PCS Summer Playoffs 2024 was the most popular tournament in series history

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The PCS Summer Playoffs 2024 recently wrapped up in Taiwan, where the top teams from the region competed for spots in the 2024 World Championship. The event set a new peak viewership record for the series and saw an increase in the share of Japanese broadcasts. Despite the expanded scope of the tournament, the standings remained relatively stable, with the same top teams maintaining their dominance.

The Pacific Championship Series (PCS) underwent significant changes this year. Riot Games integrated the PCS, LJL, and LCO leagues into a unified ecosystem to generate more interest in less prominent regions. As a result, the top teams from these leagues now qualify for international championships through an additional stage in the PCS Playoffs. Under the new format, champions from PCS and LJL advance directly to the second stage of the playoffs, while less successful teams from these regions, along with those from the LCO, begin the tournament in the Play-In stage.

Taiwan’s PSG Talon faced Japan’s Fukuoka HAWKS Gaming in the grand finals of the PCS Summer Playoffs 2024. These teams had also met in the finals of the PCS Spring Playoffs 2024, where PSG Talon won convincingly with a 3-0 score. In the summer split, the Japanese team managed to win one game, but PSG Talon ultimately prevailed again. Both teams have qualified for the 2024 World Championship, and the final result determined their future opponents.

Overall, PSG Talon continues to demonstrate exceptional performance in their region. Over the past few years, the Taiwanese team has won eight regional PCS titles and qualified for four World Championships and four Mid-Season Invitationals. Their consistent dominance is reminiscent of the VCS league, where GAM Esports faces little competition.

The PCS Summer Playoffs 2024 generated over 3.5 million Hours Watched. For comparison, the PCS Spring Playoffs 2024 had approximately 2.2 million HW, while the PCS Summer 2023, which was held under the previous format without Japanese teams, garnered 3.7 million HW.

Most popular PCS tournaments by Peak Viewers

For the PCS Summer Playoffs 2024, Chinese and Japanese were the primary broadcast languages, with a notable increase in Japanese viewership compared to the spring split. The tournament’s audience was mainly concentrated on Twitch and YouTube, with small shifts in the distribution of viewers across these platforms compared to the spring. You can always check YouTube live statistics. 

Additionally, the PCS Summer Playoffs 2024 saw a rise in the number of unique channels, largely due to the growing presence of Japanese community casters. Nevertheless, the primary audience reach continued to be driven by the official broadcast channels.