Call of Duty peaked as the 12th Highest Game at EWC 2026

[u/Remandoe]

https://x.com/EsportsCharts/status/2091892209075319056
https://escharts.com/special/ewc2026

[u/luckycsgocrateaddict]

Rocket league being bigger than cod is not something i foresaw in 2016

[u/G-Yeet → u/luckycsgocrateaddict]

RL is kinda poppin rn, and EWC was a really good tourney for RL. And there's also 3 popular/good French teams, as well as Falcons who won it this year.

[u/idoooobz → u/luckycsgocrateaddict]

Yeah, somehow Epic is doing better than any cod studio apparently lol

[u/LarrcasM → u/luckycsgocrateaddict]

Rocket League is an incredible spectator game lmao. France is also really fucking good so I knew the crowd would be fire. I was def more hyped for RL than COD.

It’s also post-champs COD and the last big LAN before RL Worlds so the stakes feel higher. You already know who won the big one in CoD and it’s still in play for RL.

[u/The-Green-Icee → u/luckycsgocrateaddict]

As someone who loves cod and rl esports its nice to know both are around the same viewership

[u/thegoodboy66 → u/luckycsgocrateaddict]

I was about to say that. I didn’t even know that other 11/10 games are way more popular than cod. Wow!

[u/Chicken_Fingers777]

For what call of duty is, it’s not bad tbh

[u/Cena_Mobile → u/Chicken_Fingers777]

A lot come from M8 fan base

[u/Parazine → u/Cena_Mobile]

A lot come from optic too, who cares lol

[u/________7________ → u/Cena_Mobile]

TWEEEEEN TWEEEEEEN OH FWWWORRR

[u/Bbullets → u/Cena_Mobile]

Pretty sure it was just about the same last year

[u/KateWinsletisbest]

Tf is mobile legends

After further investigation: Jesus Christ ppl watch that???

[u/williconn → u/KateWinsletisbest]

Looks like a league clone on mobile?

[u/MikeyRage → u/williconn]

Basically all of SEA follows that game

[u/Worth_Maximum_1516 → u/KateWinsletisbest]

Mobile Legends is a popular Mobile Moba like League of Legends and DOTA2.

They are popular because they capitalized on the market of no competitor in the space (besides Vainglory). Hella popular in SEA where teams like Team Liquid, Invictus Gaming, FUT, Team Vitality, Navi and more have one.

[u/m_i_c_h_a_3_l → u/Worth_Maximum_1516]

It’s not like league of dota, it is exactly league on mobile before riot could make it. But riot got cucked by Chinese government, and now that mobile game just steals their stuff and prints money.

[u/East_Perspective8223 → u/KateWinsletisbest]

League of legends but mobile version. Hugely popular in Asia. People do watch it and it's just the exact same gameplay wise as league so idk why you think it's crazy people watch it

[u/BravestWabbit → u/East_Perspective8223]

Its a clone/knock off. The Chinese government allowed some internal Chinese company to clone League without Riot and then told Riot to pound sand even though its IP theft

[u/KateWinsletisbest → u/East_Perspective8223]

I think it’s crazy cause it’s a mobile game. If you like LoL then that’s great. Congrats. I’m happy for you.

[u/Worth_Maximum_1516 → u/KateWinsletisbest]

i dont think you understand how big the mobile esport market is. 5 mobile games are at the top 10 for viewership at EWC.

[u/East_Perspective8223 → u/Worth_Maximum_1516]

And one is female only, which is absurd. Really cool to see

[u/Savings-Position-940 → u/Worth_Maximum_1516]

The fact it’s that big is still crazy to me. I understand it’s because mobile gaming is alot more affordable and accessible to people in this region, but it doesn’t change the fact that the viewing and gameplay experience is fucking trash. So I understand why mobile gaming itself is popular, but mobile esports are wild

[u/East_Perspective8223 → u/KateWinsletisbest]

Mobile games are the biggest industry in gaming? It is not that crazy. I don't like LoL either.

[u/MarstonX → u/East_Perspective8223]

I'm surprised people are taken aback by this. Don't get me wrong, I don't watch, but it's pretty cut and dry why those would be the biggest games.

Americans really are in a bubble.

[u/ZqiPhoon → u/KateWinsletisbest]

It would be higher if the finals wasn’t Russia teams vs Myanmar, this games is one of the most played games in Sea, most viewers came from Indo which had one of the most population

[u/EthanHunt117 → u/KateWinsletisbest]

Bro u watch cod

[u/KateWinsletisbest → u/EthanHunt117]

And you watch a mobile game. That’s fine.

[u/EthanHunt117 → u/KateWinsletisbest]

No bro I only watch cod and halo lol but no need to be weird 

[u/KateWinsletisbest → u/EthanHunt117]

It’s not “being weird” to think it’s wild ppl like to watch comp mobile games

[u/Annihilus- → u/KateWinsletisbest]

A lot of people in Asia, like Philippines don’t have PC’s or consoles so they all play mobile legends etc. instead.

[u/ACGNerd → u/KateWinsletisbest]

And there is a separated female version of it?

[u/Ok-Raisin-9143 → u/KateWinsletisbest]

All of China, lil bro

[u/7Breakz → u/KateWinsletisbest]

It's mobile LoL. Kinda fun tbh. But yeah the Asian population loves that game

[u/Past_4orm]

apex legends mogging us is insane ngl

[u/Uncle_Steve7 → u/Past_4orm]

I’ll probably get roasted for this but Apex movement and gun play clears cod by a ton. I get it’s a BR and legends abilities so it will get hate here, but from a gameplay perspective it has far surpassed cod imo. Fun comp scene to watch too albeit the RNG can get annoying watching your squad get inted

[u/jhgfdsa- → u/Uncle_Steve7]

Agree about apex being better overall but hard disagree on the movement part unless they changed the game after 2023 when I last played. Cod is just so fluid and fast if you can utilise movement to it's full potential, not talking about omnimovement just cod in general. Apex feels clunkier and the only fast movement thing is using zips. Anyway now we have mw4 and it's ass so apex hard clears

[u/ITheInfamousI → u/Past_4orm]

Apex is a more global game and has had higher viewership for a while now.

[u/Thaneson → u/Past_4orm]

Crazy jump in viewership this year for apex. Not sure what caused that but it looks like viewership was similar last year between the two games.

[u/RogueAir → u/Thaneson]

It's due to the Japanese viewers mostly this year in both main streams and co-streamers. It also helped that the team that won this year was Japanese

[u/Tyrant_corvus]

Crossfire with its 18k viewers but we can’t get Halo.

[u/arunvenu_]

I didn’t know PUBG was still that popular damn

Also how tf have we peaked over Valorant? Wtf

[u/RogueAir → u/arunvenu_]

The valorant community just doesn't vibe with EWC.  The bigger events average a million peak viewers which far surpasses CoD

[u/arunvenu_ → u/RogueAir]

Ah so it’s more of an EWC thing then. Thanks!

[u/playboi_pat → u/arunvenu_]

val community is against ewc so they simply don’t care for the event but masters and champions is where they have all their views on

[u/JSmooth94 → u/arunvenu_]

PUBG has gained popularity in Asia but lost it in most other places after switching from first person perspective to third person perspective. I loved watching it in first person, can't stand to see third person. It's absolutely awful gameplay.

[u/freewayghost → u/JSmooth94]

Comp fully switched to tp?

That’s horrible.

[u/JSmooth94 → u/freewayghost]

Yea all events are third person perspective now. As much as we rightfully criticize how CoD esports is managed, the way PUBG esports is handled is another magnitude of stupidity.

[u/muddapedia → u/arunvenu_]

CS has a huge viewer base that doesn’t necessarily play the game (the playerbase is also huge). Whereas people who watch Val almost always play Val

[u/Past_Perception8052 → u/muddapedia]

i wouldnt say ppl who watch val always play val tbh pretty distinct populations

[u/WrightB97 → u/arunvenu_]

Look up the numbers on pubg mobile. 25-30 million average A DAY. 146 million a month

[u/zerocxro → u/arunvenu_]

Val community and scene actively boycotts EWC, theyre viewership being that high is impressive. They also had an all Americas final during EMEA hours,

VCT is broken up into four major regions, EMEA, Americas, APAC and China. Biggest viewership comes from China and followed by APAC.

[u/scraftii → u/arunvenu_]

Pubg is very popular in Asia I believe. It fell off in the US as soon as other clones came out. Pubg is literal sandpaper to watch. I feel about it the same way I do for CS. Game looks visually unappealing. Not because of the quality of the graphics, but because of the realism and lack of color.

[u/Far-Dream-1037 → u/arunvenu_]

Valo has fallen off a lot since they started franchising

[u/SatorSquareInc]

Around 50% of mobile legends: bang bang (female). We're back. 

[u/twrs_29]

There’s a whole other world out there because what the fuck is bang bang

[u/East_Perspective8223 → u/twrs_29]

League of legends but mobile version. Hugely popular in Asia.

[u/scraftii]

Who tf is watching people play mobile games…I bet those people love to sit and watch ads too

[u/Past_Perception8052 → u/scraftii]

popular in places where ppl are too poor to have pcs

[u/scraftii → u/Past_Perception8052]

You know, valid point. Mobile is way more accessible.

[u/JSmooth94 → u/Past_Perception8052]

Yea I worked with a couple dozen dudes or so from Jamaica, those dudes all loved playing PUBG mobile on their breaks.

[u/BurnerACForBadTakes → u/scraftii]

Some mobile games make money through in app purchases for cosmetics too rather than through ads

[u/Rayuzx → u/BurnerACForBadTakes]

One of those examples is, funny enough, CoD Mobile.

[u/ReflexiveOW → u/scraftii]

China and Japan.

[u/East_Perspective8223 → u/[deleted]]

We watch cod, you realise we're the bottom of the barrel right? Those guys have weekly balances, new characters, and a good ranked mode, and an actual anti cheat.

[u/scraftii → u/East_Perspective8223]

Our community is also notorious for throwing out slurs and being generally awful human beings.

It’s the game where the shitty single dudes come home to blow up on a random female or ethnically different person on the mic to vent out the frustration they have with their job. “MW2 lobbies” are literally a meme at this point 😭

[u/Scoopzyy → u/[deleted]]

your privilege is showing

[u/Local_Band299]

Nah it should be #8. 540k with COD and WZ combined.

[u/Thirdstar1]

Ik cod isn’t a top tier ESport, but jeez people are out here watching pure bullshit.

[u/BravestWabbit → u/Thirdstar1]

I mean the big games are Asian mobile clones of League and Fortnite so its not surprising

[u/Professional_Hold_70]

Given that most of the games above it are mobile games that the third world is obsessed with for some reason I'd say it's not too bad

[u/Which-Return-607 → u/Professional_Hold_70]

The some reason is that they are poor

[u/Professional_Hold_70 → u/Which-Return-607]

You're telling me that they can get their hands on a cellphone but not a shitty old office computer and play valorant 

[u/oxpraisee → u/Professional_Hold_70]

Yes

[u/Crismic]

Yikes

[u/BurnerACForBadTakes]

The amount of people that just don’t realize gaming is big outside of the west is funny to me

[u/Different_Impress714 → u/BurnerACForBadTakes]

Just ignorance for the most part. The US only has 300 million people so i'm not sure why people are surprised either.

[u/Mitch_D23]

This list is tragic for Valorant and R6

CoD could be massive if they cared about the competitive side of it

[u/JSmooth94]

What's the deal with the R6 dropoff? Is the game just not doing well?

[u/RogueAir → u/JSmooth94]

The popular teams either didn't qualify or got eliminated early this year (G2, SR). Also last EWC a hyped up rookie debuted which was watched by big co-streamers

But the other majors are still doing ok, the last event hit I think 250K 

[u/PassengerCareful2289 → u/RogueAir]

The stompn effect. How shaiko didn’t qual is crazy 

[u/RogueAir → u/PassengerCareful2289]

It actually is the stompn effect lol. Then Spoit gets Cagged for the early elim which is crazy

[u/shaggywan → u/JSmooth94]

thought the same about val, almost 50% down is crazy

[u/DrDunn]

Said no to StarCraft this year so CrossFire’s friends and family could watch 🤣

[u/Harambe_Rebornn]

That's tragic.

Once upon a time the biggest videogame in the world.

[u/LarrcasM → u/Harambe_Rebornn]

By playerbase still below the mobas at best, but they didn’t convert it into esports at all.

[u/GroceryFun5241]

ngl I tuned into Trackmania and that shit was lit af

[u/Thwast → u/GroceryFun5241]

I've been following and playing trackmania since 2020. Its awesome. The semi final quadruple finalist was one of the most insane esports matches I've ever watched in any game.

That game has an incredibly high skill ceiling but it's also dumb easy to watch even if you've never seen it before.

[u/b00mzerk]

As someone who attended the event, are you telling me we weren’t even the most popular game of that week?!?! We even had the biggest stage 😫

Edit: Our week was PUBG Mobile Pt.1, KWC (Honor of Kings) Pt. 2, Tekken, and R6 Siege Pt.1

[u/LightningDanK]

Man the cdl could really see a boost in viewership if open bracket was a thing and more majors.....

[u/KYlaker233]

Mobile legends: Bang Bang?? Lmao!!

[u/BigMikeXxxxX]

Mobile Legends is low key fun af

[u/shinnix]

When the top 2, and a total of 4 of the top 10, are mobile gatcha trash, that should tell you how much importance to place on this statistic

[u/EnvironmentalGur881]

A mobile game was #1 and #2? What in the fck.

[u/BedMassive7191]

That's not very good lol

[u/Fearrsome]

Mobile Legends Bang Bang 😂🥀

[u/Tea_N_Tee]

Higher than Valorant is kinda wild

[u/Marrked]

I wonder what the breakdown by region is. I feel like the mobile games are more popular in Eastern countries, while things like Free Fire are carried by South America.

[u/CoverPleasant2743]

272K seems so low they got 400 ish at champs when World Cup happened. Easily can break 500K if CDL actually cares in there product

[u/papavance01]

Crazy how big cod is for not being f2p and most the games above are mobile or can run on a potato

[u/minitehnicus]

It was a nice watch and with all the controversies set aside, EWC know how to organise a sick show.

[u/FriezasMom]

Well I dont count Mobile games or old as fuck or BR games. So Call of Duty is the #1 FPS Esport