Call of Duty League's successful return to Europe - viewer results from 2025: Stage 1 Major
Call of Duty is one of the most popular esports titles in North America, bringing together local fans of team-based shooters, as well as the biggest organizations and clubs in the region. In 2025, after a five-year hiatus, the Call of Duty League finally returned to Europe. Recently, the Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major wrapped up in Madrid, delivering an intense final that had the audience on the edge of their seats.
The teams in the Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major competed in a double-elimination bracket, with seeding based on the CDL rankings. The first round shocked viewers when OpTic Texas, one of the league's top teams, was unexpectedly knocked out by the underdog Miami Heretics. That wasn’t the end of OpTic’s troubles. In the second round of the lower bracket, the powerhouse team lost to CAR Royal Ravens and was eliminated from the tournament, finishing in a disappointing 7th-8th place, far below what fans had hoped for.
Another favorite going into the Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major was Atlanta FaZe, fresh off their victory in the first Minor of the current season. They had no trouble making it to the final, but in the decisive match, Tyler “aBeZy” Pharris’ team had to fight tooth and nail to overcome Los Angeles Thieves. The grand final was a best-of-7 series that went the distance, with the championship decided in the final round. Part of the community claims that it was one of the most thrilling and hard-fought finals in Call of Duty League history.
https://x.com/CoDClipped/status/1886182075364983025
Emotions of Matthew ‘’Nadeshot’’ Haag, owner of the Los Angeles Thieves, on losing in the deciding round
The viewer stats for Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major were a bit lower compared to last year’s Stage 1 Major, but the drop was minimal, around 7-8% across each metric. This can easily be explained by factors like the change in location, time zones, and even OpTic Texas’s surprising early exit. Overall, the league still had a strong audience reach, partly thanks to community casting from new streamers.
This year, the number of unique broadcast channels for Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major doubled compared to last year. Seth ‘’Scump’’ Abner and Thomas ‘’ZooMaa’’ Paparatto had the biggest audiences, but it's also worth mentioning Corentin ‘’Gotaga’’ Houssein. The top French streamer covered the tournament, as his organization, Gentle Mates, acquired the Los Angeles Guerrillas franchise in December 2024, rebranded to Los Angeles Guerrillas M8. Thanks to Gotaga’s streams, French language coverage accounted for 4.5% of the total watch time for the entire tournament. Previously, English had dominated, making up about 99% of the viewership.
The most popular match of Call of Duty League 2025: Stage 1 Major was the game between Los Angeles Guerrillas M8 and OpTic Texas on the second day of the tournament. It peaked at 233,789 viewers, fuelled by both the French community casting and the fact that OpTic nearly lost in the elimination round. The final ended up as the second most popular match, hitting 213,213 concurrent viewers at peak.
The first matches of the Stage 2 Major Qualifiers will kick off on February 14, with players battling for CDL Points and better seeding for upcoming events. The Stage 2 Major will be held from March 20 to 23 in Dallas, at OpTic Texas’s home arena. You can stay up to date with the schedule, results, and viewer stats for all Call of Duty events on the Esports Charts tournament page.
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