The esports industry broke plenty of records in 2025. Across some of the world’s most popular games, tournaments set new overall records, platforms reached new heights, and an entry made it to the Guinness World Records. Taking a look back over a year of esports, Esports Charts highlights some tournaments that set new records.
The BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 was the first Counter-Strike 2 Major of 2025 and the first CS Major held on United States soil in seven years. The tournament did not see a home team claim the title, as happened at the previous US Major, the ELEAGUE Major 2018, but plenty of English-language viewers still supported the tournament. Just before the grand finals, it became the most-watched Counter-Strike tournament ever and concluded with over 76.1M Hours Watched. 
Concerning another tactical shooter, YouTube also reached a new Valorant esports peak during the Valorant Champions 2025 tournament. The year-end event earned a record-setting portion of its viewership through YouTube, which is gaining ground as an esports broadcasting platform in many games.
Over in League of Legends, the LCK 2025 Season set a record for most-watched circuit or league event, excluding major internationals like Worlds or the MSI. This was largely enabled by the new, year-long format for the LCK, replacing its previous three splits. The first of its kind, the LCK 2025 Season received over 161M Hours Watched as a single tournament.
Staying with League of Legends, the 2025 World Championship set multiple language records food esports. Worlds 2025 reached a new Korean and Vietnamese language peaks for esports, as well as hitting highs for other demographics. Although the event could not overcome the record-holding peak of Worlds 2024, Korean and Vietnamese audiences turned up in never-before-seen amounts for the event.
A less typical esports title, Minecraft reached its first-ever 1M+ peak viewership for the Twitch Rivals Squid Craft Games 4 (Survival Cup). The tournament’s participants included some of Spain and Latin America’s most popular streamers, and the combined forces of these creators were enough to reach a new all-time high for a competitive Minecraft event. Twitch Rivals have long been some Minecraft’s most popular events, and this is unlikely to change in the future.
Similarly unlikely to change, the MPL Indonesia continued as the world’s favourite mobile gaming esports circuit. The top-level league competition for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is highly popular among esports fans locally, and it also receives strong international attention. For the year’s first split, the MPL Indonesia Season 15, TikTok esports fans reached a new peak of over 1.53M Peak Viewers, with the platform gaining ground within esports broadcasting.
The 33rd Southeast Asian Games - Men event for Arena of Valor was also highly popular, setting a new viewership record for the game. The title has continued to persist throughout a continuously more competitive scene, and despite the new mobile gaming esports titles popping up, Arena of Valor continued to reach new heights.
Plenty of events broke records as new games, platforms, and global peaks were reached in 2025. While by no means an extensive list, these were some of the highlights of the year. For 2026, the world’s major titles, LoL, CS2, and more, will all be trying to reach new heights yet again. Some of the first events of the year are already gearing up; stay updated and informed on the esports scene with Esports Charts.
Detailed Esports data at your fingertips.
Subscribe to & start exploring!
