Strafe Selections: Top Five Esports of 2023

The year 2023 saw the esports industry reach greater heights in terms of viewership, scale and the quality of the events.

While the industry as a whole is struggling to stay warm amidst an “Esports Winter”, the increased reach of the gaming and esports industry has been a warm hug.

Still miles outside the realm of traditional sports, the increasing viewership of esport is testament to the form’s success.

Now, there are atleast ten successful and major esports, including Melee, fighting games, MOBAs, FPSs etc, but there are a few that are league apart. These following five esports, are our choice of the top esports for the year 2023. They are the leaders in terms of viewership, prizepool and production quality.

#5 Valorant

Riot Games’ Tactical first person hero shooter has been on the rise in recent years, the game enjoys amazing casual success and the esports division isn’t far behind, the game’s simple objective but tactical complexity adds uncertainty to each round, making it an amazing spectator sport.

In just three years, Valorant has recorded some amazing numbers, especially with Riot’s expertise in organizing, Valorant fans experience some of the best esports events ever.

2023 was no different, the first major Valorant tournament in VCT LOCK//IN recorded a peak viewership of 1.44M in the finals featuring LOUD and Fnatic. While the year-conclusive Valorant Champions 2023 did not reach the same peak, the tournament prizepool of $2.25M was amongst the highest single tournament prizepools for the year.

While Valorant still falls behind in terms of viewership numbers and average prizepool, it is one of the best in terms of production quality and coverage. The interviews, press conferences and wider coverage of Valorant Esports is the result of Riot’s years of experience of organizing tournaments.

For 2024, Valorant has already announced the professional and challenger circuits and their new structure which involves collaborating in-game tournaments with the challengers circuit.

#4 DOTA 2

One of the oldest esports on our list, DOTA’s professional scene enters its 12th year and it is still going strong.

2023 was a let-down from their multi-million prizepool for the International but the Riyadh Masters made it up with a $15M tournament.

The International 2023 was still one of the biggest organizer-sponsored tournaments with a $3.3M total prizepool. Additionally, DOTA 2 also had one of the highest average prizepools, with 188 events and an average prizepool of $164K.

 

Compared to Valorant, whose fan base is very young, the majority of DOTA 2 fans have been interested in the game for a while. This also reflects on the peak viewership of the esports, where it falls behind the rest of the five esports.

The production quality and the constant re-structuring of the tournament circuits reflects well on Valve’s commitment to the esport. Also the $15M Riyadh Masters prizepool reflects the profitability of the game.

For 2024, DOTA 2 already has multiple tournaments lined up, with ESL One, another Riyadh Masters, and the coveted The International 2023.

#3 Counter-Strike

Another of the original esports, Counter-Strike pre-dates DOTA 2 and has to be the oldest esports on the list.

Running into 2024, CS still stands as one of the best esports. The fans are extremely passionate about the teams they support, the players themselves are passionate about the game, overall Counter-Strike has now become an experience.

In 2023, Counter-Strike esports saw one of its biggest changes, when it transitioned to the latest iteration - Counter-Strike 2. The latest game in the franchise is an update over Global Offensive which made CS esports what it is today.

Around 1.52M people tuned in to watch Team Vitality and the prodigy Zywoo lift the final CSGO major trophy. It was also the record-setting event for the year.

Counter-Strike also featured the most amount of esports tournaments, comprising the multiple grass-root tournaments. Unfortunately, the biggest downside of CS esports is its europe-centric nature.

But for 2024, Counter-Strike already features two full fledged circuits in BLAST Premier and ESL Premier League. Additionally, Valve has announced two majors in 2024 with the first a few months away.

#2 Mobile Legends

Mobile Legends and PUBG Mobile have been the two frontrunners for Mobile esports. One of the youngest of the five esports in our list, Mobile Legends esports clocked around 5 Million peak viewers for both the major tournaments.

One of the original mobile-MOBA games, Mobile Legends Bang Bang has been a titan in South-East Asian Esports. The game is also the only game to record a minimum 10k viewers for all its events.

The M5 World Championship recorded a peak of 5.06M viewers, with M4 coming in close with another 5M peak viewers. In terms of viewership, Mobile Legends dominates the other esports on the list.

For 2024, Mobile Legends already features a $3M prizepool MLBB midseason cup hosted in Riyadh. The year also features a women-only MLBB Women's Championship with $500K prizepool followed by a the M6 World Championship.

#1 League of Legends

Riot Games’ MOBA League of Legends has been one of the biggest for the year, in terms of average prizepool, viewership numbers, and production quality.

For being an esport for 11 years, LoL has been going strong. The year-end Worlds 2023 featured New Jeans as an opening act. The opening act itself reflects the scale of esports - and specifically League.

The tournament also recorded an all time peak viewership of  6.4M making it the biggest esports event of the year. LoL esports moreover had a significant average prizepool throughout all the events.

With Riot’s experience in creating amazing experiences, all the four leagues delivered in a great way. The fans also chimed in to support their team at multiple times throughout the year.

Worlds 2023 was also selected as the Esports tournament of the year by Esports Awards and Best Esports Event at the Game Awards.

The 2024 season for LoL Esports is already underway. With the LEC recording a peak viewership of 700K just last week. The LCK CL, a tier-two tournament also recorded a peak of around 150K. Needless to day, LoL esports is set for another great year.

How did we decide on the Rankings?

For the rankings, we took into consideration the production quality of the events, the average prizepool and the peak viewership.

The average prizepool gives insights on the marketability of the esport, and talks about how the esports title as a whole functions and not just the biggest tournament.

The peak viewership on the other hand, is a count of the potential market for the esport and it directly influences the value for the upcoming year.

Additionally, viewership is assigned a higher weightage compared to the prizepool. As esports like Counter-Strike and Valorant, feature multiple smaller scale tournaments which do not necessarily attract sponsors.

The following is our list of the Top 5 Esports of 2023.

Note: The following data is procured by Esports Charts (escharts.com)

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Featured Image Credits: Riot Games

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