Serral’s victory and StarCraft II’s revival: Highlights from the Esports World Cup 2025

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In mid-July, the world’s top StarCraft II players met in Riyadh to compete for the Esports World Cup 2025 title. The clash between Korean legends and European giants once again swung in favor of Europe, with Finland’s Joona “Serral” Sotala — widely regarded as one of the best Zerg players in recent years — claiming the championship.

But Serral’s victory wasn’t the only highlight. The tournament itself delivered standout viewership numbers, marking a level of fan interest in StarCraft II that hasn’t been seen in years.

Serral / Photo: EWC

StarCraft II is one of the longest-standing esports titles in the industry and remains one of the few single-player games still featured in competitive play. While it’s no secret that the RTS genre peaked years ago — overshadowed by team shooters, battle royales, and MOBAs — that doesn’t mean the StarCraft II community has disappeared. The 2025 Esports World Cup was a powerful reminder of its enduring passion and presence.

This year’s StarCraft II tournament at the 2025 Esports World Cup introduced a new format. The organizers dropped the cumbersome Relegation Match system in favor of a more traditional structure: group stage followed by a playoff bracket. While the number of players stayed the same, the streamlined format made the tournament easier to follow.

The StarCraft II tournament at the 2025 Esports World Cup generated a total of 1.4 million Hours Watched — a 16.4% increase over last year’s event. That’s an impressive achievement, especially given that the new format shortened the tournament’s runtime from 49 to 34 hours. Despite having less airtime, overall viewership rose — a testament to the dedication and engagement of the fanbase.

Compared to the 2024 Esports World Cup, this year’s StarCraft II tournament saw a 64.8% jump in average viewership and a 31.3% increase in peak concurrent viewers. The most-watched match was the grand final between Serral and Korean veteran Kim “Classic” Doh-woo, which ended in a 5:2 victory for the Finnish star. Their showdown drew 79,984 concurrent viewers — the highest for a StarCraft II event since the IEM Katowice in January 2021.

Several factors contributed to the surge in viewership at the 2025 Esports World Cup. For one, the number of broadcast channels doubled compared to last year. More importantly, Korean fans showed a massive uptick in engagement — Korean-language streams accounted for 32% of total watch hours, up from just 4.8% the year before. Platform-wise, the Korean streaming service CHZZK outperformed YouTube and secured the second spot behind Twitch in total hours watched.

But it wasn’t just Korean viewers driving the tournament’s growth. Audience numbers also rose on the official EWC channels on Twitch and YouTube, and for the first time, the event was streamed on Kick as well.

The 2025 Esports World Cup emerged as the most popular StarCraft II tournament in recent years. That said, its numbers still look relatively modest compared to other championships. For a deeper comparison of the tournaments in the series, you can check out this page.