Esports is widely recognized as a sport nowadays. As part of that, we can separate esports into various disciplines or in this case, various games or titles that are played. Esports audience in 2025 was forecasted to increase to more than 600 million viewers, which is the number that not a lot of people could imagine a few years back.
What to expect from this article?
When we talk about the biggest esports titles, depending on a region, those titles are different from one region to another and from one player or viewer to another. Some games are popular in some regions, while some games have crazy amounts of prize pools, but are not as watched as other titles. In this article, we will focus on the biggest esports titles globally on two levels – audience (viewers) and player amount in recent years.
The biggest esports titles – by viewership:
1. League Of Legends
Of course, League of Legends takes the number one spot. It is the most popular and watched game in the world, by a mile in almost all regions. League of Legends has been with us for almost 12 years, and they are featuring local leagues on all the biggest continents – Europe, Asia and America. The 2021 World Championship was watched by over 4 million players worldwide, excluding Chinese players, which is the record in the esports world.
2. Dota 2
Dota 2 is the esports title that features the biggest esports event in the world. Dota 2 The International features the biggest prize pool in the esports world, exceeding 40 million $ in 2021. With over 2,2 million viewers during The International (excluding Chinese), Dota 2 has the second largest esports event in the world by viewership.
3. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (now Counter-Strike 2 from September 27th)
Even though CS:GO is a different type of game compared to League of Legends and Dota 2, they’ve managed to achieve consistency within their esport genre. With constant 500,000 to 1,200,000 viewers on their biggest events and Majors, CS:GO is surely one of the most followed and watched esport titles in the world. Some like to call CS:GO the biggest esport title in the world, because of its consistency, and because this title has a global audience and player base, watched and played by millions of players worldwide.
Honorary mentions: Valorant, Fortnite, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, Arena of Valor / Honor of Kings (China)
The biggest esports titles – by number of players:
1. Fortnite
Fortnite is played by all ages and by players in all corners of the world. This PC and mobile game, even if it didn’t have a big esports presence in 2021, still had amazing popularity amongst the players and viewers. It is believed that Fortnite has over 350 million monthly active players, making it one of the most popular games in the world. Even tho Fortnite is not a classic esports game, it’s more focused on fun gaming experiences and aspects, it’s still one of the most popular games in the world, even when we take its tournaments into consideration, that’s why they are number 1 on our list.
2. League Of Legends
On these rankings, League of Legends is number one too, even tho it’s the most popular classic esports game in the world. With over 150 million registered players, League of Legends is played by around 117 million players on a monthly basis in 2021. Those numbers put League of Legends firmly in the top 2 of the list. Even though League of Legends doesn’t have the biggest esports tournaments and prize pools, they are surely charging ahead with their player and viewer statistics.
3. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (now Counter-Strike 2 from September 27th)
As of July 2021, Counter-Strike was played by around 30 million players monthly. CS:GO is specific because no matter the COVID outbreak, CS managed to keep to its roots. Even though CS tournaments weren’t played offline in front of big audiences, big CS:GO tournaments managed to maintain viewership and their sponsors. Not only that, but a lot of new rookie leagues have popped up in 2021. No matter what, CS:GO is and will always remain one of the most popular esports titles in the world and we believe CS:GO esport will continue its exponential growth.
4. Dota 2
The MOBA genre will always be popular. As League of Legends, Dota 2 is often compared to League on a few levels. Dota 2 has the biggest tournament in the world, featuring the biggest prize pool with one of the biggest productions too supported by game creators directly. Dota 2 monthly active users of Dota 2 regularly exceed 7.6 million as Steam data shows. Dota 2 was the 4th most-played game on Steam in 2020.
Honorary mentions: Valorant, PUBG, Arena of Valor / Honor of Kings (China), Call of Duty
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You can check the top 10 highest-viewed esports events of 2022 here.
Esports Charts ranked popular esports games in 2023 by viewership. You can check it out here.
Are you an avid esport fan? We are bringing you an introduction guide for esports gambling here.
