In a retrospective of the esports events of 2023, the Counter-Strike scene remains vibrant despite the release of a new game by Valve, which did not reach the popularity levels of its predecessors from the late 2010s and early pandemic. Nevertheless, the game continues to attract audience attention, defying predictions of its decline due to the rise of Valorant and the powerful ecosystem of Riot Games.
Last year, Counter-Strike ranked third in terms of viewing hours among all esports disciplines, leaving behind competitors including Valorant and Dota 2. The past year also brought several outstanding tournaments, notably the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, which entered the top-5 in terms of viewing hours and peak audience. The Ukrainian team Monte impressed with its rapid growth, spending the most hours on air among all teams and entering the list of the 15 most popular organizations.
Heroic ranked fifth in viewing hours, thanks in part to their victory at the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023. Following are G2, who surpassed the 40 million viewing hours mark and won two Intel Extreme Masters tournaments. Vitality stood out with significant achievements, ranking third due to outstanding performances at prestigious competitions.
FaZe took second place, playing more games and having more airtime compared to NAVI. These teams also participated in one of the most anticipated matches of the year at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. The most popular esports team of the year was Natus Vincere, partly thanks to the popularity of Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev. NAVI managed to attract significant audience attention despite a challenging year with missed finals in important competitions.
Source: Esports Charts
Comments