eSports has grown and thrived in the first half of 2020. As prize pools and viewership numbers increase day by day, it is easy to say that eSports is not going to stop until it reaches on top in terms of popularity for the rest of the year. Due to pandemic, physical sports such as football and many other sports were banned but eSports began to rise and excel. The viewership on different platforms such as YouTube has increased with the views if eSports leading from the front.
You might be wondering what the biggest eSports game is of 2020? You cannot just rank a single eSports game when there are several others which are excellent as well. In this article, you will get to know about the top ten best eSports games. Let’s get you started!
NBA 2K:
NBA 2K was first launched in 2018 in partnership with NBA. Teams displayed in NBA 2K are owned by the franchise. This league has a path for the new players to enter in to the league. They have shown several players to compete with each other and show their talent and skill just like it happens in the regular NBA. This game has a fifteen-week season with three regular season tournaments which have prize pools. The top seven teams compete with each other and the one standing the last takes approximately $420,000.
The league which is supported by big names like the NBA hopes to grow exponentially in the near future. NBA also announced that they are adding four more teams in the leagues and not just that, every year they will add new teams.
Viewership is the main reason why this game is considered as one of the lowest in ranking. But during this pandemic, this league was shown at ESPN 2 rather than on ESPN which increased the viewership. Prize pool for 2020 of this league is approximately $1.4 million with an average viewership of 5K to 10K and the peak viewership is somewhere between 61 to 62K.
Rocket league:
Rocket league is one of the most interesting game. As described by its developer, soccer but with rocket powered cars. Two teams battle against each other. Except for players, they have cars which have boost in it and can fly around the map as well. Rocket league existed in 2016 when the league championship was created. Back then, the original price pool was somewhere around $55,000 but since the league kept on growing, the prize pool excelled to over $350,000 for the champions league that occurred in the first half of 2020.
Viewership for rocket league is comparatively low. Out of the 2.8 million viewers in total for the rocket league, 2.5 million came from the second champions league which occurred in December. Prize pool for 2020 is $350,000 with an average viewership of 25 to 30K and with a peak viewership around 206K.
Rainbow siege is a tactical first person shooter game which is developed by Ubisoft and was released in 2015. This game emphasis on the environment destruction and also focuses on the cooperation between players and teammates. Each player is assigned a role. That role can be to diffuse a bomb, rescuing a hostage, taking control of an attacker or a defender and also taking control of an objective within a room. It is a game which consists of 5 rounds and the team who completes the first five rounds wins the game.
The Rainbow Six League has been going on since 2016 and has grown remarkably around the world since it has been made. The league is eligible in seven different regions of this world. For the latest tournament, the prize pool was somewhere around $3million and the winning team took home somewhere around $1million.
Viewership for Rainbow 6 Siege s inconsistent and varies. League matches and early rounds draw approximately five to ten thousand viewers. The later and final rounds especially, draw approximately fifty to one hundred thousand viewers for major tournaments. The viewership has been consistent since the release of this game and has only been inconsistent only slightly over the years.
Over-watch:
Over watch is a first person shooter game which was released by Blizzard entertainment in 2016. Blizzard is considered as one of the best eSports gaming company as it has made several other games which are on top in the eSports market. Over watch is a hero shooter game where every player is a hero and has a specific ability and style of attack. There are three types of heroes. One being the tank hero. The tank hero absorbs damage and distracts enemies. A damage hero who deals with the opposing team and support hero that heals faster in either defense or attack.
The over watch league first started in 2018 and was the first eSports league to adopt the same method as of traditional sports teams that are city based and represent their region. Mostly in eSports, the organization name is the team name but in over watch, the team is named after the city it is located in. The league is comprised up of twenty different teams which are split in to two conferences.
The over watch league had the highest pool prize when its first season came. The pool prize was $3.5 million in 2018. The prize pool then increased in 2019 to $5million and it still is $5million for the league that is occurring in 2020. When it comes to viewership, over watch has declined since it started over two years ago. In 2018, the viewership only reached one million while being aired on ESPN as well as Twitch and on YouTube as well. The number then kept on decreasing. In 2019, the viewers were around 45K. The only reason why this game is ranked above the other games is because it offers a great pool prize but with lack of support from outside of the main core prevents this game to excel and be on top of the eSports.
Call of Duty-Warzone:
Up next, I have a fast paced first person shooter game for you which is very popular, Call of Duty Warzone. It is developed by Activision. It is considered as one of the most popular game franchises ever created and everyone at some point in their lives, have played Call of Duty. 2003 was the year when this mighty game was released. From then, a new version of Call of Duty is released every year with new modes, different maps and several other things. Each game released is better than the previous one, reason? That’s because every year, a different game developer is assigned to create Call of Duty.
Call of Duty league has been running since 2010, hence making it one of the longest leagues in the history of eSports. The first Call of Duty championship was held in 2013 with a prize pool of $1million. Now, in 2020, the prize pool for Call of Duty is around $6million. Teams became city based as they were in over watch. This made them lost viewership as it was being streamed on Twitch and YouTube and people would only watch the league on either Twitch or on YouTube.
Call of Duty never reached the heights as over watch did in 2018 but Call of Duty has a strong fan base who watch the league whenever it happens. The amount of viewers Call of Duty got this year was somewhere around 40K for the first rounds and about 100K for the final and last rounds.
The only reason why Call of Duty is ahead of Over watch is because of its viewership. The viewership number has remained constant over the years. Also, Call of Duty is committed to franchising and has a larger pool prize, hence, showing a stronger sense of commitment to the league.
Hearthstone is a free-to-play game which is made by Blizzard and was first released in 2014. The game consists of two players. Each player has around 30 card decks and a hero. The main goal of this game is to finish other player’s cards and defeat their hero to win the game. In 2018, the player base of this game reached about a hundred million players. The cards and the heroes present in the game are based on the first game that Blizzard developed which was World of Warcraft.
Hearthstone league began right after the release and had a pool prize of $250,000 in its first year. The competition was first limited to Asia and Europe only but gradually it increased on an international level because of the popularity of this game. In 2019, the average amount of viewers this game had were about 50 to 150K. Viewer peak till now is 206K which was in the world championship in 2019. Due to the corona virus, there has been only one tournament in 2020.
DOTA 2:
DOTA 2 is an online multiplayer game. It was developed by Valve and was first released in 2013. It is based on the original game which is DOTA. In this game, two teams consisting of five players each battle against each other. One team has to defend a territory and the other team has to destroy it, works both ways. Each player can choose a character. Each character has some specific ability and skills which can be shown and used in the game. This character is also known as hero.
DOTA 2 has one of the strongest eSports scene if you compare it with any other game. Valve also developed and launched a professional league known as DOTA Pro Circuit where several teams compete, gain points and qualify for the international tournament, also known as DOTA’s Premier Tournament which happens annually. The prize pool has gradually increased. Now the prize pool is somewhere around $34million. This is the largest prize pool any eSports game has offered and this is the only reason why DOTA is considered as one of the best eSports game. Despite the massive pool prize, DOTA is still not at the same level as other few games.
Fortnite:
Fortnite was first launched in 2017 as a free-to-play battle royale game where several people compete with each other. They arrive at as arena, loot and kill other players in order to survive. The last one standing wins the game. This game also offers various themes such as cartoonish themes or if something that is trending such as the Avengers movie, they also provide Avengers theme.
Fortnite league began at the end of 2018. Epic games, the developer of this game organized a tournament called Summer and Fall Skirmish. The total prize pool offered was $2.6 million. It is also considered as one of the largest amount offered for an opening tournament for any eSports game. Fortnite also announced a world cup in 2019 where 40 million people were competed against each other for a $3million tournament. Fortnite is considered as one of the best eSports game as it has offered $7million in various tournaments.
Counter Strike Global Offensive (CSGO):
CSGO is a first person shooting game. It is made on a 5v5 format. There are two teams, one being the terrorists and other being the counter terrorists. Both teams battle against each other. The terrorists have to plant a bomb and the counter terrorists have to either stop them or diffuse the bomb if it has been planted. This is one of the earliest games produced by the label. Average viewership was approximately 100K every day. Up till now, it is one of the best and one of the toughest eSports game. In 2019, the pool prize was approximately around $21.8million, which is the highest pool prize any eSports game has ever given!
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