RLCS 2022-23 - Regional 1 Winter Open recap: standings, regions, most watched teams

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The 12th season of the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS 2022-23) has concluded its Regional 1 Winter Open. Since Fall 2022, the top 16 Rocket League teams have been competing to qualify for the World Championship. During each split, they battle for RLCS Points, determining their ranking within their regions.

Gen.G Mobil1 Racing won the Fall split, cementing itself as the number-one team in North America. This success has continued throughout the Winter Open. The team has gained 20 RLCS Points, followed by Complexity Gaming at 16 points. Karmine Corp is sitting at the top of Europe’s leaderboard. 

In South America, Team Secret is ahead of its competitors. Ground Zero Gaming takes the lead in Oceania, and Team Falcons is excelling in the MENA region. Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa are led by DeToNator and Limitless, respectively. However, the latter still hasn’t qualified for the World Championship. Eight teams have qualified so far, five of which are from NA and EU.

EU and NA are the dominating regions in terms of viewership popularity, too. Europe’s most popular match has attracted nearly 170,000 Peak Viewers. Similarly, over 110,000 PV tuned in to watch NA’s teams. Other regions have reached less than half of that in peak viewership.

In Europe, it’s especially Karmine Corp and Vitality that have gained much attention. Both of these French teams have attracted more than 100,000 Average Viewers during their games. Moreover, the EU Winter Open finale between the two was the most-watched match of the tournament. 

NA’s teams are almost equally popular among Rocket League fans. FURIA has the highest Average Viewers by a small margin. Interestingly, the final wasn’t the most popular game in this region. Instead, NRG’s and G2’s face-off on Day 2 of the tournament attracted the highest Concurrent Viewership.

In both regions, viewership is rising. EU’s Winter Open featured nearly 100,000 Average Viewers, while this number was at 72,000 during the previous RLCS tournament. The same trend can be observed for NA, where peak viewership reached a new high in the RLCS 2022-23. Such growth can be partially traced back to Rocket League esports, allowing community casting of its events. Some Rocket League teams, including Karmine Corp and Moist Esports, are also owned by notable streamers. Rocket League esports gains increased attention as these owners, Kamet0 and MoistCr1TiKaL, co-stream their teams’ matches. 

The RCLS 2022-23 will continue at the end of February with its Winter Invitational. Although some teams are decisive leaders in their region, the second half of the series might still show surprising results.