Do you know that the primary online game event was held in 1972? Now, over 5 a long time later, now we have a whole bunch of tournaments in every massive sport yearly, and people video games deserve some recognition. So, right here is the record of the hottest esports in 2024, ranked by their mixed viewership, prize swimming pools, and event numbers.
15. Road Fighter 6
![Capcom Cup cover art](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/sf-6-capcom-cup-art.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
When Road Fighter 6 got here out in 2023, followers cheered it as the very best sport this franchise yielded since SF3, proper when it began to appear that the times of huge combating sport tournaments had been gone.
The upcoming Capcom X Cup can have a $1,000,000 prize pool, which is completely huge for a combating sport event in 2024. That’s thrice greater than it was for Capcom IX.
One other good indicator that the legendary Road Fighter franchise is, properly, nonetheless combating is that it held essentially the most tournaments, drew essentially the most viewers and saved elevating the event rewards far above what was commonplace for Road Fighter V. Hopefully, they proceed that development within the years to return.
14. Starcraft II
![Starcraft 2 Logo](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/sc-2-logo.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Starcraft II continues to make its presence felt within the esports group greater than a decade after its preliminary launch. The one real-time technique sport on our record, 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 record, 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’s most telling is that usually, 50% or extra of the entire hours of Twitch streaming had been spectators watching esports competitions, which is a far greater proportion than different video games listed right here.
Despite 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 on the earth proper now.
13. PUBG: Battlegrounds
![PGS PUBG esports tournament](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/pgc-pubg.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Regardless of being banned from a few nations, common previous PUBG remains to be faring properly on the esports scene and is unquestionably price noting as probably the most widespread video games at the moment.
It’s vastly widespread in China, amassing over 320 million lively month-to-month gamers. It’s additionally the one sport moreover Dota 2 and CS2 that frequently exhibits up within the high 3 on Steam charts.
Nonetheless, it has fallen in numbers steadily since 2021, partially as a result of lots of its gamers transitioned to PUBG: Cellular and partly as a result of Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Valorant began placing out increasingly high quality content material, stealing their very own share of the participant base, while PUBG was targeted on rolling out extra regurgitated cosmetics.
12. Crossfire
![Crossfire esports art](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/crossfire-esports.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Should you aren’t acquainted with it, Crossfire is mainly the Chinese language model of CS 1.6. It’s vastly widespread 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.
One other factor to bolster the truth that this sport shouldn’t be almost as competitively profitable as it’s proper now’s that it’s massively P2W. Who is aware of, possibly that’s precisely what aggressive FPS video games must be profitable.
11. Apex Legends
![Apex Legends Lifeline](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/apex-legends-esports.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
The third largest non-mobile battle royale on the earth, Apex Legends, takes the eleventh spot on our record of hottest esports video games in 2024.
Since its launch in 2019, it proved to be probably the most modern and genre-defining video games on the market. Every day, we see increasingly come into the sport, a lot quicker than Fortnite or PUBG ever did.
Additionally, regardless of being one of many youngest on this record, it has racked up over $21 million in prizes over 5 years of its existence; not too shabby for a sport dominated by gamepad abusers when you ask me.
10. Rainbow Six Siege
![R6 Siege Atlanta esports tournament venue](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/r6-siege-atlanta-major.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Rainbow Six Siege has by far the sweatiest fanbase you’ll ever encounter. Simply turning on voice comms is a surefire manner so that you can lose any psychological fortitude wanted to play a tactical first-person shooter you had left.
Nonetheless, evidently is strictly what produces nice gamers. These days, R6 is likely one of the hottest esports video games within the West, rewarding its professional gamers with very massive 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 esports tournament venue](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/rocket-league-esports-tournament-venue.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Rocket League’s esport took time to materialize, however its worldwide recognition has seen it emerge as an unlikely drive. Not like a number of the different shock esports hits on this record, it grew organically, little by little.
Finally, Rocket League is only a enjoyable sport that held onto followers who finally requested for a extra aggressive scene to comply with. This can be 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 properly for itself in 2023 and isn’t exhibiting 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 whole event prize pool.
What bodes properly for the sport in 2024 is that Rocket League continues to have a really sturdy informal following that performs the sport only for enjoyable. One thing that video games like Counter-Strike or StarCraft might solely dream of.
8. Valorant
![Valorant characters](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/valorant-esports.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
One of the vital current releases on this record, Valorant is the best challenger Counter-Strike has within the squad-based FPS style.
It skyrocketed in recognition instantly after its launch again in 2020 and even had widespread FPS gamers and streamers corresponding to Shroud, computerized, and Scream swap over to it.
Since then, it steadily rose in recognition, particularly after CS2 sort of flopped on launch. It’s nonetheless going sturdy with no indicators of ever slowing down. The numbers converse for themselves. In only a few 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
![Fortnite Season X cover](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/fortnite-esports.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
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 relating to recognition.
Its strongest level is the prize swimming pools. Final yr’s FNCS International Championship had a prize pool of $4,000,000 (nonetheless a protracted shot from 2019’s 30 million) and managed to assemble over 700k viewers sooner or later. These are all the best numbers it had shortly.
With regards to its Twitch recognition, it usually 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 nonetheless makes it probably the most widespread, if not the most well-liked, esport within the West.
6. Cellular Legends: Bang Bang
![Mobile Legends M4 esports Tournament stage](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/mobile-legends-m4-tournament.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
The primary League of Legends ripo… *cough*, I imply cell MOBA we’ll be mentioning on this record is Cellular Legends: Bang Bang. Its resemblance to League is really uncanny. Riot Video games and Tencent even went so far as to sue it thrice over copyright points.
Nonetheless, Cellular Legends remains to be round and stronger than ever (it needed to change its title, although). It’s principally performed within the Philippines and Indonesia, the place over 20 million individuals log into it every day.
Nonetheless, essentially the most shocking reality about it’s its viewership. Final yr’s MLBB M5 World Championship was watched by 5 million individuals at one level, rivaling the file League of Legends set simply 4 days prior. Mighty spectacular for a cell sport.
5. PUBG: Cellular
![PUBG Mobile Esports art](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/pubg-mobile.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
PUBG: Cellular is the foremost battle royale sport on cell. 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 Retailer 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 corresponding 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 cell sport outperforming its PC model is as uncommon as a hen’s enamel and undoubtedly price credit score.
4. Counter-Strike 2
![FaZe vs NaVi in a CSGO esports tournament](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cs2-major.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Counter-Strike is as previous because the hills. The net squad-based shooter first gained traction manner again within the late Nineteen Nineties as a modification working off Half-Life. It rose to fame as one of many pioneering esports again when the CPL and World Cyber Video games had been in full move.
Later, Supply tried to replace the format, powered by Half-Life 2’s extra fashionable engine, however it by no means fairly gathered the identical momentum. Then we had International 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 sport 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 dangerous the AWP was.
Nonetheless, a few months later, CS2 is lastly beginning to take form as a superb aggressive sport, 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 sport on Steam and one of many most-watched video games on Twitch.
3. Dota 2
![Dota 2 Aegis of Champions](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dota-2-the-international.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
When one thinks of OG MOBA video games, Protection of the Ancients certainly springs to thoughts first. It’s the godfather of the style that’s liable for kickstarting your complete battle enviornment scene.
Beginning life as a modification of Warcraft III, Dota rapidly rose in recognition. Its successor, Dota 2, refined the package deal, which has since emerged as essentially the most profitable and probably the most widespread esports video games on the earth.
Certainly, the numbers converse 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 file $40 million.
It shouldn’t shock you then that 48 out of fifty of essentially the most paid esports gamers on the earth are all Dota 2 gamers. Think about successful one event and already making extra money than 99.99% of all esports gamers ever will.
Nonetheless, by way of newbie participant numbers and whole views of live-streamed Twitch video games total, Dota 2 doesn’t peak at fairly the identical data as League of Legends. The place it does trump LoL, although, is within the common quantity of these tuning in completely to look at skilled sport tournaments, which exhibits that it has a extra die-hard fanbase.
2. Honor of Kings
![Honor of Kings esports World Championship trophy](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/honor-of-kings-world-championship.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Should you like cell MOBAs and haven’t but heard of Honor of Kings, it’s most likely 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 sport extraordinarily just like League of Legends. I imply, it began off as an LoL ripoff, the identical as Cellular Legends. The map, the champions, the sport modes, you title it. All of it appears and appears like enjoying League (solely on cell, although). It even has League’s recognition, hovering round 100 million day by day gamers in the intervening time.
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 on the earth. Final yr’s Worldwide Championship alone had round $10 million unfold amongst its members. That’s an enormous dub for the cell MOBA market in my ebook.
1. League of Legends
![League of Legends esports World Championship 2017 RNG squad](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/worlds-2017-rng.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Dota may need been the primary to blueprint the acquainted MOBA method, however League of Legends has been liable for its whole explosion into the mainstream. The sport is a whole phenomenon, recording statistics that absolutely boggle the thoughts.
Final yr, in the course of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship, over 6.4 million individuals across the globe tuned in to look at the finals, making it by far the most well-liked esports occasion of all time.
The one 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 manner beneath the requirements that different high esports have set. We are able to solely hope that can change sooner or later.
That does it for our record of the world’s hottest esports! Keep tuned to Twinfinite for all the newest gaming information and guides, and remember to try the associated articles we listed beneath.