Thunderpick World Championship 2023 gets brand-new series off to solid start

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The Thunderpick World Championship 2023 was conducted between October 27 and November 5 as an online affair. While it did not set the world alight with its viewership stats, it got off to a sedate start, hinting at a possibly entertaining series that pits the best in Europe and the Americas against each other for a week or so every year.

The inaugural event in this series saw FaZe Clan ease past Virtus.pro 2:0 in the Playoffs, Grand Final to come out as the winner. The European organization pocketed half the $500K prize pool while the runner-up got richer by $100K.

  Essential stats and most popular matches from the Thunderpick World Championship 2023   

Thunderpick World Championship 2023 reached 144K Peak Viewers during the Group Stage, Day 5 clash between BIG and FURIA Esports. It was the Decider Match in Group D, with the winner heading to the quarterfinals and the loser going home. The German side held its nerve to win 2:1 and advance, sending its opponents and its legions of fans home unhappy.

Another match between these two also made these the five most popular games list, making them the only two Group Stage games to appear here. BIG won 2:0, and all the action helped this CS2 event hit 3.2M Hours Watched and 37K Average Viewers over 86 hours of airtime.

There was only ever going to be one name to top the rankings for the most popular side in this competition. It was one of the three sides to have two appearances each in the most popular matches table, although there was one side that had three entries.

There was a close fight between the two languages in terms of watch time, but it was English that edged this battle by just 1.08%. There was no such suspense concerning the platform, with Twitch being the overwhelming favorite of viewers to catch the action live.

  Most watched CS2 tournaments with prize pools of $500K or under   

When looking at CS2 competitions with prize pools under $500K, the Thunderpick World Championship 2023 ended as the eighth most watched. The leader in this table is the BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023, while the topper in the overall tournaments table for 2023 is the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.

Come 2024, the discipline enters a new era with the full-fledged adoption of Counter-Strike 2, and it will be interesting to see if the same teams continue to come clutch or if new organizations can make a mark for themselves. For now, readers and fans can marvel at the amazing legacy of CS:GO and head into the new year with infinite memories from one of the most enjoyable and famous esports games ever seen.