ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs becomes third most popular tournament in Apex Legends' history

The first major event of the new Apex Legends esports season ended on February 5. The best teams in the world faced off at the Copper Box Arena (London) to compete for a share of $1 million prize pool. Esports Charts explains why ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs were less popular than last season's Second Split.

ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs had several stages, including a general Group Stage as well as upper and lower brackets. Twenty teams made it to the final stage: there was no limit on the number of rounds, but a match point win rule was in effect: when a team scored 50 points, it received a match point, after which a round win brought it victory in the entire tournament.

TSM players with the ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs trophy / photo: twitter.com/TSM

NRG Esports got the first match point in the final stage of ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs by scoring the required number of points in the fourth round. TSM was right after it, and Acend and XSET also got the required number of points in the following rounds. TSM won in the eighth round and became the champion.

The American club got $300K for the victory. It should be mentioned that it is the first time TSM achieved such big success in the discipline: it only took sixth place at ALGS: 2022 Split 2 Playoffs.

ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs Viewership Statistics

ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs matches accumulated 6.7 million Hours Watched, 30% fewer than at ALGS: 2022 Split 2 Playoffs. The Average Viewers number on broadcasts was 204.2K, while the Peak Viewers number reached 542.9K. Compared to the previous Split, the metrics dropped by 28% and 20%, respectively.

The number of channels that covered league games increased by 27%. The most popular of these was PlayApex, the official English-language channel of the developers. It accumulated 1.5 million Hours Watched and drew 120.7K Peak Viewers.

English and Japanese became the most popular languages of the tournament, as they accumulated 46.3% and 34% of the total Hours Watched, respectively. It should also be noted that there were also streams in new languages compared to the last Split — Vietnamese, Norwegian, Finnish, etc.

Twitch remains the most popular streaming platform for Apex Legends with 74.4% of the total Hours Watched of all ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs broadcasts.

Comparison with Other Tournaments

ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs became the third most popular tournament in the history of the discipline (not including streamer showdowns). Compared to events in other disciplines, the stats also look very impressive. For example, ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs surpassed recently ended BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023 (CS:GO) and Call of Duty League 2023: Stage 2 Major by Average and Peak Viewers. The latter was held on the same dates as Apex Legends championship.

It is important to note that ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs did not match the league's previous Split by any metric.

Why has Apex Legends Seen a Drop in Viewership?

The decline in ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs' audience reach can be seen as a throwback after the surge in 2022. It should be recalled that ALGS: 2022 Split 2 Playoffs and ALGS: 2022 Championship were the first major international championships held in LAN format in a long time: back then this factor played a big role in attracting a new audience. As the excitement subsided slightly, ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs was no longer able to draw as many viewers as the previous tournaments.

The current situation with ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs repeats the history of other major events. Practice shows that the return of tournaments to big stadiums after the "online era" very often leads to an increase in viewership, but a small decline is sure to follow. That's precisely what happened with PGL Major Stockholm 2021 (CS:GO) and The International 10 (Dota 2): two World Championships drew record audiences, but the tournaments that followed didn't attract as many viewers anymore.

Another essential factor pointed out by some gaming media and gamers themselves is a problem with the lack of content diversity and server instability. On the one hand, the developers are trying to alternate the release of large seasonal updates with the launch of in-game events. On the other hand, many players are tired of the same temporal events and modes. The audience is asking for more global changes.

Is There Any Reason to Be Worried About Apex Legends?

Obviously, the game itself and the tournament format have many things that could be improved. Despite this, Apex Legends holds a good position in its genre. The fact is that fans of Respawn's Battle Royale hardly pay attention to other disciplines — no more than 12% of viewers watched other leagues in Valorant, CS:GO or League of Legends simultaneously during ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs, which is a pretty low number.

According to the Steamcharts service, the number of active users in Apex Legends is also growing. While in January 2022, there were 264.2K people, in January 2023, the number of players increased to 413.6K. Of course, the game has some player base fluctuations in some months, which depend on the start of the seasons and the release of the big updates, but the overall dynamics of the game are positive.

Finally, a fact that speaks for itself: four of the five most popular Apex Legends tournaments were held in 2022. In other words, in its fifth year after release, the game is still capable of attracting a lot of viewers and surpassing its own peak viewership results.

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ALGS: 2023 Split 2 Playoffs are scheduled for June 8-11 in a similar format. The best teams in the world will once again gather in London to play for a million-dollar prize pool.