Gotaga's team helps Stage 1 Major Qualifiers end as CDL's most-watched event

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The qualifiers for the newest Call of Duty League season's first Major has ended, and it has created quite the buzz. With the Major to be hosted by Toronto Ultra in Madrid — the series' first jaunt to Europe since the inaugural season in 2020 — the qualifying segment ended as the series' most popular one.

The new CDL season has a few changes from 2024, with the biggest being the addition of the online Minor Tournaments. These 12-team, single-elimination competitions will be held over three days in the middle of the Qualifiers for Majors I and II, aiming to add some extra excitement to the online portion of proceedings. Minor Tournament I will be seeded by the standings after the first two weeks of the CDL Regular Season, while Minor Tournament II will be seeded by the standings after Major I concludes in Spain.

  OpTic Texas won its second Major in three outings after breaking its two-year drought last year (Image via OpTic on X)   

Regarding their importance, each Minor Tournament will carry a $20,000 winner-takes-all prize pool and valuable Call of Duty League points on offer. The team in first place will receive 30 CDL Points, the second spot will get 20 CDL Points, and the third/fourth positions will earn 10 CDL Points. These points will be used for Postseason seeding only, not Major Tournament seeding, although they can still make a difference during the Postseason cutoff.

  Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major Qualifiers – basic viewership stats and most popular matches   

The Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major Qualifiers registered 208,042 Peak Viewers (PV) during the Week 2, Day 2 battle between Los Angeles Guerrillas M8 and OpTic Texas. It was not surprising, as this was a battle between the game's most popular team and a team in a new avatar.

Gentle Mates, whose CEO and co-founder is the famous French streamer Gotaga, entered the circuit by acquiring the existing franchise Los Angeles Guerrillas. As a result, it would no doubt bring along its legions of fans who support the organization no matter what title it is playing.

This was also the highest peak concurrent viewership number by any CDL Major qualifier tournament. It was also only the second such competition after the Call of Duty League 2023: Stage 3 Major Qualifiers to pass the 200,000 PV mark.

As mentioned, Gotaga's presence was vital, helping French finish as the second-most watched language in the overall HW pie. The former Call of Duty pro even ended as the most popular channel at this event ahead of scump, who rarely finishes as second-best when it comes to co-casters.

Gotaga's coverage of the Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major Qualifiers also helped make his team the most popular by average online viewership. This was despite Los Angeles Guerrillas M8's middling displays that resulted in a 2:5 final score and just 20 CDL points collected.

  Most popular Call of Duty League qualifier tournaments   

Most impressively, the qualifiers of the season's first Major finished as the CDL's most-watched competition ever after notching over 6.5 million Hours Watched (HW). In the process, it became the first one to pass the six million HW milestone, helped by the combination of the actual online Major and its Minor.

  Most watched Call of Duty League events   

The significant changes for 2025 are already proving to be a hit among audiences of COD, led by the introduction of more teams from across the Atlantic thanks to the removal of franchise entry fees. Apart from Gentle Mates, the CDL also witnessed Team Falcons join prominent brands like Optic, Cloud9, Team Heretics, FaZe Clan, 100 Thieves, and G2 Esports, making it quite the attraction for a more global audience.