongside two organisations that have secured valuable promotion places.

The VALORANT ecosystem aims to provide long-term support, stability and revenue opportunities to select organisations. With Apeks being promoted to the EMEA league, how will the VALORANT esports landscape change in 2025?

Ahead of VCT EMEA League’s return in 2025, we’ve provided a brief history and background for VALORANT’s VCT teams representing the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region.

Team Liquid is a stalwart of esports. The organisation made its debut in StarCraft II in 2000 and currently has competitors in 15 different esports, including League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2 and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. To modern esports fans, Team Liquid is perhaps best known for its endeavours in North America through League of Legends, despite being originally based in the Netherlands. As such, the organisation’s decision to hold an EMEA VALORANT team wasn’t too much of a surprise. 

The multinational organisation has been a part of the VALORANT scene since 2020, appearing at three out of four VALORANT Champions events. Its biggest accomplishments in VALORANT include winning VCT 2023: EMEA League and reaching the semi-finals of VALORANT Champions 2021.

Some of Team Liquids’ other notable achievements include being five-time League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) champions, being victorious at The International 2024 (Dota 2) and winning MPL Indonesia Season 14 (Mobile Legends).

Fnatic is another old guard when it comes to esports organisations, having been in the industry for over two decades.

The organisation has a deep history with Riot Games and was League of Legends’ inaugural World Champion in 2011. Since the formation of League of Legends’ European competitive circuit, Fnatic has notched up seven split titles.

Fnatic entered VALORANT in 2021 and has since gone on to become a fan-favourite within the scene of the best-performing EMEA partner teams in 2023. In 2023, the organisation secured first place at VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo and VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo. Fnatic’s momentum continued in 2024 by winning both VCT 2024: EMEA stages. Overall, the organisation has appeared at five Masters and four Champions events as an EMEA representative.

Outside of VALORANT, the organisation also has a past in Counter-Strike, claiming three Major trophies: ESL One Cologne 2015, ESL One Katowice 2015 and DreamHack Winter 2013. As of the time of writing, Fnatic has competitive rosters in League of Legends, Counter-Strike 2, Rainbow Six Siege and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (via a partnership with ONIC).

Established in 2013, Team Vitality is arguably the original French powerhouse within esports.

The organisation’s journey in VALORANT started at the French regional level (VRL), with the team claiming silver at the VRL 2022: Finals – losing to fellow partner team Team Heretics. In 2023, the organisation had a middle-of-the-pack campaign, however, 2024 saw Team Vitality significantly improve at the end of the season to qualify for VALORANT Champions 2024.

With rosters in Starcraft II, Rainbow Six: Siege, Rocket League, Counter-Strike 2 and the FGC, the organisation continues to diversify its portfolio of titles.

Notably, Team Vitality became the first organisation to win two RLCS World Championships (2019 and 2023). The organisation also won the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, CS:GO’s final Major and has been a regular within the League of Legends European scene since 2015.

Despite only gracing the esports scene in 2020, the French organisation has become one of the most popular teams in Europe.

Founded by streamers Kamel ‘Kameto’ Kebir and Zouhair ‘Kotei’ Darji, the organisation rose to prominence thanks to its regional fanbase through Karmine’s French League of Legends team, which competes in the LFL, as well as its Rocket League roster. In 2023, the organisation joined the LEC after part-purchasing Astralis’ franchise spot.

Karmine Corp joined the VALORANT scene in 2022, where it competed in France’s VRL’s (VALORANT Regional Leagues) prior to being named as a partner team. Since joining VCT EMEA, Karmine Corp has had mixed results that range from finishing bottom in the VCT 2023: EMEA League to winning the VCT 2024: EMEA Kickoff.

Outside of Riot’s FPS title, the French organisation won Rocket League’s RLCS 2022-23 – Winter Split Major.

GIANTX is a multinational esports organisation that was created due to a merger between UK esports organisation EXCEL Esports and Spanish organisation Giants Gaming in late 2023. As a result, the latter’s partner team spot was rebranded.

In 2023, under Giants Gaming’s brand, VCT team managed to secure its place at VALORANT Champions 2023 after winning EMEA’s Last Chance Qualifier. However, in 2024, the organisation failed to capitalise on that momentum.

Outside of the VCT, GIANTX holds a franchise spot in League of Legends’ LEC as well as its Spanish regional league.

While the Spanish organisation has been around since 2016, 2022 proved to be a pivotal year for Team Heretics as it received VCT partner status and joined the LEC, League of Legends’ European league.

Prior to the VCT, Heretics competed in Spain’s VALORANT Regional league in 2022, finishing 10th and 8th in Stage 1 and Stage 2, respectively. Following a middling 2023 season, the organisation’s 2024 campaign cemented the team as a notable force, finishing second at VALORANT Champions 2024.

Outside of Riot Games’ titles, Team Heretics owns the Miami Heretics, a Call of Duty League franchise.

Representing Turkey is FUT Esports, the winner of the VALORANT Regional League in 2022 prior to the new format. As the name would suggest (Futbolist), the organisation joined the esports scene in 2017 primarily through FIFA (now EA FC). Within the sports simulation title, FUT Esports’ crowning moment is finishing 3rd/4th at the 2019 FIFA eClub World Cup.

In recent years, FUT Esports has expanded into titles such as Hearthstone, League of Legends, Brawl Stars and PUBG, all of which the organisation still competes in. Nevertheless, FUT Esports’ main accolades come from the VALORANT scene.

Since becoming a VCT partner team, FUT Esports has competed at VALORANT Champions 2023 and 2024 as well as Masters events in Tokyo and Shanghai.

Alongside FUT Esports is another Turkish VALORANT powerhouse: BBL Esports. The Turkish team was founded in 2020 by former League of Legends esports player Ferit ‘wtcN’ Karakaya, Twitch streamer Kemalcan ‘Kendine Müzisyen’ Parlak and Okan ‘Oidemirel’ Demirel.

The organisation primarily focuses on two esports titles — VALORANT and PUBG. In Riot Games’ FPS title, BBL Esports has been at the middle of the pack since the VCT EMEA’s inception. The organisation has yet to qualify for a VCT international event.

BBL Esports has, however, recorded more success in PUBG, competing at the 2021 and 2022 PUBG Global Championship.

Movistar KOI is a Spanish esports conglomerate formed by OverActive Media, the parent company of MAD Lions, in 2024.

In 2024, OverActive Media announced that it was acquiring Spanish brands Movistar Riders and KOI, the latter of which was founded by Spanish streamer Ibai ‘Ibai’ Llanos Garatea and footballer Gerard Piqué. As a result, KOI’s VCT partner team spot was rebranded to Movistar KOI. Similarly to OverActive Media’s LEC team, Mad Lion KOI, the organisation could potentially be rebranded to simply KOI in 2025.

Similarly to Karmine Corp, KOI, in particular, amassed a growing fanbase within its home country, partly due to the popularity of its co-owners. In 2024, Ibai broke Twitch’s viewership record, garnering 3.7m concurrent viewers on the platform when he hosted an amateur boxing event.

Since the start of VCT EMEA KOI has failed to qualify for an international VALORANT event. The organisation’s highest finish in VCT EMEA was 6th in the VCT 2024: EMEA Kickoff.

Outside of VALORANT, the new Spanish esports company also holds a Call of Duty franchise (Toronto Ultra).

The final permanent VCT EMEA partner team is Natus Vincere (NAVI). The Ukrainian organisation is yet another old guard within the esports scene, having been founded back in 2009. NAVI is a highly decorated organisation within Counter-Strike esports, including recently claiming notable victories at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 and the 2024 Esports World Cup.

Alongside Counter-Strike 2, the organisation competes in a variety of other titles such as Dota 2, PUBG, PUBG Mobile and Brawl Stars, among others.

Within VALORANT, NAVI competed in the VCT EMEA Challengers ecosystem before being named a VCT partner team. Since entering VCT EMEA, the organisation has qualified for VALORANT Champions and Masters Tokyo in 2023. However, 2024 saw the organisation fail to compete on the international stage.

The penultimate organisation is French organisation Gentle Mates, VCT EMEA League’s first-ever promoted team.

The organisation was founded in 2022 by content creators Lucas ‘Squeezie’ Hauchard, Correntin ‘Gotaga’ Houssein and Kevin ‘Brawks’ Georges, and secured its place in VCT’s top-tier by winning VCT Ascension EMEA 2023. As a result of winning Ascension, Gentle Mates will compete in the VCT EMEA League and have the opportunity to extend their tenure each season.

Gentle Mates’ first season in VCT EMEA saw the organisation fail to qualify for an international event, with its best result being 7th – 8th in VCT 2024: EMEA Stage 1.

Alongside VALORANT, Gentle Mates also fields competitive rosters in Fortnite, League of Legends ( via the LFL) and Rocket League. Despite its short esports tenure, the organisation has recently picked up a notable accolade, winning RLCS 2024 Major 1: Copenhagen.

The final team competing in VCT EMEA in 2025 is Norwegian esports organisation Apeks following its promotion via the 2024 Ascension EMEA series.

Founded in 2017, Apeks is primarily known for its exploits in VALORANT, Counter-Strike and Fortnite. The organisation was originally called Kingpin Esports before donning the Apeks name in 2019 following its acquisition by esports company ProUnite AS.

In Riot Games’ FPS title, the organisation narrowly missed out on promotion in 2023, finishing runner-up to Gentle Mates. However, in 2024 the team walked out victorious, beating PCIFIC Esports in the Ascension EMEA finals.

Despite competing in the Fortnite and Counter-Strike ecosystem since 2021 and 2017, respectively, Apeks recently dispanded its rosters in 2024.

Article first published: 22/09/22. Last updated: 28/10/24

Riot Games’ VALORANT esports ecosystem is centred around three partnered semi-franchised VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) leagues: EMEA, the Americas, China and Pacific. Going into 2025 these leagues will each comprise of 10 partner teams and two organisations that gained promotion after competing in VALORANT’s Ascension series (one each year).

Ultimately, international leagues look to continue the growth of VALORANT esports by providing long-term support, stability and revenue opportunities to select organisations.

But who are the teams that are representing the Americas (North America, Brazil and LATAM)? This article provides a brief background and history of VCT Americas’ participants.

A staple of North American esports since its formation in 2013, Cloud9 made its debut in the VALORANT scene in 2020. Notably, the organisation reached the quarter-finals of VALORANT Champions in 2021, ultimately losing to Team Liquid. Since, VCT Americas’ inception in 2023, Cloud9 has yet to qualify for an international VCT event.

Outside of VALORANT, the organisation has garnered competitive success in League of Legends, Counter-Strike and Halo, among others. In 2024, Cloud9 also made its return to Call of Duty after acquiring the New York Sublimers.

Some of Cloud9’s notable esports achievements include winning Intel Extreme Masters XVII – Dallas (Counter-Strike) and the Halo Championship Series 2021 Kickoff Major. Additionally, the organisation has claimed six League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) titles, the second-most in North America.

Formed by former Call of Duty player Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag, 100 Thieves quickly grew to become a prominent organisation within the League of Legends ecosystem since joining North America’s franchised league (LCS) in 2018. 

The organisation was originally founded in 2016, fielding a Call of Duty roster, however, the team disbanded in the same year. 100 Thieves has a strong affiliation with NBA team Cleveland Cavaliers since its resurrection following a multi-million dollar investment from the club’s owner Dan Gilbert to support its re-entry into the scene. 

The organisation has been competitive in League of Legends, claiming an LCS title in 2021, and has esports teams in Call of Duty (Los Angeles Thieves) and VALORANT.

In Riot’s FPS title, 100 Thieves qualified for VALORANT Champions 2022 through North America’s last chance qualifier. The organisation also competed in two VCT Masters events in 2021, Stages 1 and 3. Despite a middling 2023 campaign, 2024 has seen 100 Thieves somewhat return to form by winning VCT 2024: Americas Stage 1. However, the team failed to qualify for the 2024 VALORANT Champions.

Sentinels is an organisation that has gone on to become a prominent name within North American VALORANT, however, its origins date back to 2016 under the moniker Phoenix1. Having competed in the pre-franchised North American LCS and temporarily operating an Overwatch League franchise (Los Angeles Gladiators), Phoenix1 rebranded in 2018 to Sentinels.

Since then the organisation has competed in Apex Legends, Fortnite, Halo and VALORANT, the latter of which materialised in 2020. The side quickly made a name for itself within the VALORANT Champions Tour, winning the title’s first two Masters events —VCT 2021 Masters North America and Reykjavík.

However, despite an impressive start to its VALORANT esports journey, the organisation’s debut in VCT Americas left much to be desired, finishing 7th in the VCT 2023: Americas League. In 2024, the organisation’s form returned by winning the VCT 2024: Americas Kickoff and international event VCT 2024: Masters Madrid. Sentinals also placed 4th at VALORANT Champions 2024.

Outside of VALORANT, the organisation found success within the Halo and Fortnite scene, notably winning the Halo Championship Series 2022: Kansas City Major and the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals (Solo).

NRG is another one of North America’s old guards. The organisation was founded in 2015, when the owners of NBA’s Sacramento Kings purchased esports organisation Team Coast, which at the time was competing in the League of Legends ecosystem. 

From a competitive standpoint, the organisation recorded its best year in VALORANT under the new VCT format in 2023. The North American side secured 2nd in the VCT 2023: Americas League, and subsequently finished 4th at VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo. In 2024, the team failed to reach a VCT international event.

The organisation has achieved even greater success across its other competitive titles, such as Rocket League, Apex Legends, and Overwatch through the now-defunct San Francisco Shock. Some of the NRG’s crowning moments include winning the Overwatch League 2020 Grand Finals, RLCS Season X North American Championship (2021) and placing second at the ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs.

In 2023, NRG made a triumphant return to the North American League of Legends scene, acquiring legacy organisation CLG and winning the 2023 LCS Summer Split. However, the organisation is rumoured to be leaving the scene again in 2025.

Prior to the new VALORANT Champions Tour format, Evil Geniuses was perhaps one of the least successful organisations within VALORANT. However, in 2023 the organisation went on to win VALORANT Champions 2023 and finish runner-up at VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo.

In general, Evil Geniuses has a historic tenure within the esports scene, dating all the way back to 1999. Originally starting as a Quake clan, the organisation went on to expand into a vast number of titles such as World of Warcraft, Dota, StarCraft, the FGC and Counter-Strike scenes, among many others.

The end of 2023 was a rocky period for Evil Geniuses, with reports suggesting that the organisation requested its 2023 VALORANT Champions roster to take pay cuts, the organisation announcing its departure from League of Legends’ LCS and controversial CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson despairing the organisation. However, in 2024 the organisation has since rebranded in an attempt to fix its reputation under new Evil Geniuses CEO Chris DeAppolonio.

Given the size and high profile of LOUD, it’s easy to mistake the organisation for having been around a long time. In fact, LOUD is a relative newcomer after being founded in 2019, by Bruno ‘Playhard’ Bittencourt, Jean Ortega and Matthew Ho.

The organisation quickly grew to become a media powerhouse in Brazil, investing even in the music and fashion industries. Through lifestyle-focused content and its performances in the Brazilian Free Fire League (LBFF), LOUD became the first esports organisation in the world to reach 1bn views on YouTube.

Its success in tournaments, though, is a more recent trend. Despite having a strong Free Fire team since its foundation, LOUD only really achieved the status of ‘competitive powerhouse’ in 2022. This saw the organisation win a split of the LBFF, the Brazilian League of Legends Championship (CBLOL) Split 2 and a world title at VALORANT Champions Istanbul.

Even if the 2022 world championship launched LOUD to the top of the esport, the organisation has maintained its status as a Brazillian powerhouse. In 2023, the organisation won the VCT 2023: Americas League and placed 3rd during VALORANT Champions 2023. In 2024, the organisation failed to replicate its success, however, LOUD still placed 4th at VCT 2024: Masters Madrid.

Known as ‘The Brazilian Powerhouse’, FURIA reached international prominence mainly through its achievements in Counter-Strike (CS:GO). Led since its foundation in 2017 by Jaime Pádua and poker pro André Akkari, the organisation competes in League of Legends, Rocket League and Apex Legends.

The organisation also invests in lifestyle content, experiences with the community, and in competitions on the edge of the esports spectrum, like chess motorsport and even fighting.

In VALORANT, the organisation has featured a roster since 2021. The team qualified for two editions of VALORANT Champions, Berlin 2021 and Istanbul 2022, but on both occasions did not get past the first stage. Since the shift to the VCT Americas format, FURIA has yet to qualify for a VCT international event.

MIBR is owned by Immortals Gaming Club (IGC), a North American esports conglomerate that has heavily invested in Brazil since 2018. However, the history of the MIBR name goes way back to the beginnings of esports, being one of Brazil’s most representative brands in Counter-Strike since 2003. 

Having only entered VALORANT in January 2022, MIBR didn’t achieve any significant results prior to receiving VCT partner status. Similarly to its Brazilian neighbour FURIA, MIBR has also yet to qualify for a VCT international event under the new Americas format.

The organisation, which has been under the management of CEO Roberta Coelho since 2021, also holds competitive rosters in Free Fire, League of Legends and Rainbow Six Siege. For the latter title, MIBR achieved third and fourth-place finishes at the Six Invitational 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Founded in 2020 in Argentina by the former Manchester City player Sergio Agüero, KRÜ Esports quickly made VALORANT its flagship esport. Prior to the Americas VCT format, the team always qualified for one of the game’s international tournaments, having consistently placed first in LATAM qualifiers since 2021.  

Despite finishing 10th in the VCT 2023: Americas League, KRÜ caused an upset by winning the VCT 2023: Americas Last Chance Qualifier to compete at VALORANT Champions 2023. In 2024, through consistent performance, the organisation once again competed at VALORANT’s biggest event.

The organisation has experienced quick growth in the esports scene, counting on the support of prominent sponsors and stakeholders throughout its tenure. The organisation’s leadership team was bolstered even further at the end of 2023 when football legend Lionel Messi became a co-owner of KRÜ Esports.

Following in its founders’ professional roots, KRÜ previously fielded a roster in FIFA prior to the game’s rebranding to EA Sports FC. The organisation currently competes in Rocket League and Counter-Strike 2.

Founded in Argentina by Fernando ‘F10’ Diez, Leviatán is looking to represent the Latin American esports scene.

Alongside VALORANT, Leviatán also fields rosters in the Free Fire scene as well as LVP’s League of Legends Liga Master Flow (soon to be merged with the LCS and CBLOL).

Leviatán has had a VALORANT roster since 2021. However, it came into VALORANT’s international spotlight during VALORANT Champions Istanbul 2022, when it qualified for the competition’s playoffs after beating Team Liquid and Paper Rex. The organisation has since managed to maintain its growth and momentum to become a prominent name in the VCT Americas ecosystem.

In 2024 specifically, the team won VCT 2024: Americas Stage 2 and placed 3rd at VALORANT Champions 2024.

European powerhouse G2 Esports is VCT Americas’ first non-permanent partner team entrant after the organisation gained promotion into the league in 2023. However, unlike promoted teams in VCT Pacific and EMEA, G2 Esports acquired the VCT Ascension promotion spot by acquiring the majority of The Guard’s roster after the organisation pulled out of the scene.

Prior to acquiring a VCT promotion place, G2 Esports competed in VALORANT Challengers North America, the scene’s second tier. Moreover, the organisation was reportedly touted to get a VCT Americas partner team spot in 2022 before controversy with its then-CEO, and Founder, Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodríguez surfaced.

The organisation’s debut into VCT Americas couldn’t have gone much better with the team managing to qualify for both Masters Shanghai and VALORANT Champions 2024 in its first year.

G2 Esports is more widely known for its endeavours in Europe, particularly within League of Legends having won the title’s top European League splits on 14 occasions. In Counter-Stike its roster also notably won IEM Cologne 2023, IEM Katowice 2023, BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024 and IEM Dallas 2024 in recent years.

Joining the VCT Americas league in 2025 is Brazilian esports organisation 2GAME Esports after qualifying through VCT Ascension in 2024.

Having only been founded in February 2024, little is known about 2GAME Esports as an organisation. Interestingly though the organisation is the esports division of a digital video game store 2Game. Alongside a VALORANT roster, the organisation competes in Street Fighter 6 and hosts local LATAM competitions for the scene.

Originally posted: September 23rd, 2022. Updated: October 25th, 2024.

Esports is a broad and all-encompassing term that often lumps together games and fan bases which have very little in common. An enjoyer of competitive League of Legends is referred to as ‘esports fan’ whilst that person might have no interest in any other competitive game, or even the industry at large. Yet esports is often talked about as one single entity. 

It would be odd to assume that a Liverpool Football Club fan knows anything about the intricacies of Ultimate Frisbee or their local cricket club. 

Esports is a vast industry and sometimes it is the unheard-of, underrated or barely spoken about esports that can be a joy to uncover. So with that in mind, here is a snapshot of some esports titles that have dedicated fanbases, despite flying under the radar. 

The unspoken esport, Pokémon has an extremely unique esports scene that resembles more of a festival than a traditional esports event. The annual Pokémon World Championships is a culmination of different competitions — Pokémon GO, Pokémon UNITE, the trading card game and its videogame franchise. This year’s edition featured almost 3400 competitors. 

Pokemon esports events are a centre for competitive players, trading card enjoyers and general Pokemon fans with anime screenings and a unique temporary store (The Pokémon Center) being commonplace. Even the stage embodies this with it being a long stage divided into sections with each esport having its own speakers and seating area, only using the entire stage for the finals.

Another element that makes this esport unique is its different divisions. There are three age groups so that kids as young as 10 years old can compete. For context this year the Juniors Division was for those born in 2012 or later, the Seniors Division was for those born in 2008 to 2011 and Masters for those born in 2007 or earlier.

Pokémon esports offers an extremely interesting viewing experience for those able to attend one of the World Championships. Its 2025 edition is taking place in Anaheim, California, from August 15th to the 17th.

The world was at a standstill in 2020, footballers played in completely empty stadiums and people locked themselves at home. However, whilst everything seemed to freeze, the Sim Racing esports scene exploded. Fans of Formula 1 (F1), NASCAR, Rally Racing and more were unable to get their fix from the regular channels so instead they turned to Sim Racing. 

A virtual form of car racing mimicking the experience of driving a real car, Sim Racing was not only enjoyed by fans. Celebrities, sports stars and even real-world racers decided to try their hands at Sim Racing bringing a huge audience with them. The peak event for F1 Sim Racing, F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix Series Vietnam, reached 400,000 concurrent viewers around this time.

Whilst the Sim Racing esports scene was not able to replicate its heights after COVID, there are many unique games to choose from which give the viewer a different experience. From the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual held on rFactor 2 to the ESL-run RENNSPORT series there are many forms of Sim Racing to choose from. 

With many Sim Suites existing around the world, Sim Racing is perfect for fans of motor racing who want to experience their beloved sport virtually. Meanwhile, dedicated esports scenes provide even more content for racing fanatics. There are now even scenes that look to use esports as a gateway into real-life driving such as Prodigy Racing League.

Farming Simulator is, you might have guessed, a farming simulator game developed and published by GIANTS Software. The company’s first edition launched in 2008 and since then the game has established a niche in the esports market.

Casual players can enjoy the relaxing scenes of driving a tractor over lengthy green fields, breeding livestock, growing crops and selling assets. However, Farming Simulator esports is anything but relaxing. Players compete in teams on symmetrical farms trying to score points by dropping hay bales into bonds within a time limit.

The game’s esports ecosystem has found a niche player base and audience, but also it has attracted big companies from the farming industry to get involved. This includes the likes of John Deere, an agricultural machinery manufacturer, Lindner and Helm, the latter of which won the most recent Season 5 World Championship in Marktoberdorf, Germany. 

The esport itself is a great change of pace from other games. Ultimately, the commentators, players and fanbase all share a passion for farming, which leads to an enjoyable viewing experience.

Football Manager has been a fan favourite in the football community for years. The franchise is well-known for allowing football fans to take control of almost any team they can think of and, through somewhat realistic simulations, take the club to new heights. 

With its dedicated and passionate fan base, Sports Interactive has taken the game in a myriad of new directions over the years and one of those directions is, surprisingly, esports.

FIFAe recently hosted the World Cup of Football Manager in Liverpool which saw competitors from a variety of nations play against each other to be crowned the best of the best. The event was not promoted massively before it began, but did feature huge names within the Football Manager community such as ‘Zealand’ and Ben ‘Doctor Benjy’ Carr. In addition, other notable names outside of Football Manager were present like former Chelsea star man John Terry and former English manager Sam Allardyce.

Whilst the idea of Football Manager esports is still young and unproven, the event was perfect for fans who wanted to see the game played at the highest level. The future could be bright for the title’s esports hopes. With the scene also in its infancy, it is the perfect time for a new fan to discover Football Manager esports and watch it grow.

Okay, this one might not necessarily be underrated but it has to be mentioned. Similarly to many of the other esports on this list, GeoGuessr falls short of what many people would refer to as a ‘normal’ esport. To many, it seemed like a strange choice for competition, but the GeoGuessr World Cup 2024 took the world by storm when it finished with a peak viewership of over 250,000. 

For context this beats out some incredibly notable esports tournaments this year including the League of Legends’ LCS Spring 2024 (246,184), the Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 1 Major (245,437) and the Halo Championship Series 2024: Arlington Major (109,670).
With a very passionate community around it and with players who are freakishly skilled at finding locations based on very little information, GeoGuessr esports is a spectacle that is worth witnessing.

Esports, similar to traditional sports, is made up of multiple ecosystems that span across a variety of games. As such, esports fans are treated to major tournaments and events throughout the entirety of the year. 

To help you navigate the esports calendar this year, Esports Insider has created a month-by-month list of events that are taking place in 2024. These competitions range from annual World Championships to expansive leagues that cover entire regions. 

This list will be updated periodically as more major esports events and dates are announced. First published: 24/01/24. Last Update: 11/09/24.

League of Legends and Apex Legends primarily dominate the start of the year with most of the titles’ major leagues kicking off. However, there were also a few major competitions that are commencing at the beginning of 2024. 

February saw the likes of StarCraft II, Dota 2, Rainbow 6 and Mobile Legends: Bang host international events. Meanwhile, PUBG Mobile and Arena of Valor’s ecosystems get well underway. 

March 2024’s esports calendar featured major international events from Rocket League, VALORANT, Counter-Strike, Call of Duty and Free Fire. Meanwhile, the likes of Honor of Kings and Teamfight Tactics also look to showcase the best their ecosystems have to offer. 

From China to Brazil, to the UK, April saw a variety of global tournaments grace the esports ecosystem. This included notable events for Counter-Strike 2, Call of Duty: Mobile and Dota 2 as well as the start of VALORANT’s VCT Stage 1 International Leagues.

May was headlined by League of Legends’ first major international event of the 2024 season, with MSI 2024 recording over 2.8m viewers. On top of MSI, esports fans were treated to VALORANT Masters Shanghai, Overwatch 2’s first Major and a Halo Major in London.

June sees a variety of esports ecosystems reach the midway point. As such, the second half of League of Legends and VALORANT’s seasons resume, whilst Call of Duty, Counter-Strike and the FGC host major events.

July is undoubtedly headlined by the multi-title esports event Esports World Cup. However, there’s also the ever-popular FGC festival Evo alongside action in the EAFC and CS2 scenes.

Some of the world’s best VALORANT teams will clash in August to crown this year’s champion in South Korea. Alongside the continuation of the Esports World Cup, August also includes the start of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang regular season.

If you are interested in what’s occurring in September, then look no further than one of the biggest events in Dota 2, The International 2024. This month also includes notable international events from the likes of PUBG, Fortnite, Rocket League, GeoGuessr and, of course, League of Legends.

The Esports World Cup (EWC), the world’s largest multi-title esports event, has concluded. EWC 2024 took place over two months and featured more than 20 tournaments, hundreds of players and dozens of organisations from all over the world. 

Aimed to be a one-stop event for all esports fans and enthusiasts, the event’s viewership has become an evergrowing topic of discussion. With the event taking place in Saudi Arabia, some sections of the community boycotted the event due to the country’s human rights record, particularly towards LGBTQ+ and Women’s rights. However, now that the event has finished, how many viewers did the $60m (~£45.4M) tournament ultimately attract?

This article dissects Esports World Cup’s viewership, game-by-game, to find out how the tournament ranks among its direct competitors. A total of four games had more than 500,000 peak viewers and 15 games in total had more than 100,000 peak viewers at EWC. The lowest number of viewers watched racing simulation game Rennsport, and the most successful game in terms of viewership was mobile MOBA Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. 

All data provided is courtesy of esports data and metrics platform Esports Charts and does not include Chinese viewership. It should also be noted that Esports Charts was an official partner of the Esports World Cup. 

The Esports World Cup’s League of Legends tournament was one of the competition’s first events to be held this year, in early July. 

The event saw fan-favourites T1 walk out victorious over Chinese organisation Top Esports. Overall, the tournament was a success in terms of viewership. 1.1m viewers watched the event at its peak, along with just over 566,000 average viewers. With just 22 hours of air time, the event was the fourth most-watched League of Legends event in 2024. Only international event MSI (2.82m peak) and Korea’s two LCK splits (2.65m for Spring, and Summer is ongoing but has reached 1.27m peak viewers) have performed better so far this year.

By many metrics, Esports World Cup’s CS2 tournament could also be seen as a success. Taking place in mid-July, the CS2 tournament at EWC recorded 756,000 peak viewers and an average of 238,000 viewers with 43 hours of air time. This places the tournament in fifth place amongst the most popular CS2 events of the year, behind the likes of IEM Dallas (823,000), IEM Katowice (972,000), IEM Cologne (1.05m) and the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 (1.85m).

The most-watched event at the Esports World Cup 2024 was the MLBB Mid-Season Cup, which concluded in mid-July. The mobile MOBA is one of the most popular games globally and its popularity translated well into the EWC, largely due to the event being a part of MLBB’s competitive calendar.

The Mid Season Cup 2024 — which was recently rebranded from the Southeast Asia Cup — attracted a peak of 2.38m viewers and an average of 406,000 viewers. This makes it the most popular MLBB tournament of the year, ahead of the 13th season of the MPL Indonesia, the game’s most popular league. 

The game’s second tournament, the Women’s Invitational 2024, was also a success. The event had more than 265,000 peak viewers, making it more popular in terms of viewership than many other EWC events, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, Fortnite and other titles. The Women’s Invitational is also the fourth-highest-viewed female esports event of all time.  

The mobile version of battle royale game PUBG: Battlegrounds is a very popular mobile game globally, especially in Asia and other emerging markets. The PUBG MOBILE EWC tournament was also a popular event on a global scale, becoming the most-watched PUBG MOBILE tournament of the year.

The event attracted just over 566,000 peak viewers and 206,000 average viewers during nine days of competition. Nevertheless, despite its popularity among PUBG Mobile events this year — including the PUBG Mobile Global Open 2024 (513,600) — the event is 11th in the title’s all-time viewership.

Another mobile game that has found success in Asia, the Honor of Kings tournament at Esports World Cup is also currently the game’s most popular event in 2024, excluding Chinese viewership. Attracting 481,000 peak viewers and 92,000 average viewers, the event is notable for lasting just five days. The short air time of just under 27 hours is also impressive, especially because the second-most watched event of the year — the Honor of Kings Invitational 2024 Season 2 — had 10 more hours of air time and 241,000 peak viewers.

Continuing with the mobile theme, Free Fire, once known for having the world’s most popular esports event, also had the EWC as its most popular event of 2024. The EWC event attracted 471,000 peak viewers and just over 206,000 average viewers with just over 18 hours of air time. 

The event with the highest prize pool at the inaugural Esports World Cup ($5m) was the Riyadh Masters in Dota 2.

Despite the event recording 147 hours of air time and almost 27m hours watched, Riyadh Masters attracted just under 419,000 peak viewers and 178,000 average viewers. Compared to last year’s edition, which took place at the Gamers8 festival, the event had around 150,000 less peak viewers but around 20,000 more average viewers. The Riyadh Masters had fewer viewers than the PGL Wallachia Season 1, the most-watched Dota 2 event of the year, which has attracted around 487,000 peak viewers. 

It should be noted that The International, Dota 2’s most popular event, will take place later this year.

The popular battle royale game Apex Legends saw decent viewership for its EWC tournament, but not the best of the year. Its 219,000 peak viewership and 98,000 average viewership made the EWC event the second most popular event of the year, with just the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs being more popular with 567,000 peak viewers.

The most-watched fighting game tournament at the Esports World Cup was Street Fighter, one of the most popular games in the genre’s history. The event had just under 155,000 peak viewers and an average of 93,000 viewers.

However, this doesn’t put it in the top five Street Fighter events of 2024 in terms of viewership. For comparison, the most-watched Street Fighter event of the year was the EVO tournament in July, which attracted over 403,000 peak viewers.

Two immensely popular games in the United States and Europe, both Call of Duty and its battle royale mode Warzone did not break more than 150,000 viewers at the EWC. 

The regular Call of Duty event was a bit more successful than Warzone, with 140,000 peak viewers compared to Warzone’s 135,000 (86,000 average viewers compared to Warzone’s 76,000). The two tournaments were also not the most popular event for either game. The Call of Duty League’s Major One, Two and Three, as well as the 2024 playoffs, were all more popular than the EWC event. 

Moreover, Warzone’s eFuse Shatter Gauntlet (136,000 peak viewers) is the game’s most popular event of the year.

The world’s most popular football simulation game, EA FC 24, was relatively popular at the EWC, but failed to pass some of the game’s notable events. The EWC tournament attracted 108,000 peak viewers and around 43,300 average viewers, which makes it the third most popular event for the game in 2024.

This means it was behind the FC Pro 24 World Championship (113,000 peak viewers) and the FC Pro 24 Open, the most-watched EA FC event of the year that had just under 320,000 peak viewers. 

It should be noted that EA Sports, the creators of the game, are now gearing up for the launch of the new version in September, which means that the EWC is one of the last tournaments in the 24 version of the game. 

The PC version of PUBG: Battlegrounds has performed much worse at the Esports World Cup than its mobile counterpart, PUBG MOBILE. The game saw 105,000 viewers at its peak and around 52,000 average viewers during the EWC. However, this is not a terrible result.

This makes the EWC event the third-most watched tournament for PUBG’s PC version in 2024, behind the PUBG Global Series Phases three and four. Phase 3 had 281,000 peak viewers, and Phase 4 saw 287,000 peak viewers. 

A game that is currently experiencing a rebirth of sorts after the Overwatch League was cancelled and the ESL FACEIT Group came to the rescue of the Overwatch scene, Overwatch 2 performed well in terms of viewership. Its tournament saw around 100,000 peak viewers and just 33,000 average viewers, making it the second-highest viewership since the game’s esports scene underwent somewhat of a rebirth this year.

The Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Major was the most-watched event for Overwatch 2 this year, with 125,000 peak viewers, only 25,000 more than EWC. 

The first major disappointment in terms of viewership is the Rocket League tournament at the Esports World Cup. Despite being a popular game in terms of viewership worldwide, the EWC Rocket League event attracted relatively low viewership during its three days of competition. The official peak viewer number is just under 100,000 making Rocket League the first game at the EWC that did not surpass the 100,000 mark.

Both 2024 RLCS Majors had more viewers than the EWC tournament in Rocket League, but interestingly the EU qualifiers for both Majors were also more popular than the EWC tournament. 

The RLCS Major 1 had 435,000 peak viewers, the Major 2 had 316,000, and the qualifiers ranged from 413,000 peak viewers to 121,700 — all better than EWC. 

Continuing with games that might have disappointed during EWC, Fortnite also did not break 100,000 viewers at its peak despite a large prize pool and notable players participating in the event. The Fortnite event had a peak of 72,600 viewers and an average viewer number of 25,500. This amount of viewers was not enough to put the EWC tournament in the game’s top 10 tournaments of the year.

For comparison, its most popular event — FNCS 2024 – Major 1: Europe — had 739,000 peak viewers and a lower prize pool. 

Despite not breaking 100,000 viewers, Esports World Cup’s Rainbow Six tournament was actually in line with some of the game’s events this year. Rainbow Six has only broken 100,000 peak viewers on just occasions in 2024. The EWC Rainbow Six: Siege event still did have a low peak, with just 67,800 viewers watching the grand finals, and an average viewer count of 25,000. 

The Six Invitational 2024 is the most-watched event of the year for Rainbow Six esports, seeing a peak of 521,000 viewers. The BLAST R6 Major Mahcnester was also more successful than the EWC, with 162,000 peak viewers. 

The oldest game in the EWC and a pioneering esports game series, StarCraft 2 is still a popular esports title despite being launched almost 15 years ago. The game attracted just under 61,000 peak viewers and 24,500 average viewers which makes it very close to Rainbow Six and Fortnite, two much more popular games today. The EWC performance was the second highest for StarCraft this year, with only IEM Katowice (77,200) surpassing it in terms of metrics.

With 60,500 peak viewers and 33,500 average viewers, Tekken 8 at the Esports World Cup performed much worse than Street Fighter, the other FGC game at the event. Still, the Tekken tournament saw decent numbers for a fighting game that does not have as robust of a scene as its competitor. Overall, the EWC tournament is seventh in terms of viewership for the game this year. 

The Tekken tournament at the EVO Las Vegas is the game’s most popular this year, with 275,000 viewers. 

Riot Games’s auto battler Teamfight Tactics is still a popular esports title despite the genre’s drop in popularity in recent years. 

However, TFT did not perform as well as fans would’ve expected at the EWC, recording a peak of just 35,000 viewers. This places the game 10th in terms of TFT events this year, significantly behind the title’s most popular tournament, Inkborn Fables Tactician’s Crown (149,500). 

Despite having two separate tournaments with prize pools amounting to more than £1m, new simulation racing game Rennsport saw just over 10,000 peak viewers at both events combined. The Driver Championship had 5,461 viewers at peak and 4,530 viewers on average, while the Team Championship saw 5,748 viewers at its peak but 3,866 on average. 

It has to be said that the game was also featured at Gamers8 last year, where it had around 13,600 peak viewers. Despite these low figures, the number is somewhat in line with ESL R1 2024 Spring (6,508), the game’s highest-viewed event this year.

Gaming and esports consumers vary greatly from region to region. One esport could be a huge cultural hit in the East, whilst being unknown in the West.

However, the modern esports ecosystem has further incentivised the development of global organisations, filled with teams that compete in titles all across the world. The reason is simple, to diversify revenue streams and enter new markets to attract more fans. This is why some of the biggest organisations in the Western world have begun expanding East — particularly esports powerhouse markets Southeast Asia, Korea, and China. 

The selection of these three regions doesn’t come as a big surprise. South Korea has a rich esports history and continues to foster loyal fanbases in the FGC and StarCraft. China, on the other hand, is one of the most mature esports markets in the world, with numerous franchised esports leagues in titles unknown to Western audiences.

Lastly, Southeast Asia continues to dominate the mobile esports space, with games like Arena of Valor, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Free Fire and PUBG Mobile showing immense popularity. This makes it a fertile ground for Western esports organisations looking for a slice of the ever-growing mobile market.

The launch of the Esports World Cup Club Support Programme also pushed many Western esports organisations to invest in new titles – many of which have chosen rosters in the East. The 30 teams in the Club Support Programme have received a stimulus to enter new titles for the Esports World Cup, which is currently underway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Without further ado, let’s detail which Western esports organisations have teams in the East. 

North American esports organisation Cloud 9 marked its entry into Starcraft II when it signed Korean player Koh ‘GuMiho’ Byung-jae in November 2023. It isn’t a surprising signing as the region dominates the game’s competitive circuit compared to North America, where Cloud9 is headquartered. 

An example of this is the viewership stats for the IEM Katowice 2024, where all the top five matches featured at least one South Korean player, per Esports Charts. 

FaZe Clan realised back in 2020 that PUBG Mobile was a game to invest in — and that the best region to do that was SEA. Thereafter, the organisation signed a team in Thailand. 

Its long-term commitment to the game resulted in FaZe Clan becoming a partnered team in PUBG Mobile’s Esports ecosystem in 2023. As a part of this, a slot for the PUBG Mobile Super League (PMSL) SEA, which has three seasons per year, is guaranteed for FaZe Clan.

UK-based esports organisation Fnatic initially signed an Overwatch roster back in 2015, but subsequently left the game before the launch of the Overwatch League. 

However, ahead of the Esports World Cup, the organisation re-entered the game by picking up the Esports World Cup-qualified team, YETI. The unsigned Korean Overwatch team placed fourth in the Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Asia Stage 1, booking a slot in the Riyadh event. Fnatic ultimately lost in Round 1 of the EWC Playoffs. 

Overwatch wasn’t Fnatic’s only signing ahead of the Esports World Cup. The esports organisation entered into a partnership with ONIC Esports in 2024, for its MLBB rosters across Indonesia and the Philippines. Notably, Onic has a franchised slot in the MLBB Professional League (MPL) Indonesia as well as the Philippines. 

Fnatic ONIC recently won MPL Indonesia Season 13 and was one of the favourites going into the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid-Season Cup 2024. However, the team failed to make it out of the Group Stage. Fnatic ONIC PH, on the other hand, placed fifth in the MPL Philippines Season 13. 

Multinational esports organisation G2 Esports secured a notable partnership with China’s Invictus Gaming in December 2023.

Representing the Chinese region, the newly-formed G2.iG has competed in a range of tier-one esports events in 2024, including the Riyadh Masters 2024, PGL Wallachia Season 1, ESL One Birmingham and the Elite League Season 1.

In a release at the time, G2 noted: “China, and Asia in general, has always been a huge priority for G2 as the organisation aspires to expand west to east across the globe.”

Besides this, G2 also experimented with Wild Rift esports by partnering up with one of the Philippines’ most popular esports organisations — Blacklist International. However, the team is no longer active after Riot Games announced in early 2024 that it wouldn’t be focusing on SEA for Wild Rift esports. 

With European rosters in Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2, Gaimin Gladiators also has ties to Asia-Pacific with a Rocket League roster since 2022.

Since then, the organisation has been pretty successful in the local APAC region — making it to the RLCS World Championship in 2022 and 2023. 

UK-based esports organisation Guild Esports announced on June 10th, 2024, that it was entering the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang scene with Saudi Arabia-based R8 Esports. This included its men’s and female teams. 

However, just four days later after the announcement, Guild.R8 Esports failed to qualify for the Esports World Cup after finishing the MLBB Professional League (MPL) MENA Playoffs in fourth place. The women’s team also failed to make it to the MLBB Women’s Invitational (MWI) 2024. 

In its announcement, though, Guild highlighted that the partnership will extend to the Esports World Cup and beyond. 

NAVI is another esports organisation that has picked up an esports roster in the East as a reaction to the Esports World Cup. 

The organisation announced on June 13th that it was acquiring the South Korean team Dark Horse after it placed second in the Esports World Cup 2024 TFT APAC Closed Qualifier.

NAVI will be competing in the TFT tournament at the EWC 2024 from August 8th – 11th. A prize pool of $500,000 (~£393,600) is on the line for the event. 

Team Vitality is one of the top Western esports organisations with significant investments in the East — starting with India. 

The France-based esport organisation has a separate division for India – which doesn’t just extend to esports teams but also content creators. The organisation also announced in May 2024 that it was entering into a partnership with the Esports Federation of India (ESFI) to “help take Indian esports to the world.” The ESFI is a full member of the International Esports Federation (IESF). 

In terms of esports, Team Vitality India currently has a Call of Duty: Mobile lineup, which is amongst the most successful in the region. The esports organisation previously had a Free Fire team as well, but the game was banned in early 2022. With Garena announcing Free Fire India, Team Vitality could make a return to the game when the title is released. 

While TSM and Fnatic had made similar investments in the country, both esports organisations subsequently departed from the market. 

Team Vitality entered Mobile Legends: Bang Bang by picking up unarguably the most successful all-female esports lineup in the game, Bigetron Era. The team has almost a flawless record in all-female MLBB esports, winning major tournaments in 2023 and 2022.

The team was one of the favourites to win the MLBB Women’s Invitational (MWI) at the Esports World Cup 2024. However, the team ultimately placed second, losing out to the Philippines’ Omega Empress. 

Team Vitality entered Starcraft II in February 2024, in partnership with ONSYDE, a South Korean esports organisation. In a release, Vitality stated that this signing was a ‘part of the global expansion of the Parisian club.’

As a part of this, some of the biggest stars in the game, namely Cho ‘Maru’ Seong-ju, Kim ‘Ryung’ Dong-won, and Kang ‘Solar’ Min-soo, now compete under the organisation’s banner.

Lastly, Team Vitality has one South Korean player in its fighting games roster. Jeon ‘Jeondding’ Sang-hyun was picked up in April 2024 and is amongst the biggest names in the FGC. 

The player has qualified for the Esports World Cup 2024 and will be playing in the $1m (~£787,000) Tekken 8 tournament in August. 

Team Liquid entered Mobile Legends: Bang Bang by acquiring SEA-based esports org, STUN.GG. As a result, STUN.GG’s properties AURA Esports and ECHO Esports, were rebranded into Team Liquid ID and Team Liquid PH, respectively. Both the teams have slots in MPL Indonesia and MPL Philippines. 

Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a part of Riot Games’ franchised league for League of Legends in China, the LoL Professional League (LPL). 

The Sweden-based esports organisation entered the LPL by merging with ESV5 to create the NIP Group. As a part of this, the organisation also entered Honor of Kings esports in China (via eStar Gaming)

With the merger, Victory Five was rebranded into Ninjas in Pyjamas in the LPL. Additionally, the NIP Group is leveraging ESV5’s local partnerships and expertise to enhance its brand recognition in China. 

Alliance initially entered PUBG Mobile in 2021 through a collaboration with Yoodo, a major Malaysian-based telecom provider, forming Yoodo Alliance. However, with the latter announcement that it was discounting the Yoodo brand, Alliance announced on August 5th, 2024, that it was parting ways with its title sponsor. 

The team is also a partnered team in the PUBG Mobile esports ecosystem, competing in the PMSL SEA as a Malaysian representative. 

Wolves Esports is the esports division of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite its English roots the club’s esports division largely focuses on the Chinese market. The organisation currently has teams in Chinese esports across VALORANT, Call of Duty: Mobile and Honor of Kings. 

Wolves Esports’ CODM team are the reigning world champions. Its VALORANT roster, on the other hand, is a partnered team in the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) China. 

However, Wolves Esports is most established in Honor of Kings and has competed in the King Pro League (KPL) since 2017. As representatives of Chongqing, the team has a fixed seat in the league and has been very successful in the game. Most recently, Wolves Esports won the KPL 2024 Spring, pocketing over $700,000 (~£551,000) of its $2m (~£1.57m) prize pool.