Counter-Strike
Documents about Counter-Strike
Esports Trends Report 2025
The 2025 Esports Trends Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the global esports landscape, focusing on viewership patterns, platform consolidation, and the evolving role of creator-led content.
- Co-streaming has become the dominant viewership model, accounting for 51.2% of all esports hours watched and highlighting the critical role of creator-led content.
- The esports market remains highly concentrated, with League of Legends and Counter-Strike generating nearly 45% of the total 2.7 billion hours watched across 2,000 tracked events.
- Twitch and YouTube Gaming maintain a combined 84.1% market share of total viewership, though mobile esports tournaments are achieving higher average viewership per event than non-mobile titles.
Esports Business in H1 2026: Four Structural Shifts Reshaping the Industry
The global esports landscape in the first half of 2026 is defined by a fundamental transition toward structural consolidation and institutional maturity.
- Savvy Games Group has moved to acquire the developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in a deal reportedly valued at over $6 billion, signaling a major consolidation of mobile esports ecosystems.
- Saudi-backed entities are expanding their influence across the global esports value chain, evidenced by Qiddiya Investment Company’s full acquisition of the EVO tournament series in February 2026.
- The 2026 Esports World Cup relocation to Paris involved an estimated €250 million in Saudi spending, demonstrating the event's ability to operate as a global product independent of its original host city.
Top Esports Games and Tournaments by Live Viewership in H1 2026
The global esports landscape in the first half of 2026 is defined by the continued ascendancy of mobile gaming and a shifting linguistic demographic.
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) dominated H1 2026 viewership, led by the M7 World Championship which reached a peak of 5,680,511 concurrent viewers.
- The top five most-viewed tournaments in H1 2026 were the M7 World Championship (5.68M peak), MPL Indonesia Season 17 (2.95M peak), IEM Cologne Major 2026 (2.75M peak), LCK 2026 Road to MSI (2.27M peak), and MPL Philippines Season 17 (1.70M peak).
- League of Legends slipped to third place in overall game rankings for the second quarter, despite the LCK 2026 Road to MSI qualifier achieving a peak of 2.27 million viewers.
Where Community Casting Mattered Most in Esports During H1 2026
Community casting has evolved into a foundational pillar of the global esports ecosystem, accounting for 46.7% of total watch time during the first half of 2026.
- Community casting accounted for 46.7% of total watch time across major competitive esports titles during the first half of 2026.
- Mobile esports titles, including Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor, and Battlegrounds Mobile India, maintained a strong reliance on official streams as the primary audience gathering point.
- Regional language preferences dictate co-casting adoption, with Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and German audiences favoring creator-led streams over official tournament feeds.
Esports Sponsorship Benchmark H1 2026: Media Value Delivery
The esports sponsorship landscape during the first half of 2026 demonstrates a clear concentration of commercial influence within established, mature PC-based ecosystems.
- The top ten esports events in H1 2026 generated a collective $203 million in media value.
- Sponsorship efficacy is currently driven by media value delivery rather than raw audience size.
- Counter-Strike and League of Legends remain the primary drivers of financial value for corporate partners.
Most-watched Esports Tournaments in June 2026
The June 2026 esports landscape was dominated by mobile titles in Asia, with the Mobile Legends: Pro League (MPL) Indonesia Season 17 achieving nearly 2.95 million peak viewers, the highest figure globally.
- MPL Indonesia Season 17 was the most-watched esports tournament globally in June 2026, achieving nearly 2.95 million Peak Viewers and becoming the second most popular Mobile Legends tournament of 2026.
- IEM Cologne Major 2026 dominated English-language viewership in June 2026 with over 1.08 million Peak Viewers, setting new Counter-Strike audience records for Peak Viewers, Average Viewers, and Hours Watched (exceeding 100 million).
- The MPL Indonesia Season 17 final between Bigetron by Vitality and RRQ Hoshi drew 2.9 million Peak Viewers, and its English-language broadcasts surpassed 250,000 Peak Viewers for the first time.
Most Popular Esports Events of May 2026
The May 2026 esports landscape was dominated by Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and League of Legends, with the MPL Indonesia Season 17 topping overall viewership at 1.8 million peak viewers and the MPL Philippines Season 17 following closely with 1.7 million during its grand final.
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang dominated May 2026 viewership, with MPL Indonesia Season 17 reaching 1.8 million peak viewers and MPL Philippines Season 17 hitting 1.7 million.
- Creator-led esports events demonstrate high viability, evidenced by Jynxzi’s League of Legends tournament peaking at 921,000 viewers.
- The CHZZK LCK broadcast emerged as the most-watched channel overall, highlighting the strength of South Korea’s local streaming ecosystem.
Esports Charts Launches Ukrainian-Language Version of the Platform
Esports Charts has expanded its platform to include a Ukrainian-language interface, enabling users to access tournament, team, player and other analytics in their native tongue.
- Esports Charts has launched a Ukrainian-language interface to support its growing domestic audience, joining existing localizations in English, Portuguese, Turkish, and Japanese.
- The localization coincides with the June 2, 2026, start of the IEM Cologne 2026 Counter-Strike 2 Major, which features an official Ukrainian broadcast.
- Ukrainian-language broadcasts have become a significant force in global esports, ranking fifth in total watch time at major events like The International 2025 and the StarLadder Budapest Major.
Top Esports Team of May 2026
The analysis focuses on May 2026 esports viewership, highlighting that six teams surpassed 10 million hours watched (HW) while only T1 exceeded 15 million HW, making it the most-watched side that month.
- T1 was the most-watched esports team in May 2026, accumulating 16.93 million hours watched and standing as the only team to surpass the 15 million threshold.
- T1 achieved a peak viewership of 1.21 million during the LCK 2026 season and maintained an average of 594,089 viewers per match.
- T1 secured a spot in the 2026 Esports World Cup following an 11-game unbeaten streak that included victories over Gen.G and KT Rolster.
Counter-Strike vs Valorant Viewership: Tactical FPS Esports Metrics
The analysis compares early-2026 viewership of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Valorant across S-tier tournaments, focusing on hours watched, peak viewers, and weighted average viewers.
- Counter-Strike outperformed Valorant in early-2026 S-tier viewership, generating 205 million hours watched compared to Valorant’s 130 million.
- Counter-Strike achieved a peak viewership of 1.38 million, more than double Valorant’s peak of approximately 650,000.
- Counter-Strike demonstrated higher audience density, maintaining a weighted average of 292,000 viewers versus 141,000 for Valorant.
Why Counter-Strike and Valorant Audiences Look Nothing Alike
The analysis compares S-tier tactical FPS esports viewership for Counter-Strike and Valorant during January–May 2026, using Liquipedia-classified tournaments.
- Counter-Strike outperformed Valorant in total Hours Watched, Peak Viewers, and weighted Average Viewers between January and May 2026, despite having less total airtime.
- Counter-Strike maintains a concentrated audience in established markets, with English (33.9%), Russian (30.6%), and Brazilian-Portuguese (14.2%) accounting for the vast majority of viewership.
- Valorant demonstrates superior geographic and platform diversity, with significant penetration into Asian markets and a broader language mix including Japanese (13.3%), Thai, Korean, and Indonesian.
Esports Nations Cup 2026: Riyadh
The Esports Nations Cup 2026 in Riyadh is positioned as a flagship international competition, scheduled for the month of June and featuring a $20 million prize pool distributed across 16 distinct esports titles.
- The Esports Nations Cup 2026 will take place in Riyadh this June, featuring a total prize pool of $20 million.
- The competition includes 16 distinct esports titles, ranging from major games like Dota 2 and League of Legends to niche titles like Trackmania and Fatal Fury.
- Prize money is tiered by title, with the largest individual pools reaching $1.5 million for Dota 2 and League of Legends, while smaller titles range from $250,000 to $1.3 million.