The first quarter of 2025 has delivered a thrilling start to the esports calendar, with established giants and rising stars battling it out in major international and regional tournaments. Millions of fans worldwide tuned in to witness the action, and thanks to data from Esports Charts, we now have a clear picture of the most popular esports games and tournaments from January to March 2025 (Q1 2025 Charts).
Leading the charge is the ever-dominant League of Legends. The global MOBA phenomenon pulled in a peak viewership of over 1.9 million for the LCK Cup 2025, the opening salvo for the highly competitive Korean circuit. While Riot Games also introduced the First Stand 2025, its inaugural international event for the year, it unfortunately couldn’t capture the same level of audience attention, ultimately being overshadowed by the regional powerhouse that is the LCK.
Hot on its heels, proving the enduring power of mobile esports, is Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The mobile MOBA sensation secured the second spot with a peak viewership of 1.84 million during the initial weeks of the MPL Indonesia Season 15. While other esports scenes kicked off their major events earlier in the year, MLBB’s season started with a bang in Indonesia, nearly surpassing the viewership of the LCK Cup. With major international MLBB tournaments on the horizon throughout 2025, it’s highly likely we’ll see this mobile juggernaut vying for the top position.
The battle for shooter supremacy in Q1 2025 was a close one between Valorant and Counter-Strike 2. Ultimately, Valorant edged ahead, reaching its peak thanks to the grand final of the VCT 2025: Masters Bangkok. The clash between Korea’s T1 and North America’s G2 Esports drew significant attention, although the event struggled to fully captivate Brazilian and European audiences, regions that have historically contributed to Valorant’s highest viewership numbers.
Meanwhile, Counter-Strike 2 has primarily seen third-party events in the first quarter of 2025. While numerous CS2 tournaments attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers, the standout was the record-breaking IEM Katowice 2025, which peaked at an impressive 1.3 million viewers. This marked the most popular IEM Katowice event ever and the first in the series to surpass the 1 million mark since 2022. The ongoing rivalry between the legendary Counter-Strike franchise and the rising star Valorant remains fierce, and the upcoming comparisons between the Counter-Strike Major and Valorant Champions 2025 later this year will provide a clearer picture of their relative popularity.
Rounding out the top five most popular esports games of Q1 2025 is Arena of Valor. This mobile MOBA, an international adaptation of China’s Honor of Kings, secured its spot thanks to the strong performance of the Arena of Glory Spring 2025, the Vietnamese professional circuit. The league reached its peak viewership when the two most popular Vietnamese teams, Saigon Phantom and Team Flash, clashed during the group stage. The passionate Vietnamese fanbase for Arena of Valor has established it as one of the strongest regional esports circuits globally.
While Arena of Valor achieved a notable peak viewership, it still trailed significantly behind the other top four titles, which each hosted numerous events throughout the quarter. Notably, Counter-Strike 2 boasted nearly one hundred individual tournaments in Q1 2025, highlighting its robust and active competitive scene, in contrast to Arena of Valor’s three.
Looking at the top esports tournaments of Q1 2025, the frontrunners are the same events that propelled their respective games to the top of the viewership charts: the LCK Cup 2025 (League of Legends), the opening weeks of MPL Indonesia Season 15 (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang), VCT 2025: Masters Bangkok (Valorant), IEM Katowice 2025 (Counter-Strike 2), and Arena of Glory Spring 2025 (Arena of Valor).
Beyond these flagship events, the Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 APAC – Challenge Finals emerged as a significant third-party tournament for Southeast Asia. This international Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event successfully surpassed the million viewer mark during its playoff stages, drawing strong interest from Indonesian and Filipino audiences. Interestingly, this third-party MLBB tournament outperformed the inaugural League of Legends First Stand 2025 in terms of viewership.
Counter-Strike 2, with its extensive calendar of nearly 100 tournaments in Q1 2025, also populated the lower half of the top tournaments ranking. Third-party events organized by both BLAST and ESL proved popular throughout the early months of the year, with the BLAST Open Spring 2025 leading the pack among these with over 850,000 peak viewers. While Valorant achieved a higher singular peak viewership in Q1 2025, Counter-Strike 2’s packed schedule indicates a substantial overall watch time.
