This week saw the MSI 2018 League of Legends final pull in more than 127 million viewers, Epic Games puts forward $100 million for tournaments in the 2019 Fortnite season, and Aston Villa football club hosts a FIFA 16 tournament.
Aston Villa FIFA 18
Aston Villa Football Club teamed up with the European Gaming League (EGL) to launch a FIFA 18 tournament for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners. Seven weekly qualifier tournaments will be held with the objective of earning the most Pro Points in-game. Said points will be awarded based on the number of matches won. Those who fail to earn enough will be entered into the elimination tournament for the last chance at making it through to the final.
Those who make it through the qualifiers will play in elimination rounds to take on the last chance elimination tournament winner for a chance at taking home a stake in the Aston Villa FC prize pool.
Epic Fortnite prize pool
Fortnite is huge, and Epic Games has made a killing from its highly successful title, which shot up in popularity with the launch of the free battle royale mode. To showcase just how much money is being raised from Fortnite, Epic Games will be providing competitive tournaments with $100 million. That's no typo. Epic Games is putting forward $100 million for the yearly prize pool, which will be shared among tournaments.
In the 2018 to 2019 season, Epic Games will provide $100,000,000 to fund prize pools for Fortnite competitions. We're getting behind competitive play in a big way, but our approach will be different. We plan to be more inclusive and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game. Stay tuned for more details about competitive structures and eligible platforms in the weeks ahead!
If you've yet to pick up the game and start playing, this may be the final push you need to get started.
127 million watch MSI LoL final
According to statistics released by Esports Charts, the final to MSI 2018 saw more than 127 million people tune into the final. What makes these League of Legends numbers so interesting is 126 million viewers were from China. Some dispute these figures, pointing to bots and previous instances where said numbers were inflated.
Even more mind-blowing is the total number of hours viewed, totaling 2 billion.
Rainbow Six esports continues to grow
We can't wait to visit Rio de Janeiro! pic.twitter.com/f3NLdcpp3mWe can't wait to visit Rio de Janeiro! pic.twitter.com/f3NLdcpp3m— ESL Rainbow Six (@ESLRainbowSix) May 24, 2018May 24, 2018
This past weekend's Season 7 finals of the Rainbow Six Pro League saw yet another strong showing for Ubisoft's flagship esports title. Not only did the finals in Atlantic City supply a shock ending, with Team Liquid defeating the seemingly unbeatable Penta, but the tournament produced strong viewing figures.
As reported by Esports Charts, the Pro League finals peaked at 244,067 views with a 148,239 peak on the English stream, and 175,005 on the Twitch stream. All told there were over 3 million views on Twitch, and almost 3 million hours watched. More remarkable, still, is that the Rainbow Six Siege finals easily attracted a higher audience than the CS:GO Pro League finals, which were broadcast through Facebook.
Rainbow Six esports is on the up and up and the details for Season 8 were announced alongside the latest in-game content, Operation Para Bellum. The grand finals will move away from the United States and instead move to Rio de Janeiro in November. Team Liquid was the first LATAM team to win the Pro League, as well as hailing from Brazil.
Next up for Rainbow Six is a stop at Dreamhack Valencia in July, where one of the prizes on offer is a wildcard spot at the Paris Major, taking place in August.
Upcoming live events
- Call of Duty Pro League - May 29 - May 31, watch on Twitch
