This spring's ALGS tournament series has caused the best regional teams to meet each other in online tournaments. Upon it's end we now have the first ranking of the competitive system. Europe and North America became the most popular regions. But which of them has climbed to the very top?
At first, EA planned to carry out large-scale majors, but this venture was prevented by the coronavirus pandemic. This has caused the organizers to switch to the online format of tournaments for each respective region. A total of six tournaments took place within the Apex Legends Global Series Online. Based on their results, a ranking table of participants (with invitations to the World Cup) was formed. It largely resembles a system akin to the Dota Pro Circuit one.
It's worth starting with the individual results of Europe and America. In case of the “Old World”, the ALGS Online Tournament #3 EU became the most popular one based on all key indicators – with 61 thousand peak viewers and 46 thousand average viewers. On the other hand, the second tournament had the least number of views. The fifth event of the European series was only slightly behind it.
The last championship in the North American competition series was the most distinguished, being watched by 63 thousand average viewers, with a total of 226 thousand Hours Watched. Still, the things here weren't as obvious as in Europe, seeing how the ALGS Online Tournament # 3 NA got the 1st spot in the peak viewers-based popularity ranking, having gathered 81 thousand viewers.
Overall, following the American tournament series we can see quite some variety in the results. The popularity has continued to decline from the 3rd till the 5th tournament – but already at the ALGS Online Tournament # 6 NA the entirety of indicators went through the roof, compared to the previous event.
When comparing the regions to each other, it can be said with confidence that North America is the most popular region in Apex Legends. The indicators of the American tournament have about a third more viewers.
In part, the participants of the championships are to blame. ALGS Online NA brings together the strongest regional teams for the battle royale as a genre, as well as for the shooters in general: Team SoloMid, Team Liquid, Complexity Gaming and NRG Esports. Foreign organizations, such as GODSENT, also have USA rosters.
Among the European teams, Alliance and Virtus.pro (which features Scandinavians in its roster) are worth noting. Representing the CIS (the players from which aren't that interested in the activities related to Apex Legends) were Natus Vincere and Gambit Esports. Would the inclusion of a team like Fnatic or G2 be of a big help for the region? Who knows.
All in all, it can be understood that, despite not being among the world's top disciplines, Apex Legends still sparks the viewer interest. It is mostly followed in the region obsessed with shooters: North America.
