EWC 2025 x ALGS: 2025 Midseason Playoffs: how collaboration fuelled growth for the EWC
The Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) changed its format significantly for its Year 5 (2025/2026) events, including a new collaborative event with the Esports World Cup. By partnering with the official esports circuit for its Apex Legends tournament, the EWC enjoyed significant year-on-year growth for its Apex Legends viewership and reached a wider fan base of esports viewers.
The ALGS: 2025 Midseason Playoffs was integrated into the EWC to replace the stand-alone Esports World Cup Apex Legends event which ran last year. It was the second interregional LAN of the year, following on from the ALGS: 2025 Open. While the Midseason Playoffs saw viewership increase across both Average Viewers (AV) and Peak Viewers (PV) compared to the Open, its shorter broadcasting time limited its Hours Watched (HW) potential.
The ALGS: 2025 Midseason Playoffs accumulated 3.15M Hours Watched. While the tournament’s peak concurrent viewership increased only slightly compared to the Open, its result of 126.8K AV marked a sizable 17% increase over the Open: tighter schedules in esports can often result in an AV increase, with viewers excited and full-of-energy for the action.
In our recent EWC Valorant article, we discussed how lack of community engagement and official support are two of the biggest challenges facing new tournaments. The ALGS: 2025 Midseason Playoffs is a testament to how the EWC can best connect with the existing esports fan base of the title. Contrary to the 2024 iteration of the Esports World Cup, the new Midseason Playoffs were broadcast on both EWC and ALGS official channels, drawing significant viewership.
On top of English-language viewership from the official Apex channels, Japanese broadcaster RAGE contributed significantly to the total watch time. Compared to the EWC 2024, this year’s event saw over 117% more broadcasters cover the tournament.
Comparing the collaborative event to last year’s Esports World Cup, viewership increased across all major metrics for the Midseason Playoffs. Hosting this event at their summer festival has undoubtedly been a win for the Esports World Cup, who are now integrated into the official Apex Legends circuit: the EWC 2024 invited teams through the official Apex Legends leagues, but did not offer any Championship Points.
China’s VK Gaming was the ultimate victor of the playoffs, taking home $600,000 of the total $2M prize pool for first place, 3,000 Championship Points for the ALGS, and also 1,000 Club Points for the EWC 2025 Club Championship.
The ALGS teams will have a break from competition until the end of August, when Split 2 for the ALGS Pro Leagues kicks off. The season will conclude with the ALGS: 2026 Championship in January, once again returning to Sapporo, Japan, where it sold out the venue last year.
