It’s that time of year. Indeed, it’s time to review the past year with a few featured discussions covering esports in 2021. Accordingly, it’s time to determine the best from the best. Read on as we bring you the Top 5 Esports Events 2021 below!
Background and Criteria
We’ve done this for the past few years. Regardless, below I’ll be listing some criteria which we’ll be considering for the particular rankings of the events:
- Peak Viewers – at the top, peak viewership is a great measure of how involved and interested the community is in the particular esport
- Offline vs Online – offline events which take to the stage show off a huge investment from the organizers, one which is usually backed up by community support. While online events are still common due to health reasons, offline events were possible this past year
- Event Impact – for many of these events, the impact behind them is also a massive factor dependings on the need of the community
Considering some of these factors, let’s dive into the ranking. Yet, at the end of the day, this is an opinionated list.
Also, before we progress, take note that all of the viewership details are made public thanks to Esports Charts.
#5 – PUBG Mobile Global Championship Season 0 – Top 5 Esports Events 2021
- Peak Viewers – 3,801,998
- Average Viewers – 528,822
- Prize – $2,000,000
Kicking off with an event which concluded very early onto the year, the inaugural PUBG Mobile Global Championship was a massive success.
As the very first event of this kind for PUBG Mobile, the entire industry was curious to determine how PUBG Mobile matches up compared to other top esports in the World.
Despite being held online, the PUBG Mobile Global Championship Season 0 garnered massive viewership numbers with a shocking Peak Viewership of 3,801,998.
While bringing some massive excitement to a competitive scene awaiting validation, Indeed, the only reason it’s at the number 5 is due to a lower average viewers and the event being online.
#4 – PGL Major Stockholm
- Peak Viewers – 2,748,434
- Average Viewers – 593,061
- Prize – $2,000,000
Moving over to CS:GO, this is where community impact cemented this event on our list. Indeed, after such a long time with no Major events in the scene, PGL Major Stockholm would change all of that.
Throwing $2,000,000 on the line, the community gathered in Stockholm with a live crowd. Furthermore, this was a massive event considering the storylines heading into it, as the veteran “s1mple” finally managed to win his first Major when leading Natus Vincere.
With so much on the line, the entire community dived in, with a peak viewership of 2,748,434. Otherwise, as I’ll reiterate, this event revived CS:GO after a tough year of online competition and it was brilliant to see.
#3 – The International 10
- Peak Viewers – 2,741,514
- Average Viewers – 857,343
- Prize – $40,018,195
Speaking of filling a void, The International 10 follows the PGL Major Stockholm in the sense of answering the community.
Accordingly, after the cancellation of last year’s event, massive expectations were placed on Valve for this year. Luckily, they delivered.
Bringing together the best teams in the world in an offline environment with the largest prize pool in esports, the stage was set. What’s more? The community was simply thrilled by the story line of an underdog team, Team Spirit from Russia, taking home the Aegis of Champions after defeating the favourites in PSG.LGD.
After a year of being a little lost, the Dota Pro Circuit is back thanks to this epic hallmark event.
#2 – Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore – Top 5 Esports Events 2021
- Peak Viewers – 5,415,990
- Average Viewers – 2,087,460
- Prize – $2,000,000
Over the past few years, Free Fire has been gaining a tonne of traction as a growing mobile esport. Yet, the majority hesitated to take it too seriously due to a lack of major events.
Garena changed all that with the Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore – the largest event in the history of Free Fire.
Accordingly, the event didn’t fail to surpass our expectations. Despite being held online, Singapore witnessed the soaring nature of competitive Free Fire. Indeed, the event has the highest viewership ever in the history of esports.
We’re not sure if the peak viewership will ever be surpassed any time soon. The only obstacle which prevented the event being our number one was being online – we can’t wait for a future offline Free Fire event.
#1 – 2021 World Championship – Top 5 Esports Events 2021
- Peak Viewers – 4,018,728
- Average Viewers – 1,298,219
- Prize – $2,225,000
It’s Worlds, and it simply sets the bar for competitive League of Legends and esports in generals.
While being offline, the media coverage, expectations, storylines and everything else simply made this event as good as it’s always been. Yet, being the most popular iteration of the event yet, the 2021 World Championship continues to keep the momentum from the past year.
This time around, we witnessed the rise of the LPL region, with EDward Gaming taking down the favourites of DWG KIA in the Grand Final.
It’s without a doubt that the rest of the industry looks to Riot Games to learn how to organize world-class offline esports events that define the industry.
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