FaZe’s survival story and Portuguese stream boom highlight StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 — Stage 1

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The opening stage of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 has wrapped up, and it’s the perfect moment to take a look at the early results. The event delivered impressive audience numbers — some viewership metrics jumped by 20–30% compared to the last Major. Portuguese-speaking audiences were particularly engaged, especially fans tuning in to watch the Brazilian teams compete.

The biggest storyline of the opening stage at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 was FaZe’s performance. Once a top contender on the professional Counter-Strike scene, the team now had to fight their way through the Major’s first stage. Their journey wasn’t easy — FaZe lost two of their first three matches, putting them on the brink of elimination twice. But to the fans’ relief, they bounced back, defeating RED Candis and Fluxo in the elimination rounds to secure a spot in the next stage.

It’s also worth highlighting that FlyQuest performed much better than in the last Major, winning all three of their matches and becoming one of the first teams to move on to the second stage. Meanwhile, Chinese teams Lynn Vision Gaming and Rare Atom struggled this time. The Brazilian contingent also shrank — four Brazilian teams competed in Stage 1, and three have already been knocked out. Imperial Esports was the only team to make it through.

In terms of viewership, the first stage of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 outshone the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 in several key metrics. Total watch hours jumped by 29.5%, while the average number of viewers per stream grew by 22.5%. During Stage 1, peak concurrent viewership surpassed 500,000, the highest since the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024.

Portuguese-language broadcasts saw a major boost, led by the popular streamer Alexandre “Gaules” Borba Chiqueta. Overall, 28 Brazilian players are taking part in the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 — the highest number ever for Brazilian participants at a Counter-Strike Major. As noted earlier, four Brazilian teams competed in Stage 1, so it’s no wonder Portuguese streams drew such a large audience.

Mongolian and Polish broadcasts also saw notable growth compared to the last tournament. This surge was fueled by the Mongolian YouTube channel META and Polish community casters Bartosz “OfficialHyper” Wolny and Dawid “MrDzinold” Rzeźnik.

The StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 is still underway, with plenty of exciting matches to come. Stage 2 will run from November 29 to December 2, featuring five more rounds of the Swiss Stage. You can keep up with match results and viewership stats on the Esports Charts report page.