The Top 4 Esports on Twitch.tv
The popularity of Twitch TV has had a significant impact on the way the esports industry has developed. Started in June 2011 as a spin off to the general interest streaming platform, Justin.tv, by October 2013 the website had 45 million unique viewers, eclipsing that of its parent. Twitch was acquired by Amazon for $970m in August 2014 and Justin.tv was shut down.
Twitch focuses primarily on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions. It is a very important part of the social media culture that surrounds gaming and esports.
As Twitch is so influential in esports, I thought it worth looking at which games are the most popular on the channel. A report this month (April 2018) by EsportsBets ranked the top games according to the number of streamers.
1.League of Legends (LoL)
The free-to-play League of Legends, published by Riot Games, was a clear front runner with 117,855 streamers. LoL is what’s known as a “multiplayer online battle arena” (MOBA) game or an “arena real-time strategy” (ARTS) game. Players take on the role of a selection of Champions with unique abilities as part of a team and battle against a team of other players. The goal is to destroy the enemy team’s “Nexus” while at the same time protecting their own. Each match is discrete and ends with one team winning and one team losing.
Despite its apparent complexity, LoL is the most played esport worldwide. Latest figures show that 81m players play every month. According to EsportsBets, there are now 5,028 players competing across 1,931 pro tounaments with a total awarded prize money of $48,569,038 to date.
2. Dota 2 (Defense of The Ancients)
Another MOBA/ARTS game, Dota 2, developed by Valve has the second highest number of streamers with 52,522 active accounts. Similar to LoL, two teams of players try to destroy the heart of the opposing team’s base, in this case “the Ancient”. Rather than “Champions”, the players are “Heroes”. There are several gameplay elements that differ, but the core game mechanics are the same as League of Legends.
In competitive esports, Dota 2’s most famous tournament (and largest prize pool — $24.6m in 2017) is The International, which contributes to its $128,636,938 total prize money awarded to date.
3. Player Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG)
Player Unknown Battlegrounds is a close third, with 52,503 active streamers. PUBG has popularized the fast growing multiplayer online battle royale genre. Taking inspiration from the classic movie Battle Royale, up to 100 players parachute into a map area 8km x 8km with no equipment and must collect weapons and armor and use them to be the last person to survive.
Only released in beta in March 2017, with full release in that December, it is too early to expect it to be a major competitive esport yet, it has a very short history compared with the other games mentioned here (League of Legends is almost 10 years old). Due to the nature of the game there are several logistic issues with running a PUBG tournament, but time will tell. So far there have been only 9 tournaments with total prize money of $790,546.
4. Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO)
Named “Esports Game of the Year” in 2016, Counter Strike:Global Offensive is a First Person Shooter (FPS) featuring two opposing teams — the terrorists and counter terrorists. The sides fight over a map, with the opposing objectives — to plant or defuse a bomb, or to rescue or defend hostages. There are 49,697 active twitch CS:GO streamers.
Many of the best CS:GO players are centered around Europe, with Swedish teams like Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas being dominant. Currently, USA team Cloud 9 are Valve’s Major Champions. Overall, a total of 8,637 professional players have amassed a total of $42,866,896.
Since its inception, Twitch has made a huge difference to the shape of the gaming and esports industry and helped turn it from a hobby to what is becoming a mainstream entertainment medium. It is an exciting time to be involved in this fast developing industry while it is still in its relative infancy.
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