Top esports leagues and tournaments, February 2025

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In February, the usual trio of Counter-Strike, League of Legends, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang remained dominant, but this time, Valorant joined the ranks. With the first regional tournaments wrapping up and the VCT Masters season kicking off, Riot’s shooter secured its place among the month’s biggest esports titles.

While the grand finals of several major esports events were held in the first weekend of March, February was still packed with high-profile tournaments. The second month of the year saw two events surpass the 1 million peak viewers mark, while January’s record-holder came close to hitting 2 million.

For the second month in a row, the LCK Cup 2025 was the most popular tournament, but this time, it shattered expectations. The event saw a staggering 74% increase in viewership compared to January, peaking at 1.9 million concurrent viewers during the showdown between T1 and Hanwha Life Esports. This match was one of the tournament’s defining moments, as the reigning world champions were eliminated, while HLE powered through the playoffs and ultimately secured the trophy. It was the second-highest peak viewership in LCK history.

Read also: IEM Katowice 2025 becomes the most popular non-Major tournament in Counter-Strike history

IEM Katowice 2025 secured the second spot in the rankings, with Team Vitality claiming their first-ever Katowice title. With the addition of Robin “ropz” Kool, Vitality dismantled the reigning Major champions, Team Spirit, in the grand final, sending a clear message that they are serious contenders for the title of the world’s best team after a lackluster previous season. The tournament also dominated English-language esports broadcasts, with 44% of the final’s viewers tuning in to English streams.

The Asia-Pacific finals of Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 secured the third spot, drawing an impressive peak of 1.15 million concurrent viewers. The demand for top-tier MLBB action was undeniable, as mobile esports fans eagerly tuned in ahead of the upcoming MPL seasons. With regular-season matches just around the corner, MPL is poised to shape MLBB’s viewership trends in the months to come.

Read also: Snapdragon Pro Series Season continues to push MLBB to new viewership heights

LEC Winter 2025 and VCT Masters Bangkok 2025 claimed the fourth and fifth spots, with their peak concurrent viewership nearly half that of the third-place event. While their most pivotal matches took place in March, both tournaments still delivered strong viewership numbers throughout February.

As noted earlier, IEM Katowice was the undisputed leader in the English-language esports scene, drawing 74% more viewers than the LCK Cup. Interestingly, it wasn’t a European or North American event but a Korean League of Legends tournament that ranked so high. This highlights a key trend: English-speaking audiences tend to gravitate toward the most competitive and high-level regions rather than solely supporting their home teams.

While the season’s final Rainbow Six tournament didn’t break into the top five in overall viewership, the Six Invitational 2025 proved highly popular among English-speaking audiences, drawing more viewers than Valorant championships.

In February, IEM Katowice dominated the Twitch scene, with three top channels covering the tournament, two in English and one in Russian.

French viewers were also notably engaged, closely following Karmine Corp's triumphant run in LEC Winter with great enthusiasm. The most popular match in February was the upper bracket final, where KC suffered a tough loss to G2 Esports. However, that defeat only fueled their determination. In the decisive March matchups, KC pulled off a heroic win against Fnatic before avenging their loss to G2 in the grand final. Now, for the first time, the team will represent the region at the international tournament First Stand 2025, which kicks off this coming Monday.

February also saw a surge of hype around Los Ratones, a star-studded team assembled by top LoL co-caster Marc "Caedrel" Lamont. The team’s victory in NLC Winter 2025 garnered significant attention, with its peak viewership even surpassing major leagues like LTA, LCP, and LPL.