EWC x FC 24 maintains new game's stable viewership run as jafonsogv emerges as surprise winner

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Esports World Cup 2024 for EA Sports FC concluded on August 18 at the Qiddiya Arena near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event maintained the game's steady competitive growth since its release last year by almost doing as well as its inaugural world championship, the FC Pro 24 World Championship, in terms of peak concurrent viewers.

This $1 million tournament got together the world's 16 best players who were either invited, came through performances at major events, or progressed via qualifiers. After days of four intense battles, jafonsogv emerged as the winner, beating Brazil's Young to take home $300,000. It was a fairytale run for the Portuguese pro, who came all the way from the Last Chance Qualifier to ultimately win the entire thing in dominant fashion.

Jafonsogv came all the way from the Last Chance Qualifier to clinch the EWC x FC 24 title (Image via Esports World Cup on X)

The EWC x EA Sports FC registered 108K Peak Viewers during the Playoffs Semifinals between home favorite AbuMakkah and Young. It was the only game to cross into three figures, led by a partisan crowd cheering on its hero, who was looking for his first major global trophy.

EWC x FC 24 – basic viewership stats and most popular matches

Interestingly, the Grand Final was only the third-most-popular game, with the second spot going to the lone Group Stage representative, the Pool B clash between Vejrgang and Msdossary. The latter is the reigning world champion, so his clash with the latter, another home hero, was much anticipated by fans.

The two didn't disappoint, playing out a thrilling series that went 3:2 to the crowd favorite, much to the delight of Saudi viewers. More crucially, this was the last round in their group, and although Vejrgang was through to the Playoffs, Msdossary still had a chance to reach the Resurrection Stage with a win, provided other results also went his way.

Unfortunately, while he held up his end of the bargain, the scorelines in the other games didn't favor Msdossary, who was knocked out at the Group Stage. Nevertheless, such brilliant action and the performances of players from football-loving nations helped this EA Sports FC tournament notch 1.14M Hours Watched and 43.3K Average Viewers over an airtime of 27 hours.

Virtual simulation games are a big draw among Arabic viewers, as seen above

Unsurprisingly, with two home representatives to cheer on, Arabic ended as the most-watched language at the EWC x FC 24. It outperformed English, the next-best entry, by over 10%, with the most popular individual channel coming from this community in the form of we11y, who was also the most-watched individual channel at this tournament.

Portuguese was the only other language to pass 10% in cumulative HW shares. It helped that three of the eight Playoffs participants were Portuguese-speaking, with all three making the Semifinals and both finalists coming from this community.

These communities were the driving forces in the EWC x FC 24 almost matching the viewership statistics of the game's inaugural world championship. It did just 5.3% and 5.29% worse in terms of HW and PV, respectively, continuing the decent start the new title has had to its competitive journey this year.

Most popular FC 24 events in 2024

As a result, this EWC 2024 competition finished as the third most popular one in the game this year. The record-setting FC Pro 24 Open remains at the top by this metric, having also emerged as the most-watched FIFA / EA Sports FC event in the esports scene's history.

To summarise, the new game has reached a level of viewership not seen in any previous iterations, with 2024 proving to be especially lucrative. Hence, fans will be waiting with bated breath for the new season, and they will hope and expect positive changes that take EA Sports FC to newer heights.