EWC ranks among CrossFire's most successful events thanks to Arabic fans

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CrossFire was one of the last events at the recent Esports World Cup 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Having replaced the shooter's official mid-season invitational, it ended as one of the game's most successful events ever, helped by a passionate home audience.

CrossFire at the Esports World Cup 2025 was held over five days, bringing together the 16 best teams from around the world. Apart from carrying a massive prize pool of $2 million, the highest this title's competitive segment has ever seen, there was the small matter of settling the lucrative Club Championship table.

China maintained its dominance of the game's esports scene, with the top three sides — and five of the top eight — coming from this nation. The Grand Final was played between All Gamers and Baisha Gaming, with the former clinching its second championship of the EWC 2025 with a narrow 3:2 victory.

  CrossFire at the Esports World Cup 2025 – basic viewership stats and most popular matches   

Chinese teams sweeping such a lucrative global event was expected, as the Central Asian country is the fast-paced, free-to-play first-person shooter's biggest market. However, none of the playoff games made it to the tournament's five most popular meetings list. The top entry was the Group C Decider Match between Baisha Gaming and Team Falcons on Day 3, which peaked at 29,855 live viewers.

Team Falcons, in fact, was part of three of the five entries on this top-five table for this CrossFire competition. Its Group Stage games against Baisha Gaming and Inner Circle Esports finished in the second and fourth spots, with each crossing the 20,000 Peak Viewers (PV) mark.

  All Gamers became one of the few orgs to claim multiple wins at the EWC 2025 with a win in CrossFire (Image via EWC)   

Massive support from home fans for Team Falcons was the biggest story from this tournament. The Saudi Arabian organization came into the final Week of the EWC 2025 with a slender 500-point lead over Team Liquid in the Club Championship table. With its team participating in all three events of Week 7, the pressure was on to deliver strong performances and secure a second-straight Club Championship trophy.

Despite the backing of their adoring home fans, the CrossFire side couldn’t advance past the Group Stage. It beat Inner Circle Esports in the Elimination Match but fell to BaiSha Gaming, ultimately exiting the tournament.

 Most-watched sides at the Esports World Cup 2025 for CrossFire    

Arabic hit a new viewership high in competitive CrossFire, reaching 18,536 PV, a massive leap of 22232%. English also touched a new peak live viewership milestone of 4,041 live spectators.

The nearly 30,000 PV that the Esports World Cup 2025 for CrossFire hit put it as the game's second-most popular tournament ever. Only the CrossFire Stars 2024, considered its World Championship, did better, and remains the sole event in the shooter's history to break the 30,000 peak concurrent viewers barrier.

  Most popular CrossFire tournaments   

The EWC 2025 x CrossFire's 392,955 Hours Watched (HW) also put it among the FPS' top three competitions by watch time. Moreover, with the Arabic fans' record-breaking interest acting as the fuel, it ended as the game's most consistently watched event, becoming the first to cross 6,000 Average Viewers (AV).

  Most watched CrossFire events   

Despite some achievements, CrossFire drew the lowest audience numbers among all Esports World Cup 2025 competitions. However, as a niche title attracting this level of attention for the first time, its viewership figures were still respectable.

Club Championship update

The EWC 2025 Club Championship was eventually retained by Team Falcons. The Saudi Arabian esports organization finished third in the Counter-Strike competition to seal the trophy, although it would have won even with zero points accrued in Week 7, as Team Liquid was unable to add to its tally.

Team Falcons accumulated 5,200 points overall, but what came to the fore was its consistency. Having entered teams in almost all 25 events, it scored points from 12 of these, including a championship win in Overwatch 2. This helped it become richer by $7 million.

Team Liquid finished second on the Club Championship leaderboard for a second straight year, pocketing $4 million. Interestingly, the Dutch esports organization had three championship wins to Team Falcons' one, with Twisted Minds and AG.AL International also clinching more trophies than the eventual winner.