Exotic Esports World Championships in 2021/2022

There are many esports disciplines in which regular world championships have already become commonplace. However, sometimes you can also find tournaments for less familiar games, which are often organized by the developers themselves. In this article, Esports Charts will tell you about the largest of such "exotic" championships that have taken place over the past year.

Identity V COAIV Global Finals

The Identity V World Championship with a prize fund of $470K (￥3M) was held from May 1 to May 4, 2021. This mobile game is an asymmetric horror, the gameplay of which resembles Dead By Daylight. The match involves four survivors and one hunter. Survivors need to decipher five cars to open the gate for escape. The goal of the hunter is to capture and execute the survivors. Identity V tournaments have been held since 2019.

Identity V COAIV Global Finals got 629.3K Hours Watched in 41 hours on the air. The tournament had 15.38K Average Viewers and 33.46K Peak Viewers.

SWC2021 World Finals

As part of the Summoners War World Arena Championship 2021 World Finals, eight finalists of the regional qualifiers competed for $ 130K. Summoners War is a mobile turn-based MMO in a fantasy setting. Players fight each other in the World Arena in real time, placing various monsters in their teams.

The SWC2021 World Finals was watched by 68.24K viewers at its peak, and their average number was 52.76K. More than 369K HW were generated in just seven hours on the air. More information about the statistics of the tournament and the entire series can be found in our material.

Summoners War: Lost Centuria World Championship 2021

A little earlier, a championship was held for the newest game in the Summoners War franchise, subtitled Lost Centuria, which was released in May 2021. The SW:LC World Championship 2021 prize pool amounted to $30K.

The event was broadcast for five hours and gathered a modest 887 Peak Viewers and 626 Average Viewers. At the same time, the total time spent watching SW:LC World Championship 2021 amounted to 3.39K Hours Watched.

Osu! World Cup 2021

Osu! World Championship has been held since 2018. Participants of osu! World Cup 2021 competed for $5,000 and players from the United States became champions. The gameplay of this game is based on passing maps to dynamic music (some esports players, especially doters, often warm up in it). There are four official modes in osu! (osu!standard, osu!taiko, osu!catch, and osu!mania), most of which are all about pressing buttons at the right time.

Osu! World Cup 2021 reached 409.9 Hours Watched in 73 hours spent on the air. On average, 5.6K viewers watched the tournament, and their peak number was 36.73K.

Shadowverse World Grand Prix 2021

The largest "exotic" world championship in 2021 was the Shadowverse World Grand Prix 2021, the prize fund of which amounted to $1 million. Shadowverse is an anime-themed digital card game. One of the main differences from Hearthstone is that the impact of randomness on the results of matches is minimized.

Shadowverse World Grand Prix 2021 matches were broadcast for 34 hours, which brought the tournament 185.78K Hours Watched. The championship got 13.56K Peak Viewers and 5.55K Average Viewers.

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT World Championship

In January 2022, the first Naraka: Bladepoint World Championship was held. The game was released in August 2021. 24 teams, three players each, competed for staggering $1.5 million. Naraka: Bladepoint is a battle royale that is inspired by the myths and legends of the Far East. The game combines various types of martial arts, an extensive arsenal of melee and ranged weapons, as well as many characters with incredible skills.

In 27 hours of air time, NARAKA: BLADEPOINT World Championship was able to collect 143.37 HW. At the same time, an average of 5.3K Twitch users watched the matches of the tournament, and PV was just over 16K people.

Classic Tetris World Championship 2021

The Classic Tetris World Championship has been held annually since 2010. Tournament participants play a 1989 version of the game using the Nintendo Entertainment System and CRT TVs. In 2021, the American Michael “Dog” Artiaga became the champion of the Classic Tetris World Championship for the second year in a row. The record holder for the number of titles is Jonas Neubauer, who won the tournament as many as seven times. Unfortunately, the legendary player passed away at the beginning of 2021.

Classic Tetris World Championship 2021 lasted 43 hours and collected 239.5K Hours Watched during this time. The tournament was followed by 5.6K Average Viewers and also attracted 22.8K Peak Viewers.

FIA GT Championships 2021 World Finals

In December 2021, the annual finals of the Gran Turismo Sport World Championship, held under the auspices of the FIA, took place. The game is considered to be a realistic racing simulator where you can start your racing career before getting into motorsport. Gran Turismo Sport is also one of the five official esports disciplines recognized by the IOC.

The broadcasts of the FIA GT Championships 2021 World Finals lasted for five hours and collected a total of 31.4K Hours Watched during this time. At the same time, the tournament was followed by almost 6K Average Viewers, and 8.9K Peak Viewers.

Quake World Championship 2021

Quake World Championships have been held annually since 1996, but as of now, this cult discipline has lost ground. Tournaments are attracting fewer viewers, and most of the pro players are veterans of the scene. Young people prefer other disciplines, which is why many Quake players are over 30 years old. The latest version of the game is Quake Champions, released in 2017. It differs from other installments of the franchise by the presence of "champions" – characters with one unique ability each.

In the case of Quake World Championship 2021, it was the semi-final match between Rapha and RAISY that attracted 11.4K Peak Viewers. Just over 7K Average Viewers followed the tournament, and the total time spent watching the event has amounted to 234.2K Hours Watched.

Balloon World Cup 2021

Balloon World Cup 2021 is based on a video that went viral on social media, where two brothers play with a balloon at home according to some very interesting rules. Participants must keep the balloon in the air, touching it in turn – and the one who touched the balloon last before it hits the ground becomes the winner.

The organizers of such an unusual tournament were the popular streamer Ibai ibai Llanos and the defender of FC Barcelona Gerard Pique. In many ways, it is thanks to them that the competition has become so successful. In just six hours spent on the air, Balloon World Cup 2021 collected 2.98K Hours Watched. The event has attracted 518.8K Average Viewers and 632.53K Peak Viewers. Given the audience statistics, it is possible that the tournament could become an annual event.

Trackmania Grand League World Cup: 2020-2021

Trackmania Grand League World Cup: 2020-2021 was the first tournament in the series to be held in the latest TrackMania version (2020) — a remake of the TrackMania Nations (2008). The game is an arcade driving simulator. Its distinguishing feature is the ability to create one’s own tracks, which oftentimes devolves into downright geometric madness. Note that Trackmania Grand League Spring 2022 starts on March 6 and will last until April 24.

The Trackmania Grand League World Cup: 2020-2021 was followed by 25.75K Average Viewers and also gathered 39.79K Peak Viewers. In total, all broadcasts of the tournament have collected more than 313K Hours Watched.