While we’re only a couple of months in, there are some interesting stats on the biggest esports of 2019. Back in January, Dota 2 had the biggest esports event on Twitch with the Chongqing Major. However, things were a little different in February. Last month had major tournaments in a few different esports. Here’s the most watched esports on Twitch according to stats from Newzoo.
Biggest Esports of 2019 on Twitch – February
1. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
It’s no surprise that CS:GO tops the list for February. The IEM Katowice 2019 CS:GO Major ran throughout the month. Top Danish team Astralis became the IEM Katowice Champions in an exciting tournament of top-level CS.
CS:GO racked up 27.9 million esports hours watched on Twitch. This is far higher than the Dota 2 Chongqing Major, which got 16.2 million hours in January.
🏆🏆 IEM KATOWICE MAJOR CHAMPIONS 🏆🏆@dupreehCSGO @gla1ve_csgo @MagiskCS @Xyp9x @dev1ce @zonic_cs #ToTheStars pic.twitter.com/v53mA6QvI7
— Astralis (@astralisgg) March 3, 2019
2. League of Legends
The League of Legends competitive scene is always strong in terms of competition and fanbase. LoL went from 15 million esports hours watched in January to 22.4 million in February.
This is likely due to the Spring Leagues commencing, with many games across the LCL, LCS, and LJL.
3. Dota 2
While the major is over, Dota 2 still racked up an impressive 14.6 million hours of esports streams watched. ESL One Katowice 2019 saw Team Secret take home $125,000 of the $300,000 prize pool. MDL Macau 2019 ran at the same time, with Team Liquid taking the victory over Evil Geniuses.
Seemingly unstoppable, @teamsecret are your #ESLOne Katowice CHAMPIONS! WHAT A STELLAR PERFORMANCE! pic.twitter.com/OngF6ACR0J
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) February 24, 2019
4. Overwatch
While Overwatch didn’t make the top five most watched esports in January, it racked up 12.1 million hours of esports hours watched in February. This is most likely due to the OWL 2019 Regular Season.
5. Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Smash Ultimate still lags far behind the mainstream esports. However, it was one of the top five biggest esports in both January and February. February 2019 saw Genesis 6 decide many of the participants for the upcoming Smash Ultimate Summit.
Frostbite 2019 also took place, with Tweek taking home the 1st place prize. While it’s still new, the esports scene will likely grow as time goes on.
A Genesis Top 8 to remember. Check out some of the #SmashBrosUltimate highlights from #G6 this past weekend. Thanks to @Genesis_Smash and all the competitors for putting on a great event!
Now that the dust has settled, who's picking up a new main? 🎮 pic.twitter.com/27l5UOgv4o
— Nintendo Versus (@NintendoVS) February 4, 2019