Year's Results: What are the Most Popular eSports Games in 2022?
2022 was a fantastic year for the esports community, as we’ve had many incredible tournaments and new video game releases. However, one thing hasn’t changed: the most popular esports games in 2022 have competitive aspects attached to them. After all, collaborating with your friends to achieve victory sounds fun, right? Here are some of the most popular esports games in 2022!
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Counter-Strike is a franchise name that almost every gamer has heard of. Surprisingly, despite being released around a decade ago, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive remains one of the most popular esports titles in the entire world. The classic first-person shooter is still relevant today. Millions of players play it daily.
CS:GO’s popularity mainly comes from the fact that the game is simple and easy to learn. This allows new players to try out the game without spending dozens of hours learning how to play it. The game is also very fast-paced and requires strategy, making it an enjoyable experience, especially when playing with friends.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s professional scene is also amusing to watch, as many talented players are competing against each other for millions of dollars. A major esports tournament was held in Rio with a massive crowd. The stadium was packed with passionate fans, and millions also watched the matches from home. CS:GO is one of the best choices for esports betting, as you can find almost all CS:GO matches on the best betting sites CSGO. There are also many betting markets and tournaments to bet on, so bettors have a handful of choices.
League of Legends
Next up on the list is League of Legends, which is considered to be the most popular MOBA game in the world right now. As of the end of 2022, it was reported that League of Legends has over 150 million registered players, making it one of the most played esports in the world.
Most players find League of Legends exciting because the game requires lots of teamwork and strategy. This makes League of Legends the perfect game for friends to party up and play together. The matches don’t last long, so players won’t have to spend too much time playing a game of League of Legends.
League of Legends hosted the 2022 World Championship, where the finals was held in San Francisco. The esport event was incredibly successful, as fans were kept entertained throughout the whole tournament. There were also guest appearances, such as American rapper Lil Nas X, who performed live in front of a crowd. Most importantly, the esport tournament featured an amazing Grand Final match between DRX and T1, gathering a peak of 5.1 million concurrent viewers!
Valorant
Unlike the other two titles mentioned above, Valorant is a newer name in the esports scene, as the game was only released in 2020. Despite the game being new, Valorant has managed to gain popularity exponentially and is looking to take CS:GO’s spot as the most popular first-person shooter game.
Though Valorant has the same genre as Counter-Strike, Valorant does have something that CS:GO doesn’t. The main difference is that Valorant has multiple agents that have different abilities and roles. Players can select agents from the agent pool, making the game more diverse and enjoyable. Valorant has around 12.8 million active players.
Massive esports names such as Tarik, TenZ, and Wardell have already involved themselves in the Valorant scene. The competitive scene in Valorant is still in development, but it is already shaping up to be a massive success. The professional valorant scene has a mix of veteran Counter-Strike players and a bunch of new, young prodigies. Many Valorant esports tournaments have been planned in 2023, so keep your eye out for that!
Overwatch 2
Speaking of recent releases, we have Overwatch 2, a sequel to the popular Overwatch video game. The sequel of the Overwatch franchise was very recently released in October 2022, making the month only three months old, coming into 2023. Despite being three months old, Overwatch 2 has gained immense popularity, up to the point where around 800 thousand to 1 million players play the game daily.
An essential factor in Overwatch 2’s popularity is the updated graphics, as Blizzard Entertainment was able to use technological advancements to provide top-notch graphics for their game. It is also notable that Overwatch 2 is a very fast-paced game, and there is minimal downtime if you die. This makes every Overwatch 2 game constantly action-packed, and players won’t have to wait a long time to respawn.
Up to the time of writing this, players are still figuring the game out, and a professional scene is yet to be developed. However, with the game’s success so far, we can expect to see a polished professional background for Overwatch 2 in 2023.
