FFWS 2023 becomes Free Fire’s most popular competition of the year
The Free Fire World Series 2023 concluded on November 26, with Magic Squad clinching the title after about two weeks of intense action. Driven by some samba magic at the summit and elsewhere in the top ten, it became, by far, the most popular Free Fire tournament of 2023 and the third-most watched one in the series.
Driven by consistent performances through all three stages of the competition, Magic Squad capped off a wonderful nine days by topping the Grand Finals points table with a lead of 17 points to emerge as the world champion. The Brazilian side was the only one to get three Booyahs in the last stage, taking home $300K out of a total prize pool of $1M.
The Free Fire World Series 2023 recorded 569.8K Peak Viewers during the final round of the Grand Finals when it was finally decided who would walk away as the competition winner. Magic Squad ended as the only side to hit three figures for total points, only once finishing outside the top three across the six rounds in this stage.
As a result of the team's winning run, and the participation of two other regional sides in LOUD and MIBR, Portuguese ended as the most watched and popular language. In fact, only Vietnamese came close to the numbers posted by this European/LATAM language, and fans from these two regions were a major reason that this Free Fire event registered 6.5M Hours Watched and 187.3K Average Viewers over 35 hours of airtime.
Compared to the previous iteration — the Free Fire World Series 2022 Bangkok — both languages saw massive spikes in viewership. Portuguese grew by 552% and 275.8% in terms of watch time and popularity, respectively, while the corresponding increases for Vietnamese were even better at 1824.3% and 553%.
It helped that both regions had an extra team representing it at this year's event, although Portuguese-speaking audiences still had three teams to cheer last time thanks to one side coming from Portugal. What did help, apart from the astonishing run of Magic Squad, was the presence of LOUD, perhaps the most popular and followed esports organization in Brazil across disciplines today.
TRÊS VEZES @magicsquad_gg, É O BOOYAH DO CAMPEÃO, JOGARAM DEMAIS, HISTÓRICO!
— Free Fire Esports Brasil (@FFesportsBR) November 26, 2023
A TAÇA VAI VOLTAR PRA CASA TROPA ???????????? pic.twitter.com/hillYqmMSL
In Vietnam's case at the previous edition, its teams had poor runs, finishing in the 12th and 15th spots, quickly reducing interest levels among a fanbase known to be passionate about Free Fire and the sides that represent it in this game competitively. However, in 2023, one of its representatives, WAG, finished all the way up in fifth, helping pull in a lot more viewers from the region.
Another important point to note is the fact that these two regions made up 32 out of 93 pros across teams to be participating in the Free Fire World Series 2023. This was a huge 34% of the overall numbers, with only Indonesians (18 out of 93) beating them individually, and this was another reason that so many fans tuned in to catch the action live.
Coming to tournament comparisons, this event ended as the most popular across the discipline in 2023, doing almost 187% better than the next-best entry. Unsurprisingly, most of the names on this list are Brazilian-based, proving once again why it might be the most important region for Free Fire across the world. Certainly when it comes to viewership numbers and the sheer volume of fans who love the game.
Moreover, when considering this series, which started in 2019, the Free Fire World Series 2023 ended as the third-most viewed out of five. The leader remains the record-breaking Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore, which until very recently was the most popular esports competition ever. That record was beaten by the League of Legends World Championship 2023, which hit over 6M PV during its Grand Final, and interested readers who want to read about how it managed to hit such a staggering number can head here.
The Free Fire esports season for 2023 has signed off on a positive note, and considering the changes introduced for the season, Garena will be happy with how it has all gone. The next year will bring renewed hopes and events for professional players and fans to dig their teeth into, but for now, congratulations to Magic Squad for its scintillating win in Bangkok.
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