Did you realize that the primary online game event was held in 1972? Now, over 5 many years later, now we have a whole bunch of tournaments in every large recreation yearly, and people video games deserve some recognition. So, right here is the listing of the hottest esports in 2024, ranked by their mixed viewership, prize swimming pools, and event numbers.
15. Street Fighter 6
When Street Fighter 6 got here out in 2023, followers cheered it as the very best recreation this franchise yielded since SF3, proper when it began to look that the times of huge preventing recreation tournaments have been long gone.
The upcoming Capcom X Cup can have a $1,000,000 prize pool, which is completely huge for a preventing recreation event in 2024. That’s 3 times greater than it was for Capcom IX.
What’s additionally promising for the legendary Street Fighter franchise is that its newest installment has managed to attract in extra viewers, gamers, and prize cash and enhance the variety of tournaments in comparison with SFV. You may say that they’re, nicely, nonetheless preventing (pun meant), and we are able to hope that they’ll proceed doing that in the long run as nicely.
14. Starcraft II
Starcraft II continues to make its presence felt in the esports group greater than a decade after its preliminary launch. The solely real-time technique recreation on our listing, Starcraft II, has its roots in the old-fashioned of aggressive gaming amid a scene dominated by MOBAs.
Of all of the video games on this listing, StarCraft has recorded essentially the most tournaments and amassed one of many largest prize swimming pools at $40.6 million, although it has, after all, been round for an extended time period.
What is most telling is that usually, 50% or extra of the entire hours of Twitch streaming have been spectators watching esports competitions, which is a far larger proportion than different video games listed right here.
In spite of its age and barely waning curiosity, StarCraft II competitions nonetheless draw event prize swimming pools of $500,000. We simply couldn’t keep away from together with it among the many hottest esports in the world proper now.
13. PUBG: Battlegrounds
Despite being banned from a few nations, common outdated PUBG continues to be faring nicely on the esports scene and is certainly value noting as probably the most standard video games at the moment.
It’s massively standard in China, with over 320 million lively month-to-month gamers. Besides Dota 2 and CS2, it’s the one recreation commonly showing in the highest three on Steam charts.
However, its numbers have steadily fallen since 2021. That’s partially attributable to lots of its gamers transitioning to PUBG: Mobile and partly as a result of Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Valorant began placing out extra high quality content material, stealing their very own share of the participant base. In the meantime, PUBG was extra targeted on rolling out its signature regurgitated cosmetics.
12. Crossfire
If you aren’t acquainted with it, Crossfire is principally the Chinese model of CS 1.6. It’s massively standard there, and though many declare it is stuffed with cheaters, it nonetheless manages to garner thousands and thousands of {dollars} in funding for its tournaments, particularly in the previous couple of years.
Another factor to bolster the truth that this recreation shouldn’t be practically as competitively profitable as it’s proper now could be that it’s massively P2W. Who is aware of, possibly that’s precisely what aggressive FPS video games should be profitable.
11. Apex Legends
The third largest non-mobile battle royale in the world, Apex Legends, takes the eleventh spot on our listing of hottest esports video games in 2024. It’s massively standard across the globe, particularly in the US, with greater than 60 million month-to-month gamers.
That has every thing to do with the truth that since its launch in 2019, it has proved to be probably the most revolutionary and genre-defining video games on the market. Each day, we see steadiness adjustments, new skins, maps, modes, legends, you title it. The solely non-mobile battle royales which have managed to compete with it in that regard are Fortnite and Warzone.
Also, regardless of being one of many youngest on this listing, it has racked up over $21 million in prizes over 5 years of its existence; not too shabby for a recreation dominated by gamepad abusers in the event you ask me.
10. Rainbow Six Siege
Rainbow Six Siege has by far the sweatiest fanbase you’ll ever encounter. Just turning on voice comms is a surefire method so that you can lose any psychological fortitude wanted to play a tactical first-person shooter you had left.
Still, evidently is precisely what produces nice gamers. Nowadays, R6 is without doubt one of the hottest esports video games in the West, rewarding its professional gamers with very large prize swimming pools, particularly at its manually held Six Invitational Tournaments.
Its Twitch viewership peaks when there are tournaments, however luckily, there are streamers like Jynxzi, for instance, to maintain the fanbase entertained even when there are none.
9. Rocket League
Rocket League’s esport took time to materialize, however its worldwide reputation has seen it emerge as an unlikely drive. Unlike a few of the different shock esports hits on this listing, it grew organically, little by little.
Ultimately, Rocket League is only a enjoyable recreation that held onto followers who finally requested for a extra aggressive scene to observe. This is a stark distinction to some video games that drive an esports scene onto its group and hope that it catches on.
Rocket League did extraordinarily nicely for itself in 2023 and isn’t displaying indicators of slowing down in 2024. It has set data for watch time and the variety of tournaments held and even got here near its 2022 complete event prize pool.
What bodes nicely for the sport in 2024 is that Rocket League continues to have a really robust informal following that performs the sport only for enjoyable. Something that video games like Counter-Strike or StarCraft may solely dream of.
8. Valorant
One of the latest releases on this listing, Valorant is the best challenger Counter-Strike has in the squad-based FPS style.
It skyrocketed in reputation instantly after its launch again in 2020 and even had standard FPS gamers and streamers similar to Shroud, automated, and Scream change over to it.
Since then, it steadily rose in reputation, particularly after CS2 type of flopped on launch. It’s nonetheless going robust with no indicators of ever slowing down. The numbers communicate for themselves. In just some years, it managed to share over $30 million in prizes and maintain over 5,500 tournaments, making it one of many fastest-growing esports scenes ever.
7. Fortnite
Seven years after its launch, and regardless of its decline after 2019, Fortnite nonetheless stands close to the highest of the battle royale esports scene on the subject of reputation.
Its strongest level is the prize swimming pools. Last yr’s FNCS Global Championship had a prize pool of $4,000,000 (nonetheless an extended shot from 2019’s 30 million) and managed to collect over 700k viewers sooner or later. These are all the very best numbers it had in some time.
When it involves its Twitch reputation, it typically hovers at round 50 million watch hours per thirty days. That’s a tad bit worse than what CS2 and League of Legends have, however it however makes it probably the most standard, if not the preferred, esport in the West.
6. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
The first League of Legends ripo… *cough*, I imply cellular MOBA we’ll be mentioning on this listing is Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Its resemblance to League is really uncanny. Riot Games and Tencent even went so far as to sue it 3 times over copyright points.
However, Mobile Legends continues to be round and stronger than ever (it needed to change its title, although). It’s largely performed in the Philippines and Indonesia, the place over 20 million folks log into it every day.
However, essentially the most shocking truth about it’s its viewership. Last yr’s MLBB M5 World Championship was watched by 5 million folks at one level, rivaling the document League of Legends set simply 4 days prior. Mighty spectacular for a cellular recreation.
5. PUBG: Mobile
PUBG: Mobile is the foremost battle royale recreation on cellular. It blew up as quickly because it was launched again in 2018 and hasn’t stopped rising since then, racking up over 500 million downloads on Google Play Store alone.
Its massively aggressive participant base additionally produced an esports scene that gave away over $21 million in prize swimming pools to its gamers final yr solely, topping different esports giants similar to League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Fortnite.
What’s extra, it outperforms the PC model each in participant numbers and in earnings, most of it coming from China, although. Regardless, a cellular recreation outperforming its PC model is as uncommon as a hen’s enamel and undoubtedly value credit score.
4. Counter-Strike 2
Counter-Strike is as outdated because the hills. The on-line squad-based shooter first gained traction method again in the late Nineteen Nineties as a modification operating off Half-Life. It rose to fame as one of many pioneering esports again when the CPL and World Cyber Games have been in full move.
Later, Source tried to replace the format, powered by Half-Life 2’s extra trendy engine, however it by no means fairly gathered the identical momentum. Then we had Global Offensive, which proved a smashing success and has seen the franchise clamber again to the highest of the esports pile.
In late 2023, we had fairly an abrupt transition to CS2. The recreation was very unpolished, forcing many adjustments that gamers didn’t like. What extra to say than that the most important CS:GO legend, S1mple, determined to take a break due to how unhealthy the AWP was.
However, a few months later, CS2 is lastly beginning to take form as a superb aggressive recreation, with its first main event taking place in March.
Time will inform whether or not it’ll break any earlier Counter-Strike data, however for now, it nonetheless stays the most-played recreation on Steam and one of many most-watched video games on Twitch.
3. Dota 2
When one thinks of OG MOBA video games, Defense of the Ancients certainly springs to thoughts first. It is the godfather of the style that’s accountable for kickstarting your complete battle area scene.
Starting life as a modification of Warcraft III, Dota rapidly rose in reputation. Its successor, Dota 2, refined the package deal, which has since emerged as essentially the most profitable and probably the most standard esports video games in the world.
Indeed, the numbers communicate for themselves: a cumulative $300 million in prize cash throughout greater than a decade of its existence, peaking with the 2021 TI when the entire prize pool was a document $40 million.
It shouldn’t shock you then that 48 out of fifty of essentially the most paid esports gamers in the world are all Dota 2 gamers. Imagine profitable one event and already making extra money than 99.99% of all esports gamers ever will.
However, in phrases of beginner participant numbers and complete views of live-streamed Twitch video games general, Dota 2 doesn’t peak at fairly the identical data as League of Legends. Where it does trump LoL, although, is in the common quantity of these tuning in solely to observe skilled recreation tournaments, which reveals that it has a extra die-hard fanbase.
2. Honor of Kings
If you want cellular MOBAs and haven’t but heard of Honor of Kings, it’s in all probability as a result of most of its participant base is from Asia. For now, know that it’s popping out with a worldwide launch quickly, and you may pre-register proper now.
Honor of Kings is a recreation extraordinarily much like League of Legends. I imply, it began off as an LoL ripoff, the identical as Mobile Legends. The map, the champions, the sport modes, you title it. It all seems to be and appears like enjoying League (solely on cellular, although). It even has League’s reputation, hovering round 100 million day by day gamers in the meanwhile.
What surprises me essentially the most about it, although, is that it has one of many highest prize swimming pools of all esports video games in the world. Last yr’s International Championship alone had round $10 million unfold amongst its individuals. That’s an enormous dub for the cellular MOBA market in my e book.
1. League of Legends
Dota might need been the primary to blueprint the acquainted MOBA method, however League of Legends has been accountable for its complete explosion into the mainstream. The recreation is a whole phenomenon, recording statistics that completely boggle the thoughts.
Last yr, through the 2023 League of Legends World Championship, over 6.4 million folks across the globe tuned in to observe the finals, making it by far the preferred esports occasion of all time.
The solely factor LoL hasn’t managed to match Dota 2 with is prize cash. Since 2016, the Worlds prize pool has fallen to only $2.25 million, which is method beneath the requirements that different high esports have set. We can solely hope that can change in the long run.
That does it for our listing of the world’s hottest esports! Stay tuned to Twinfinite for all the newest gaming information and guides, and you’ll want to try the associated articles we listed beneath.
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