It was a big weekend for global Counter-Strike: Global Offensive action, with channels topping the charts across multiple tournaments. Also of note, Korea’s League of Legends pro league continues to lead the way in the game’s weekly viewership.
Twitch’s Top Channel – Gaules
It was a big week for CS:GO (and NBA) streamer Gaules, but it also may have been the start of a particularly strong month for leading World of Warcraft streamer Asmongold. The long-awaited release of WoW’s latest content patch drove a spike in viewership, but Asmongold created a surge of interest at the end of the week when he switched his content to rival MMO Final Fantasy 14. Asmongold has long been the leading World of Warcraft streamer, and his exploration of a rival game comes at a time when players have become particularly disenfranchised with WoW due to the extended delay between content updates.
This shift helped shoot the streamer to third place this week, generating 3.54M hours watched. The ability to maintain an audience in a new game, combined with the arrival at last of the next WoW raid and its corresponding Race to World First may result in a particularly strong month for Asmongold.
Twitch’s Top Content – Just Chatting
Grand Theft Auto V managed to fend off League of Legends for another week, but the shrinking gap indicates a possible return to the top for the decade-old MOBA in the near future. LoL has remained consistently above 30M hours watched for some time, and while GTAV had its time well above that figure, it appears that reign could be coming to a close. Should GTAV finally drop off, it is likely that another streamer collaboration-friendly title will rise up into the Top 10, though it remains to be seen if anything can sustain the high benchmark that GTA established for the trend.
Also of note is the continued rise of Valorant. Following its first offline esports tournament and ensuing content update, the title appears to be surging up the charts, overthrowing both of its primary shooter competitors in Warzone and CS:GO. This week, the title nearly eclipsed 20M hours watched – a strong number for any title outside the top three.