What makes a good event? What makes a great event? Indeed, these are things to bear in mind when listing the Top 5 Esports Events 2020. Some factors include the level of competition, the feedback from the crowd, storylines and just general awe factor amongst others. Bearing this in mind, this is not an objective list, but a subjective one. Here are the Top 5 Esports Events we loved here at esportsguide!
Also, with how this year went, expect a mix of online and offline events.
#1 Worlds 2020
This is hardly a surprise – were are crowning the LoL 2020 World Championship as the best esports event for 2020. Accordingly, Riot Games went ahead against all odds to host the event offline in Shanghai to create a proper atmosphere.
Yes, there wasn’t a live crowd. Yes, the $2,225,000 prize pool isn’t the largest in history. However, what made Worlds 2020 so special was the suspense, the buildups, the predictions and the general excitement from the esports industry.
Here at esportsguide, we loved it so much that we offered daily recaps of the exciting action. And we were hardly the only ones watching the event, with viewership records being broken left, right and centre. Just in case you’ve forgotten, here are the viewership statistics which set the bar for the entire industry this year:
To top it all off, the event was filled with incredible surprises. This gave DAMWON Gaming the opportunity to reclaim the throne of competitive LoL in epic fashion.
#2 CS:GO IEM Katowice 2020
Every year, competitive CS:GO fans can rely on IEM Katowice to be an incredible event and venue, especially since the event took place pre-online. Indeed, organized by ESL, the prize pool of $500,000 could hardly contain the other parameters of the event.
As one of the calendar Majors for the scene, all the top teams were lined up to celebrate the beauty of CS:GO. Speaking of the competition, many foresaw Astralis, Team Liquid and mousesports to take home the victory. Indeed, Natus Vincere didn’t seem to leave that much of an impression.
That’s hardly what the the peak viewership of 1,002,132 and average viewership of 279,453 observed. Across the week of competition, Natus Vincere fought hard and swept all of the opposing competition.
In response to this, the massive crowd of 11,500 in the Spodek Arena rang out in support for the Russian-based team. It’s in this epic fashion that IEM Katowice 2020 proceeded, making it worthy of a second place finish on our top 5 esports events of the year.
#3 Six Invitational 2020
Despite its ups and downs, 2020 was a massive year for competitive Rainbow Six Siege. Thanks to some phenomenal progress, the esports was in the discussion of finally becoming a Tier 1 esport as we’ve discussed. A massive component contributing to this is the massive success of the yearly Six Invitational.
This year’s iteration, taking place pre-online, was no exception. As ESL and Ubisoft threw on $3,000,000, the best teams in the world were flown in to battle. Accordingly, the largest names in the scene such as Team Liquid and Team SoloMid were primed to take it.
But no, another underdog story would come to fruition. Spacestation Gaming rose above all the odds and took out the likes of Team SoloMid and Ninjas in Pyjamas with ease to make it to the grand final. It would be at this grand final that the event would come into its own.
The 10,000 fans roared and cheered as the match went the distance, besides the peak viewership of 303,155 at home supporting too. In the end, Spacestation Gaming may have one, but this event was mainly a victory for competitive Rainbow Six Siege.
For these reasons, the Six Invitational 2020 is on our list of top 5 esports events.
#4 Call of Duty League Championship 2020
If the year was massive for R6, it was even moreso for competitive Call of Duty. With Activision taking a gamble, the inaugural season of the franchised Call of Duty scene had shoes to fill. Bearing this in mind, event after event, personal viewership records were broken for the scene and this all climaxed at the biggest event of the year.
Accordingly, the Call of Duty League Championship 2020 saw the largest prize pool ever in the history of Call of Duty – $4,600,000. Although held online, Activision managed to pull off an electric event.
In terms of competition, some heart-racing series broke some hearts while filling others with pure thrill. Heading into the event, there was no clear-cut favourite. The legendary series between OGLA and Chicago Huntsmen will forever go down in history, while Dallas Empire managed to defeat FaZe Atlanta to claim an emotional win.
Backed by a strong showing of 331, 558 peak viewers, it helped seal a successful inaugural season set to take off next year!
That’s why this event made it on our top 5 esports events for this year.
#5 BLAST Premier Spring 2020 European Finals
Although I do my best to strive for variety, the BLAST Premier Spring 2020 European Finals deserves to be on this list. With a peak viewership of 317,487, it showed that online CS:GO could be just as viable as offline tournaments. That’s the mentality RFRSH Entertainment kept in mind and it truly paid off.
With $500,000 on the line, this event invited the best teams in the world to have a shot at the big money. Accordingly, 8 of them went head to head and a new winner – Complexity Gaming, was crowned.
Despite viewership and prize, this event truly showed the resilience of the competitive CS:GO community despite the transitional to online which is truly admirable.
Honorable Mentions
Here are a few that didn’t make the cut:
- Overwatch League 2020 Grand Finals
- Hearthstone World Championship 2020
- PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020 – this event actually concludes next year, which is why we couldn’t list it in the top 5
We really hope you enjoyed that – we’ll have some more top 5s for you to enjoy shortly!
