Overwatch Champions Series 2025 World Finals ends as game's most popular event in two years

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The Overwatch Champions Series 2025 World Finals, held as part of DreamHack Stockholm, concluded on November 30. Riding on the increased exposure that comes from associating with the DreamHack series, it ended as the game's most popular competition in two years.

This top-tier event for Overwatch 2 brought together the world's best 12 sides as they battled for the title of world champion. It also carried a substantial prize pool of $3 million, one of the highest in the multiplayer first-person shooters' lengthy esports history.

The Grand Final between Twisted Minds and Al Qadsiah was the most popular at the 2025 World Finals, peaking at 177,010 viewers. This made it the game's most popular tournament since the 2023 Overwatch World Cup, while the 4.3 million Hours Watched (HW) was the shooter's most in two years.

  OWCS 2025 World Final – basic viewership stats and most popular matches   

After five days of non-stop action, Twisted Minds beat Al Qadsiah 4:1 in an all-Saudi Arabian Grand Final to clinch its biggest win ever. It was a topsy-turvy trip to the world title for the team, which included a loss in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals and a journey through the elimination bracket to the deciding match.

Saudi Arabian sides were especially popular among fans, with every entry on the top five most popular matches list (apart from the Showmatch) featuring at least one side from the Kingdom. This also meant that the Arabic language enjoyed massive spikes of 352% and 169% in its HW and PV numbers, respectively, compared to the Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Finals.

  Most popular Overwatch 2 events since 2023   

While the hype surrounding DreamHack Stockholm helped bring more eyeballs to the Overwatch Champions Series 2025 World Finals, another big reason for it hitting the game's best viewership for two years was the involvement of community streamers. Compared to the 2024 edition, it attracted over 40 more channels, including popular creators in the game like Abdulaziz "owbrain" Almehmadi, Waleed "w1llyv" Alshamali and Sean "ta1yo_tv" Henderson, each of whom ended among the most successful co-casters.

With Saudi Arabian streamers dominating Kick's viewership numbers as they followed their representatives all the way to the Grand Final, it benefited massively from the success of these teams. As a result, it finished as the second-most-watched platform at this Overwatch competition, picking up a significant 13% share of the overall pie.

  Kick was a big benefactor this year after not even being on the platforms list in 2024   

Viewership rewards, a highly useful means to attract higher engagement from fans, also played their part in the success of this Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) event. Audiences could lay their hands on a variety of in-game prizes like loot boxes, victory icons, skins, charms, name cards and sprays, with those attending the tournament in-person also earning some of these items.

Overwatch's viewership might have peaked in the late 2010s, when it was arguably the most popular shooter in the esports scene, but it has shown signs of stability over the last few years. While the livestreaming figures might not be as high as a few years back, recent global events have shown that with the right structure and support, the title can still attract a healthy number of fans.

Overwatch esports gets bigger and bolder in 2026

Alongside the world championship, the organizers — ESL, Blizzard Entertainment and FACEIT — also revealed what's in store for fans next year. The OWCS 2026 season will run alongside the Overwatch World Cup, delivering top-tier global competition for fans everywhere.

  Almost all the new partner teams were revealed (Image via Overwatch Esports)   

The new season will begin with regional stages across China, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Asia. Each stage will crown its top teams, who will then qualify for a global live event to compete for glory, their piece of the crowdfunded prize pool, and the title of OWCS champion.

The official Partner Program will be expanded from nine teams to eleven while adding OWCS China teams for the upcoming year. Further details were disclosed, but the organizers noted that everything will be shared later on each OWCS regional channel for NA, EMEA, Asia, and China.