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Top 10 Fortnite Streamers You Should Be Following

By
Justin Amin
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0

Esports and gaming culture has grown so much thanks to the help of online personalities. Here are the top 10 Fortnite streamers you need to follow for the best battle royale experience. 

As one of the world’s fastest-growing games, Fortnite created waves in the gaming world with its recent publicity. From underage U.S. tournament winners to millions watching a black hole on stream, Epic Games’ battle royale title has made a huge movement and much of the game’s success stems from online streamers growing the culture.

But with so many top Fortnite streamers out there across Twitch, Mixer, YouTube, etc., who should you really follow? The following are some of the best Fortnite streamers and generally some of the best providers of content for gaming.

10. Pokimane

Imane Anys, better known as Pokimane, is an American online personality, Fortnite streamer, and a part of the OfflineTV entertainment group. Her Fortnite skill shows itself on Twitch and YouTube where she puts more emphasis on a positive community and good experiences with her viewers. Occasionally, Pokimane will take a break from Fortnite, complaining that she often gets stream sniped. 

Her contributions to the scene were recognized recently when Epic Games released an official Fortnite dance emote for her. The emote sales were of limited time and fans are unsure when it will return to the shop. On February 5th, 2020, Pokimane announced an exclusivity agreement to stream only on Twitch and detailed the reasons why she made her decision. 

9. Nick Eh 30

When it comes to a positive attitude and family-friendly streams, Nicholas “Nick Eh 30” Amyoony is one of the best streamers to follow. Participating in a variety of competitions and streaming Fortnite daily, Canadian streamer Nick Eh 30 is a fan favorite for content. 

He recently announced his partnership with Twitch and is transferring some of his heavy YouTube fan base over to the streaming platform. In the recent Fortnite Streamer Bowl, Nick was accused of cheating when he intentionally landed in an area he wasn’t supposed to for better loot. Though the Fortnite community surrounded him with controversy, he still continues to bring his A-game for his ‘eh’ team.

8. Myth

American YouTuber Ali “Myth” Kabbani is a popular name on the web, constantly putting himself in front of the camera. If you’re looking for a streamer trying to hype up his community and pushing strong social content, this is the guy.

Although he’s recently expressed interest in dropping Fortnite and trying other games, this is a short term break. It’s not as frequent as before, but Myth is still streaming Fortnite and trying more CS:GO on the side, in preparation for the launch of new FPS shooter Valorant.

7. Bugha

Current Fortnite champion, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, is a top contender for any notable Fortnite list. His mark in the game is to show off his skill. A powerful shooter and builder, Bugha often posts highlights and reels from his streams on social media.

He rose to stardom when he won the solo event in 2019’s summer Fortnite World Cup, winning a $3 million prize pool. Alongside TimtheTatman, Bugha also popped in on a 2020 NFL Super Bowl advertisement, helping blur boundaries between esports and sports with these appearances.

6. TimtheTatman

fortnite streamers
Photo by CyberPowerPC

Timothy “TimtheTatman” Betar is a big-time streamer and gamer who puts a focus on humor. Fans looking to watch a funny stream for entertaining content need to go to him. He can often be found gaming with other popular streamers like Ninja. Tim plays a variety of games and though Fortnite is not his exclusive choice, it’s his main and most popular. 

fortnite streamers

Interestingly, his favorite games are older titles like World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike 1.6. It goes to show that he vouches for what he truly likes and honestly expressed his thoughts. This year in 2020, Tim cameoed in a commercial for the Super Bowl in a short appearance on a tractor. He’s hit a variety of industry areas and as a top Fortnite streamer, his career continues to grow.

5. DrLupo

fortnite streamers
Photo credit to Samantha Lupo Photography

Ben “DrLupo” Lupo, is a long time streamer whose fame shot up with the rise of Fortnite. With over 3 million Twitch followers, he’s amassed quite a name in the community and Business Insider reports that he streams on Twitch about 80 hours a week.

With DrLupo, not all of it is about gaming. He regularly speaks about his own life, work, and whatever stories come up at the time. He does his best so his stream doesn’t feel forced and is more like a chat with a friend. Considering DrLupo streams full time, natural conversation with followers is invaluable.

4. Dakotaz

Currently ranked as the 4th most-watched Twitch Fortnite streamer, Brett “Dakotaz” Hoffman is a star on the battle royale island. He operates with skill, calmly eliminating opponents and surging through the survivors.

Dakotaz prefers a chill stream, often choosing not to reveal his face or personal detail on the camera. Though he’s recently been adding his face to some streams, he clearly values his privacy, and maybe it empowers his game play? After all, TwitchMetrics shows his efforts to consistently stream Fortnite are working, peaking at around 9,500 viewers per stream. 

3. NickMercs

fortnite streamers
Image credit to FaZe Clan.

The champion of competitive console play, Nick “NICKMERCS“ Kolcheff plays competitive Fortnite using a controller. Yes, you read that right. Nick prefers the ease of a PS4 controller compared to a traditional mouse and keyboard set up and he makes it work.

He currently holds the spot for the most-watched Fortnite channel on Twitch to reinforce the idea that controller players can still succeed. Fans who want to watch a funny streamer from a previous MLG champion dominate PC Fortnite players should look no further.

2. Tfue

Arguably today’s top Fortnite streamer on Twitch, Turner Ellis Tenney, more commonly known as Tfue, is a competitive player bringing in the heat. He’s a great player who holds the top spots among Fortnite streamers.

Tfue is the Fortnite streamer to watch for the thrill of high-level game play and exciting plays. Over the past year, he’s been involved in scandals involving his contract with FaZe Clan and a potential fight with Ninja. In the Fortnite community, Tfue showed himself as a big opponent against aim assist, believing it’s better off not in the game. 

1. Ninja 

Known as the king of Fortnite streaming, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins has become an icon for Fortnite. It can even be said that the battle royale game has grown this far thanks to Ninja’s contributions to the culture.

Even in 2020, months after Ninja officially moved from Twitch to Microsoft’s Mixer, his Twitch channel still leads in Fortnite’s most-followed according to Twitch Metrics. Ninja’s viewership numbers went down dramatically when moving to Mixer, but his family-friendly, victory-first attitude remains with him. 

Epic Games also released its Icon Series, celebrating the community’s collaborations and bringing them into Fortnite. To highlight the first entry to the series, the biggest Fortnite streamer received his own in-game skin, fitting considering all the work he’s done to develop the community.

Repeat.gg is expected to launch Fortnite on the platform very soon! Sign up today and be notified when we officially announce adding Fortnite tournaments to the website.

Top 5 Dota 2 Carry Heroes You Should Play

By
Anthony Backowski
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0
Dota 2 Carry Heroes

Dota 2 continues to develop in new ways we haven’t seen before; and these are five Dota 2 carry heroes you should be playing in your pubs right now.

Dota 2 has already been changing dramatically in the latter of 2019 and beginning of 2020 with the huge introduction of 7.23 and the Outlanders update. With the addition of 7.23, there has been a new map rework, neutral items, balance adjustments, and many hero changes. We are now currently on patch 7.24 as of February and the game continues to develop in new ways that we haven’t seen before.

New heroes are coming into fruition and seeing more popularity than recent years. It has been quite interesting to see the meta develop after the amount of changes Dota 2 has seen in only two and a half months.

As the storm has calmed, and after many of IceFrog’s changes, we are now able to see some of the strongest heroes to play in all levels of Dota 2. We’re going to dive right into the five Dota 2 carry heroes that you should be playing in your pubs right now, starting with three heroes that are just solid picks.

Solid Pick #1 – Phantom Lancer

Phantom Lancer is the agility, illusion-based hero that pops in and out of metas every now and then. Prior to patch 7.24 he was getting picked regularly in the top level as well as in competitive matches. So what makes Phantom Lancer so good and why should you play him?

  • 62 base damage at level 1. That’s extremely high for an agility carry which makes it very easy to last hit. Buy a Quelling Blade at the beginning of the match and it’s like you have 82 damage instead. You should have no problem trading with your enemies or last hitting the creeps.
  • His ‘Phantom Rush’ ability in the early game is extremely powerful because it gives you a temporary 11/22/33/44 agility boost. You can use this to harass an enemy hero or to secure last hits since those values also add on to your attack damage. Additionally, it adds a second ability that can be used to escape, considering his Doppleganger ability allows you to dodge projectiles, right clicks, and more.
  • His ultimate Juxtapose has to be one of the most obnoxious and annoying ultimates in the game. When he attacks creeps or heroes he spawns illusions of himself. This can sometimes be very difficult to track the actual hero itself and not an illusion because they all look the same and there is no visual indicator as to which is the real Phantom Lancer. However, when PL is on your team it is much better since you don’t have to deal with that! Use his illusions to confuse the enemy, bait out spells, or purchase that Diffusal Blade and have his illusions drain mana.

These are three topics that make Phantom Lancer strong to play: he is hard to kill, he scales very well into the late game, and his abilities just grant you the opportunity to farm fast and overwhelm enemy heroes. Make Diffusal Blade a core item so you can slow and drain the mana of your enemies, and go from there. Couple that with a Manta Style for even more illusions and he becomes that much more difficult.

Solid Pick #2 – Lifestealer

Naix, or better known as Lifestealer, has always been up and down in popularity as well. He is a strength hero that isn’t afraid to run at your face, which means the enemies always need to time their spells and combos at the perfect moments. Why is Lifestealer so good in 7.24 though? The most recent balance updates have changed much of his kit, including Rage giving movement speed instead of attack speed, and Feast giving him +15/30/45/60 attack speed per level. So let’s go ahead and highlight some of the top points for why you should play him right now.

  • The Feast change. The fact that he gets 60 additional attack speed once the ability hits Level 4 is very strong. It seems as though you no longer need to purchase as many attack speed items because of this, meaning you can go ahead and purchase a damage item instead.
  • RAGE! Who doesn’t love a built-in BKB? It’s not even an ultimate ability either! Rage is simply one of the best non-ultimate spells in Dota 2, and easily one of the most useful as a carry. I could go on and on about why this ability is great but let me try to cover the biggest points. First, you can negate all magic abilities and become magic immune for 3/4/5/6 seconds, with the ability having an 18 second cooldown. Magic immunity will always be one of the most important concepts in Dota 2, which means Lifestealer will often have his time to shine. To expand upon the magic immunity, you can almost always get out of trouble if you just hit Rage and instantly teleport out. Always keep this in the back of your head and play safe if needed.
  • RAGE V2! Rage was also changed in 7.23 to give movement speed. This is very valuable on a melee hero because it allows them to chase the enemy easier. Give him Phase Boots, a Sange and Yasha, and his strong talents to make him very hard to catch. His level 15 talent allows you to choose either +25 movement speed or +30 damage. To make him even harder to kill and chase down, I’d go with movement speed. You’ll also have an easier time running after those pesky support heroes before your Rage duration runs out.

Lifestealer is overall just a great pick at this point in Dota 2. He’s a great carry that offers good matchups against many heroes that are popular already or increasing in popularity such as Sven, Spectre, Phantom Lancer, and Bloodseeker.

All of his abilities are strong and can contribute very positively to his kit if built right. You can use him to save your teammates by increasing their health when you Infest inside of them, or save yourself and increase your HP while you are Infested in a non-hero unit.

Solid Pick #3 – Slark

Slark is one of those Dota 2 heroes that is just a pest to play against. He can weave in and out of fights, steal your stats, become untargetable, and dispel enemy items and abilities. It seems that one of the top ways to play agility-based carries is to build a Diffusal Blade on them to drain the enemy heroes mana. Slark is one of the best at using a Diffusal Blade because of all the stats the item gives. So why should you play Slark in 7.24?

  • Slark’s Essence Shift ability. Slark can steal the agility from his enemies by just right-clicking them. This is great against other carry heroes because it can slightly lower than attack and movement speed. With the introduction of neutral items, more heroes have become even tankier. Support heroes finally can acquire some items without having to directly farm.  What does this tankiness mean? Well, it means that fights will have a higher chance of lasting longer than before. So heroes that temporarily steal stats like Outworld Devourer and Slark because even deadlier the longer a fight goes on. On top of that, if Slark kills an affected enemy hero, he permanently gains +1 agility.
  • His early game. The most popular skill build to start the match is by leveling his Essence Shift. When you play Slark in the safelane and you’re a melee offlane hero like Axe, Magnus, or Earthshaker it can become a nightmare to lane against him because you just can’t trade right-clicks with him. Top that off with a support alongside Slark in the safelane and it doesn’t look too favorable for the offlaner.
  • His level 10/15/20/25 talent tree choices. Slark has very strong choices in his talent tree.  You have the options to tank up with +10 Strength, 20% Lifesteal, or become an even stronger early game killer with +6 Agility and +25 Attack Speed. Decide which you want to go for based on the heroes you are playing against and the pace of the game. Additionally, going for +1 second Pounce Leash gives you 4.25 seconds of attacking an enemy hero which is pretty damn good! The biggest and most important talent choice in my opinion is at Level 25 when you should absolutely pick +80 Essence Shift Duration. That means you get to keep the stolen agility for 180 seconds, or THREE MINUTES. Make sure you remember that if you hit Level 30 you get all talents unlocked.

In conclusion, Slark is just strong right now because all of his abilities fit in the meta and with team fights seeming to last longer now than ever before, Slark accels with his short cooldowns and stats stealing. I’d recommend basing your item choices on how the match develops, but a typical build is going Power Treads, Diffusal Blade, and then I would pick two of the following: Silver Edge, BKB, Skull Basher.

Rising – Troll Warlord

Troll Warlord is a very unique hero in Dota 2 as well. He is one of the only heroes that can change between melee and range attacks. This makes him very versatile and useful in many situations where other heroes would not be. He is very in-your-face and not afraid to run at the enemy carry because he thrives in 1v1 situations. 

If the enemy has a long range carry like Drow Ranger or Sniper, or even a melee carry like Sven or Antimage, Troll Warlord will thrive because he loves being in your face. Troll also hasn’t really been used frequently in the past year, so IceFrog has been rather generous with his buffs. It appears now is his time to rise up and take over as one of the better carry choices.

  • Troll Warlord’s Fervor ability. If you continuously attack one hero you will gain 15/20/25/30 attack speed for up to 12 stacks. This means you can gain up to 360 attack speed if you don’t switch targets. Similar to Slark’s Essence Shift ability, Ferver is extremely useful now because of those increased duration in team fights due to having tankier heroes that survive for a longer period of time.
  • Whirling Axe’s is Troll’s ability when he is in melee form. It deals up to 200 damage and provides a 60% miss chance on heroes right-clicking him. Not only that, but it only costs 50 mana at all levels. He excels at jungling and I would recommend waiting until the seven minute mark and heading to the jungle to help your team grab some neutral items. Save your Whirling Axe’s for when you’re about to go into battle with a right-clicker and more often than times you will win that exchange if you have about equal farm with the enemy carry.
  • Battle Trance is Troll Warlord’s ultimate and it is mainly used when you are on low health and are about to die. While he uses his ult, Troll cannot die and has 40% / 60% / 80% lifesteal. This is a crazy amount of lifesteal and it means that he can quickly go from no health to almost full health if he’s farmed enough. If the game lasts long enough and you get to Level 25, you should without a doubt pick his talent “Battle Trance Strong Dispels” because if you get stunned you can hit your ultimate and immediately get unstunned.

Troll has been getting picked more and more often as of late due to his buffs and adjustments to his abilities. He’s not afraid to run at you and will more often than not kill the enemy carry if he finds them in a one versus one situation. He also has a wide variety of items you can build that make him effective.

Give him many stats and go a build like Phase Boots, Diffusal Blade, Sange and Yasha, BKB, Skadi. Or, some players are going Phase Boots into Battle Fury which increases his farm by a heavy amount and gives him no trouble against illusion-based heroes like Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, and Chaos Knight.

Worth Checking Out – Juggernaut

Juggernaut hasn’t been too favored lately, but as of recently he has also been receiving slight buffs from IceFrog. Since 7.24 was released his win rate has went up over 2%, eclipsing 50%, and his pick rate went from 12% to 17% according to Dotabuff. So why is Juggernaut now being favored a bit more than he was prior to the release of 7.24?

dota 2 carry heroes

He has been basically the same hero for many years now with not very many changes coming like how we’ve seen complete reworks for others. He still has his Blade Fury, Healing Ward, Blade Strike, and ultimate Omnislash.

Juggernaut appears to be coming into favor because of slight buffs to him over the course of time and his versatility. Most recently he received +4 base damage and +5 movement speed, meaning that his early game is slightly stronger. The movement speed is very important on Juggernaut because when you are chasing down a hero with his spinning Blade Fury, if you are just as fast or even faster than the opponent you’re likely to get a first blood or early kill in general.  Early boots is always beneficial for this exact reason.

Jugg is also very useful with his Blade Fury because, similar to Lifestealer, you can become magic immune for five seconds and instantly teleport out of trouble. His Healing Ward remains a solid ability as well in case you get harassed early and need to heal up quick without going back to the fountain. His critical strike and ultimate are great abilities that give you solid damage output too.

He is another very versatile hero because with his critical strike, Battlefury is always a viable option to farm the jungle or creep waves fast, while also posing a threat to illusion-based heroes.  If you don’t want to go the Battlefury route, he is another agility-based hero that diffusal works extremely well on.

Phase Boots, Drums, Diffusal Blade, Manta Style are also good items to pick up on him which make him a good teamfighter in the mid to early game. Overall I could see even more buffs coming to Juggernaut because he doesn’t seem like an overpowered hero by any means, but a solid pick that will come into favor as we move along in time.

Thanks for reading the Top 5 Dota 2 carry heroes you should be playing right now! Repeat.gg is one of the world’s largest automated online esports tournament platforms and has several Dota 2 tournaments available for you to join right now. Sign up and start earning!

10 Biggest Esports Tournaments in 2020

By
Justin Amin
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0
esports tournaments

Esports is evolving faster than ever before thanks to its competitive nature. These are 10 of the biggest esports tournaments to look forward to in 2020.

With the esports industry surging into the new decade, there will be much more action this year than last. At its core, the scene thrives around competitive video gaming and competitive gaming peaks at offline, or lan, tournaments. Esports encompasses many events but only the biggest esports tournaments truly highlight the industry’s reach. The following is a list of esports tournaments in 2020 you probably already have your eye on, and should if you don’t.

10. Hearthstone World Championship

Starting off the list is the Hearthstone World Championship, the finale for the Hearthstone Championship Tour. Every year, the best 16 Hearthstone players in the world gather to compete for the title of Hearthstone World Champion. From the four regions of the Americas, Europe, Asia, and China, there are four players per region. 2019 even brought a shift to Hearthstone esports, changing the competitive system from points earned to three different tiers of competitive play.

In 2020, Activision-Blizzard will be doubling the number of Masters Tour stops from three to six events. This also means that the prize pools will be increased due to the additional events. On top of that, each Masters Tour has a guaranteed $250,000 in base prizing per events, excluding crowdfunded prizing.

In 2019, Hearthstone made headlines with the Blizzard-Blitzchung controversy and Chinese player Li “VKLiooon” Xiaomeng winning the Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals. This year, Hearthstone will have expectations to beat the negative press associated with the brand. 

9. EVO 2020

EVO, short for the Evolution Championship Series, is the largest gathering of fighting game tournaments in the world. Though fighting games aren’t always at the forefront of esports news, they have a special place in competitive gaming.

The fighting game community (FGC) existed for dozens of years and kept competitive spirit within themselves. For EVO 2020, there are nine supported titles including Tekken 7, Street Fighter 5, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and many more.

Jobs in U.S.

8. Overwatch World Cup

Activision-Blizzard’s Overwatch, one of the newer esports in the industry, continues to be a top title in the scene. But the Overwatch League, a franchise system where 20 teams compete in seasons throughout the year, has been losing some of its glory.

A big sign of this was Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles and Chris Puckett, two of esports’ top broadcasting talents, leaving their positions after disagreements with OWL leadership. Though fans may be displeased with OWL decisions, the Overwatch World Cup continues to stay strong. 

This tournament casts aside teams and franchises, moving in for regional groups instead. Players and teams are established based on home countries and regions. Overwatch World Cup provides a different viewing experience watching players who wouldn’t normally be on the same side, work together to fight for their country.

South Korea usually trumps opposing teams, but in 2019, the underdog United States team fought hard and took the title. In 2020, will the U.S. defend their throne or will South Korea take it back? Another unexpected team might even take this year’s victory. Based on the last couple of years, 2020’s Overwatch World Cup will take place in the fourth quarter of 2020.

7. ESL One: Rio 2020

ESL One: Rio will be Electronic Sports League’s first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major event of 2020. From May 21 to May 24, 24 teams will compete in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a $1 million prize pool.

Although smaller competitions existed in Brazil, a CS:GO Major never hit the country until now. ESL One: Rio will be sponsored by Valve as a Major tournament and is much more prestigious than most tournaments teams participate in. Much of this event’s excitement comes from a large scale competition for a top esport in the first half of the year.

Most esports host their big events towards the end of the year to wrap up an annual season. CS:GO esports doesn’t follow the same format and fans will be thankful to watch a Major so soon.

6. Call of Duty League Championship

The past few months saw lots of major news in esports and one of the most exciting was the launch of a new esports franchise, the Call of Duty League. Activision-Blizzard reformatted CoD esports similar to that of the Overwatch League and ESPN’s Jacob Wolf reported that each of the 12 franchise teams paid over $25 million for a spot in the league. With such large figures, this league has plans to stick around for a while. 

Call of Duty League uses Modern Warfare for their competitive title this year and the competition has already begun. Launch weekend was January 24 and the season’s quarter point is fast approaching.

Esports fans will keep their eyes on the league to see how much success the inaugural year gathers. Call of Duty League released their 2020 schedule but details on Championship Weekend are still unavailable. It’s likely championships will occur mid-August.

5. League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational

esports tournaments

League of Legends takes the boat when it comes to hype and the Mid-Season Invitational properly transitions through the middle of the year. Esports competitions really pick up during summer as competitive seasons end and rivalries thrive.

For the top esport, MSI is a huge event to showcase the season’s victors. MSI bridges Spring and Summer, featuring the Spring Split champions from all the competitive regions. The main players here help dictate what the World Championship will look like. Riot Games has not revealed any details about MSI yet since the competitive seasons just began.

4. FLASHPOINT Season 1 Championship

One of the latest and largest recent esports announcements was the first CS:GO league owned by teams was launched. A CS:GO league owned by teams is just part of the news. FLASHPOINT, organized by B Site and FACEIT, already holds a $2 million prize pool in 2020 and aims to compete with ESL and DreamHack. 

FLASHPOINT’s broadcasting talent includes big names like “Thorin”, James Bardolph, and “Montecristo”, who recently left Overwatch League, ensuring that every viewer will be entertained. The championship event for FLASHPOINT will be huge since the first season of a brand new league could very well make or break future opinions. It’s currently unannounced on exact competition dates.

3. The International 10

Dota 2, a MOBA developed by Valve, holds the title for the largest prize pool for an esports event. The International (TI) is Dota 2’s annual world championship highlighting the best teams. Throughout the year, teams compete for Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points, which lead to the qualification for TI. In 2019, The International 9 boasted a prize pool of $34 million, a new record for Dota 2 prize pools.

TI holds a reputation of absurdly high prize pools where competition climaxes. Dota 2 team OG Esports won TI9 and TI8, claiming back-to-back bulk prize pools and cementing their players as the top esports earners for 2019. Esports communities everywhere will wonder how big the prize pool for TI10 will become. It will definitely attract viewers’ attention when it comes around August-September in Sweden. 

2. Fortnite World Cup

esports tournaments

In 2019, Epic Games’ Fortnite held their first successful Fortnite World Cup, a wildly successful competition. Fortnite experienced a surge of popularity in the past couple of years with the advent of the battle royale genre. With the primary audience being American youths, many fans were unsure of esports’ status in a community that may not thrive. However, the 2019 Fortnite World Cup disproved that. With viewership figures on YouTube giving Fortnite the number one spot, Epic Games deemed the event a success.

The 2019 Fortnite World Cup made national news even after the competition as then-16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf won the Solo event and a $3 million prize. A legal non-adult American to win that sum through competitive gaming changed the public’s view on esports.

As of now, Epic Games has not announced an official date for the 2020 World Cup, but based on 2019, it will likely take place in the summer. 2019’s event received lots of coverage and this year’s tournament will hold even higher expectations.

1. League of Legends World Championship

As the pinnacle of esports, League of Legends constantly beats other esports titles when it comes to hype. Produced by Riot Games, League of Legends competition consists of splits throughout the annual season, the Spring Split and Summer Split. At the end of the full season, the best teams from each region, go to the League of Legends World Championship stage to duke it out for the finals. 

League of Legends Worlds 2019 even reached all new milestones in terms of how many viewers tuned in. According to Riot Games, the World Championship brought in more than 100 million viewers and a peak of 44 million concurrent viewers during the finals between FunPlus Phoenix and G2 Esports.

Although League of Legends tournaments don’t offer as much prizing as other titles’ tournaments (Worlds 2019 had a prize pool of just over $2 million), the esport continues to be a top performer. Worlds 2020 is something every fan looks forward to in October-November and Shanghai, China will host the competition.

Want to earn money playing your favorite games? Sign up with Repeat.gg and enter tournaments for League of Legends and Dota 2. We’re launching Fortnite and other games in 2020, so stay tuned for those!

League of Legends Guide to Playing As Support Champion

By
Brandon Borrelli Yi
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0
League of Legends Guide

Support may be the most underrated role in MOBA; the following is a League of Legends guide to help you get started as a support champion.

So you want to learn how to play support in League of Legends, eh? Well, you have come to the right place. Over the course of this guide I shall get you up to speed and ready to stand toe-to-toe with the very best.

What is a Support?

Supports are champions that dwell in the bottom lane (unless your name is Nubrak) and get their namesake from the fact that they are ‘supporting’ another champion, namely, the attack damage carry (ADC).

Many people have this image of supports being all about healing and providing shields, but in reality that only makes up a very small percentage of support champions. If you feel like solo-carrying the game, why not play Pyke and assassinate your way to victory? Maybe you feel like being the front line tank, keeping your teammates out of harms reach whilst simultaneously setting up picks, then maybe you should give Nautilus a try. Hell, maybe you feel like being a jack of all trades, and you want to do it all, damage, picks and utility, then perhaps you should give the ghostly Morgana a try.

The point is, in reality, you can make anything work in any lane, and that sentiment rings all the more true when it comes to the support role.

How Do You Play Support?

There are many aspects to playing support, and your play style will differ depending on what champs you are playing. For example, on someone like Pyke, you will be looking for roaming opportunities to be able to get your mid laner fed. On the other hand, champs such as Yuumi prefer to stick closely with their ADC, in order to get them as ahead as possible whilst also minimizing self-risk.

So let’s dive into some of the key aspects of the support play style that applies to pretty much any champion played.

Starting Items

If you are used to playing roles like top or mid, you will no doubt be accustomed to the “Dorans” items and other common starter items, such as Corrupting Potion. However, supports have their own line of specialized items that help keep them relevant throughout the course of the game. There are four of these ‘support’ items: Spellthief’s Edge, Spectral Sickle, Steel Shoulderguards and Relic Shield. 

Image result for Spellthief’s Edge

They fall into two categories, poke and farm, with each category containing an AP and AD variant, for poke you want Spellthief’s (AP) or Spectral (AD), and for farm you want Shoulderguards (AD) or Relic (AP). Farm-based support items tend to be picked on tankier champs who are there for setting up picks, allowing them to supplement both their own and their ADC’s gold. On the other hand, poke based items are usually picked on mage and enchanter supports, as it allows them to constantly be raining down damage on the enemy, whilst allowing their ADC to farm freely.

The support items are unique in the fact that they have quests that allow them to upgrade, the quests are to earn 500 and then 1000 gold using the item, allowing for a total of 2 upgrades, These upgrades not only improve the stats of the item, but also turn them into warding trinkets, perfect for gaining vision control with.

Early Ward Spots

As a support, it normally falls on you to secure vision control of the map, now let me make something clear before I continue, supports are not the only people who should ward, everyone should be deploying wards. If someone tells you that it is purely the job of the support to ward, then it is safe to assume that they don’t know how to play the game and are hard stuck Iron 4. 

Moving on, vision is extremely important at all stages of the game, but perhaps the most crucial time is in the early game. Early wards have the potential to save you from ganks, or even allow you to turn the tables on the ganker, securing yourselves a kill. They also allow you to track what the enemy jungler is up to, allowing for counter jungling opportunities, or sneaky objective kills.

Some of the best early spots to ward are:

Images courtesy of blog.gamersensei.com

Roaming

Opposite to what many fledgling ADC’s may tell you, your job is not only supporting them. Your job is to support your entire team, and there is no better way to do this than with roams. The key to a good roam is picking the right time for it. The ideal time is when you have forced the enemy ADC out of lane (even better if the support is gone as well) and you have shoved the wave up to the enemy turret. Whilst your ADC may be looking to recall here, this is the perfect opportunity for you to waltz up to the mid lane and look for plays there.

Being an effective support is all about maintaining your up time, always looking for something more you can do. If it is not possible to set up a play in mid due to your mid laner being way too pushed up, then look for a deep ward in the enemy jungle, or look to secure an objective with your jungler. Only ever back when you have to, when you are low on health/mana or you can afford an item spike. 

The Importance of Counter Vision

Whilst warding is good and allows you to see the enemy, you are not the only team that is able to place wards. The enemy team can do the exact same, allowing them to shut down your plays. This is where counter vision comes in. Once you have your support item upgraded once, you should get rid of your yellow warding trinket in exchange for an Oracle Lens (Henceforth referred to as sweeper). 

The sweeper allows you to see enemy wards for a period of time and destroy them, this is best used in spots of high ward activity, such as Drake/Baron pit and near buff camps. You can also purchase Control wards in the shop for 75 gold apiece, allowing you to nullify enemy wards and destroy them if you so wish. Do bear in mind that beginning to destroy a ward once nullified will grant vision to the enemy for a brief window, so it is best to not destroy them whilst in the process of taking an objective.

League of Legends is all about strategy and understanding your opponent’s strategy. It’s why we and so many millions of people love playing and watching the game. Hopefully, these tips on playing support in League of Legends will allow you to get a flying start in the role. Good luck on the Rift!

Repeat.gg is an automated online esports tournament platform that has several League of Legends tournaments currently running. Sign up now and join one of the few free-to-enter tournaments with cash prizes!

Repeat.gg Is Looking For Volunteers For Customer Support

By
Jeff Shull
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0
repeat volunteers

Repeat has recently started offering 24/7 chat support and will always be looking for volunteers to give their time assisting other users.

Repeat.gg is always looking for ways to improve our product. We offer 24/7 chat support and will always be looking for need volunteers to give their time assisting other users when issues arise.

There will be a rewards system in place, such as earning moderator status in our Discord and knowledge of features prior to launch, for any user who qualifies to join the volunteer support team. We take notice of any go-getters, and volunteers may have the opportunity to become casual, part-time, or even full time employees. (The person heading our support team started as a volunteer!)

You can work from wherever you are in the world. In fact, we will be looking for members who are abroad and can speak multiple languages to make sure we are able to assist every single one of our customers.

This role will be non-paid to start, and doesn’t have to specifically be for customer/chat support. We may need help in other areas as well! The below qualifications are a way to get started on this process.

  • Are you at least 18 years old?
  • Do you speak fluent English?
  • Are you willing to volunteer for 6 hours every week?
  • Are you going to be available for the entire duration of your shifts?
  • Are you on Discord?

If your answer to ALL of the above is “YES”, then please complete the application here.

We will only consider volunteers who take their job as seriously as we do ours. So please, serious applications only!

Repeat.gg is a online tournament platform for gamers, by gamers. We currently feature Fortnite and Dota 2 tournaments with more games coming! Sign up now to begin earning.

10 Biggest Esports Titles in the World by 2019 Viewership

By
Justin Amin
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0
Biggest esports titles

The esports industry wouldn’t be where it’s at now if it weren’t for the 10 biggest esports titles in the world leading the charge.

Esports has become much more competitive in recent years and not just with teams. Esports titles themselves constantly compete by trying to capture players’ attention. Nowadays, the best way to capture which esports are considered the best is via player viewership.

The 10 biggest esports titles in the world based on player viewership are listed below. Viewership numbers will be based on the SullyGnome data for Twitch, currently the largest streaming service, from the beginning to the end of 2019. Note that titles making the list are considered esports games and that not every game qualifies as an esport.

If you are only here to steal our awesome infographic, feel free to skip to it by clicking here.

10. Call of Duty – 82,721,834 hours

Call of Duty esports began through local tournaments, slowly evolving up to the current franchise scene. The competitive scene truly began when FaZe Clan uploaded their first montage. Though it’s rarely one of the top scenes, the Call of Duty esports scene exists and performs consistently for years.

This year with the release of Modern Warfare, the esports scene made a dramatic change. Activision Blizzard announced the Call of Duty League, a new franchised esports league with 12 city-based teams who reportedly paid $25 million each to join. Modern Warfare had 9,444 average viewers during 2019, though the game launched in the last few months.

biggest esports titles

9. Teamfight Tactics – 176,254,205 hours watched

Teamfight Tactics takes the ninth spot on the list with an average of about 20 thousand viewers. Launched in June 2019, TFT kicked up the movement of the “auto-battler” strategy genre.

Although TFT is technically just a game mode in League of Legends, the game is drastically different from League, so much so that Twitch recognizes Teamfight Tactics as its own game category. It’s nothing new to the esports community, but TFT’s entire game model originated from Valve’s game mode, Dota 2 Underlords. 

8. Player Unknown Battlegrounds – 248,315,861 hours

Just above Overwatch when it comes to viewership numbers is Player Unknown Battlegrounds, another battle royale game with a grittier style to it. PUBG holds an average of 28,349 viewers on Twitch. Boasting a mobile game as well is a sign of their success. PUBG comes marketed towards any and all gamers, encouraging both casual play and competitive play in PUBG Global Esports.

While mobile numbers were not disclosed, PubG Mobile was ranked in the Top 10 for most viewed games on YouTube in 2019. Mobile gaming continues to be a massive market for the younger audience.

7. Hearthstone – 250,216,025 hours

Hearthstone remains a top esports title even with a largely different genre than the rest. A digital card game released nearly six years ago starring characters from Blizzard’s World of Warcraft universe, Hearthstone developed its esports scene throughout the years, relying a lot on the collegiate scene in Tespa which awards $150 thousand in tournament scholarship money.

Hearthstone viewership stats increased recently for headliner news with the Blizzard-Blizchung drama and the first female GrandMasters Champion. Hearthstone garners an average of 28 thousand viewers in 2019.

6. Overwatch – 284,088,177 hours

Even after facing many changes in recent months to solve the meta problems, Overwatch still shines as a top esport. Buffs and nerfs have been rampant to eliminate the GOATS meta and now the double-shield meta.

Though the community is unsatisfied with how Blizzard is proceeding, the Overwatch League franchise keeps a strong viewer base. In 2019, Overwatch viewership peaked at 321,314 viewers on Twitch. With weekly hero bans in place and OWL becoming exclusive to YouTube, Overwatch heralds an exciting future holding an average view count of 32,433 viewers.

5.  Apex Legends – 347,320,949 hours watched

Next on the list is Apex Legends, a high-movement battle royale game. Launched just over a year ago, Apex swept the entire esports scene immediately upon launching and it was the No. 1 played game in the world for a short time.

Apex Legends hit 10 million players after three days, 25 million after one week, and 2 million concurrent in that week. Since launch, the number of Apex players and fans has drastically dropped from a peak viewership of 674 thousand last February to a 2019 average of 39 thousand viewers.

The game obviously lost a ton of steam among fans, but Apex Legends continues moving forward, entering Season 4 just a week ago and debuting a new professional league this year.

4. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – 457,874,735 hours

Older PC gamers are all too familiar with Counter-Strike, a tactical first-person shooter with an emphasis on team play. Like Call of Duty’s Search and Destroy mode, this game is a suspense thriller when watching it.

Global Offensive is the latest title in the series with a competitive format consisting of large scale tournament series, like ESL One, DreamHack, and ELEAGUE, known as Majors and Minors. CS:GO held an average viewer count of 52 thousand on Twitch.

3. Dota 2 – 503,022,570 hours

Dota 2, also known as Defense of the Ancients, is a MOBA game that truly started the genre. Developed by Valve, the game grew massively in popularity with The International, the pinnacle of Dota 2 competition each year.

This world class event makes headlines each year with bigger and bigger prize pools. Last year’s prize pool garnered over $34 million, gathering more and more attention, and this year will surely be more. With the help of The International 9 and the dedicated fanbase, Dota 2 held an average viewer count at 57,429 viewers.

2. Fortnite – 1,054,128,758 hours

In 2020, every list of the biggest esports titles will include Fortnite. The game that truly revolutionized battle royales, Fortnite captures youth audiences and recently took advantage of an esports scene with the Fortnite World Cup, boasting a combined 2019 prize pool of $30 million.

The solos tournament was won by then-sixteen-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, who took home a cool $3 million. Fortnite averaged 120 thousand viewers on Twitch in 2019. Fortnite is also the only game on this list with publicly announced YouTube numbers of 60 billion views in 2019.

1. League of Legends – 1,118,435,546 hours

Unarguably the biggest esport title for years now is League of Legends. Although the MOBA game was taken from Dota, developer Riot Games optimized the game for beginners and marketed the game to all audiences.

Every PC gamer knows of League, especially with growing audiences for their World Championship and streamer culture. League of Legends averages 127 thousand viewers at any time. 

Full Infographic

Today’s 10 biggest esports titles made their way here through solid games and strong community support, paving their way to becoming an esport. Just like within the games, the esports scene is also competitive, with a new hit that can appear at any time. TFT and Apex launch in 2019. Which game will launch in 2020 and become the next biggest esport? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and let us know.

Repeat.gg is one of the world’s largest automated esports tournament platform. Sign up today to start earning cash and prizes in League of Legends and Dota 2. Stay tuned for Fortnite and other games coming in 2020.

How Apex Legends Went From Most Played In The World To What It Is Now

By
Jordan Oliver
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0

Apex Legends grew at a mind-boggling pace initially, but has since fallen off in the eyes of many. We take a look at how that happened.

Apex Legends, for a moment, had it all. Respawn’s buttery smooth battle royale first person shooter (FPS) was an overnight sensation in February of this year. Strong influencer support, respected gaming mechanics in a thought out universe, and its free-to-play nature born EA a seemingly golden goose. So how did the new titan of battle royales go from most played worldwide in its first month to where it is now? 

While the hype machine may have slowed, recent user-base milestones (70 million anyone?) and future plans suggest fans can expect a lot more from Mirage and the merry band of characters duking it out in the Titanfall universe. 

Reaching the Apex

To say the launch of Apex Legends was unorthodox is an understatement when talking about EA. Started by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, EA is known for its aggressive and slow burn marketing campaigns designed to get gamers to purchase the title before it’s even released. EA can hype AAA games for years before launch, annually spending around six hundred million dollars on such campaigns. 

Most Popular Streamed Games from Jordan Oliver on Vimeo.

To hear of a new squad and hero based FPS from the makers of Titanfall (owned by EA since Q4 2017) on a Sunday, and be playing it on Monday was utterly shocking to the gaming community. That was the plan.

EA and marketing lead, Arturo Castro, knew their best chance to avoid pre-release controversy and the game’s best mechanics being pirated was to simply give the game to players and let them decide its value for themselves. If it was good enough, players might not be as eager to roast the loot box system and create industry news like they did during the shaky tenure of EA’s Battlefront 2. 

In regards to his atypical approach, Castro states “The idea of long-form campaigns was being challenged… Beyoncé famously drops her album, and day one it becomes a massive hit. Kanye West did the same thing… Why couldn’t it work for games?”

Going Viral 

In a 2017 press release, Electronic Arts (EA) announced it was following the industry trend and would be allocating a more significant portion of its marketing budget to influencer marketing. Fast forward to February, 2019 and influencers are the keystone to the Apex launch. EA reportedly paid Tyler “Ninja” Blevins a fat million dollars to stream the game on day one. Dr. Disrespect, another popular streamer, also featured the battle royal regularly in the weeks and months following release. 

In the game’s first eight hours online it reached one million players. That month would see it hit 50 million. Fortnite took 16 weeks to do the same and had finally been dethroned. Nine months later though, and the future isn’t so clear. Fortnite is back at number two, League of Legends is sitting comfortably at the top, and Apex is fourth and dropping in stream viewership. Was paid influencer marketing truly the only key to Apex Legend’s meteoric rise?

Players were not solely driven to the Respawn title because of the viral launch. The fact is, the game was good. The mechanics were lauded as being smooth, characters fun, balanced and likeable. Apex redefined the format PUBG and Fortnite had made so famous. 3 person squads, sixty players instead of one hundred, and a fluid in game respawn system that would later be adopted by competitors. 

It was fun and squad-based play that Respawn Entertainment set out to deliver. A more mature experience, layered with weapon attachments, armor, and special abilities that rewarded team play, and exploring the rich environment of King’s Canyon. The revolutionary “ping” system will forever change console communication. Respawn project lead, Drew McCoy said at a preview event “This isn’t a game anyone expected us to make, especially us at Respawn… We chase the fun.”

“I feel most alive when rapidly approaching my death”

– Caustic, Apex Legends

Fun, in the long run, wasn’t enough. Despite an estimated $92 million in revenue across platforms, the game’s user base and engagement started dropping. The hype wore off and a lack of updates and new content meant there was nothing left for the transient Fortnite and PUBG players. 

Influencers brought players in, but developers would have to keep them coming back. Bugs, rampant cheating, and unsatifying patches were enough to drive away impatient hardcore players. The lack of new maps, characters, and guns quickly dominated the social conversation. Once faithful streamers started to leave the game when the checks stopped coming in. Often times blaming the games overuse of on-screen graphics and small issues that consistently went unlatched. 

It seemed Respawn couldn’t keep up with player demand. The developer released a statement that their aim was to avoid industry famous “crunch” and instead focus on creating quality improvements to the game.

Growing Pains

In February of 2019 the game quickly garnered a player and user base of 50 million strong. It would take another 8 months to attract an additional 20 million. It’s now clear that Apex Legends is not going to replace the likes of Fortnite. Despite this precipitous fall off in new users, the future of Apex Legends is actually quite bright. 

In the ups and downs since launch, Respawn has caught its stride and found its place in the Battle Royale ecosphere. Season 3 brought a new map, another new character and some much needed updates to game mechanics. With cheating nearly eradicated, the developer has been focusing on quality of life improvements and creating limited time and themed events (like this year’s Halloween event). World building and character development have come at a slower pace than the average gamer would no doubt prefer, but the recent quality of updates and increased frequency have been worth the effort. 

The Future is in Their Hands

Apex Legends brought in an estimated $45 million from in-game spending in October across console and PC, up from $16 million in September, where they didn’t crack the top ten. This makes it the most profitable period since the game’s launch quarter. It seems as though listening to their core community is working. EA has been quick to notice the missed opportunity in letting Apex lose market dominance. With a commitment to give the people what they want, EA announced a partnership with Valve, which should see the title arrive on Steam sometime next year.

Steam will provide a natural boost to user numbers and also indicates that players may finally get one of the most frequently requested features. Cross-play. Cross-play between consoles and PC has the potential to not only save the title, but also help further position itself for expansion into Esports. 

EA has also announced plans to launch a mobile version of Apex, with a clear eye on entering the billion dollar mobile market currently dominated by PUBG Mobile in Asia. A successful launch could see the franchise completely reinvigorated. The developers are undoubtedly pulling out all the stops to see Apex enter the tournament circuit. Developers have also promised the title will be available to play on Microsoft and Sony’s next gen systems.

The Apex Legends story isn’t over. EA’s unicorn may have let slip that unexpected number one position, but its biggest success is that it hasn’t failed. In fact, there are big plans as Respawn Entertainment looks to the future; and the recent success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order should only help give credence to their capability. A recent Golden Joystick award for “best multiplayer game of the year” shouldn’t hurt either. 

Apex Legend’s first year may have just been one big marketing campaign after all. Hopefully developers don’t solely focus on market expansion and continue to deliver fun content and player feedback driven patches. The pace at which they can deliver said content will most likely be the ultimate factor. Can EA and Respawn hold their footing and satiate the appetite of hungry battle royale gamers? Will Respawn remain a Titan, or will they fall? Drop into World’s Edge or keep it locked on Repeat.gg to find out in 2020. 

Repeat.gg hosts new tournaments each week in Dota 2 and League of Legends, with more games like Fortnite coming soon! Sign up now and begin competing today.

Repeat Patch Notes Release For January 2020

By
Jeff Shull
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0
repeat patch notes

These are the latest Repeat patch notes which went live on the website in the month of January, including major updates to the payments and results.

Repeat.gg made several exciting changes during the month of January and we’re equally as excited to share these updates with you. Below you’ll find a list of everything that went live as fixes or improvements to our platform. We’re always working to make things better for you to improve the overall experience and that will always be our mindset. We appreciate your patience as we work through issues and hope you can enjoy the fantastic updates made already and those that are coming in the future.

To view the patch notes from December, click here.

Patch Notes for January:

Upgrades

  • Sped up tournament results by more than 10x (instant results are coming soon!)
  • Increased the speed of tournament payouts by more than 5x
    • We will look to increase the speed at which users get paid out whenever possible and were able to increase this speed by 5x in January.
  • Optimized tournament scoring to allow for new tournament styles
    • We have several new tournament styles coming soon, so we updated the scoring to ensure the best results possible for our current and future games.
  • Improved match history process and speed
  • Updated the buttons and user interface for full tournaments
  • Updated messaging for tournament prize pools to be more clear

Bug Fixes

  • Optimized tournament entries
  • Fixed bot matches being recorded in some instances
  • Fix invalid CSRF token errors on logins – Improved login functionality
  • Optimized adding Game IDs and region control fixed
  • Login and verification process updated and changed for new users

Design/Aesthetics

  • Landing page redesign
    • We gave the home page (repeat.gg) a fresh, new look that you can expect to trickle to the other pages on the website, including a big change to the tournament pages.
  • Landing page design for mobile
    • Optimized the website to improve user experience for all mobile screens

Payments

  • Added credit card payment via direct link to PayPal CC
  • Optimized purchases and bugs fixed around deposits

Repeat.gg is an online video game tournament platform where users can earn cash or coin by competing in their favorite video games. Dota 2 and League of Legends are currently live, with Fortnite and others to come this year. Sign up now to begin competing!

Dota 2: Best Support Heroes in Pro Scene in Previous Patches

By
Chandan Padhi
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0
Dota 2 Best Support

Everyone can agree the support role in Dota 2 is one of the more underappreciated but important roles in the game. These were the best in previous patches.

Winning matches, in general, is difficult if you don’t know which hero to pick. In Dota 2, most heroes can be played on several roles depending on the meta, the tactics, or game plans of the team which has been displayed time and again to the audience by the pro players.

But everybody will agree that the support role is the most important role as well as most underappreciated in the world of Dota 2. Let’s take a look at the best of these based on win rate. 

Keeper Of The Light: 51%WR

Also called Gandalf by the community, KotL has been nerfed quite a bit in patch 7.23 after it was picked a lot due to earlier tweaks. Changes to his ultimate have made him even more efficient in team fights.

He’s great to harass the enemy carry and disrupt their laning stages. His ultimate, which has been completely changed, makes him a great crowd controller now. Will-O-Wisp causes the enemies to be hypnotized with a flicker count. Hence it’s really good for team fights. 

Dazzle: 52%WR

Dazzle is one of those supports which hasn’t received many tweaks in this patch. His Poison Touch ability deals a lot of damage early in the game. Shallow grave protects an ally close to death and provides that extra bit of life which can be a game-changer at times. We see dazzle get picked a lot both in pro as well as the pub scene.

Earth Shaker: 50%WR

One of the most popular AOE damage heroes, Earthshaker has always been a favorite of the crowd as well as players. Echoslam stuns and does a lot of damage depending on number enemies around. We already have a popular 6 million dollar echo slam done by Team EG in case you’re looking for examples.

Ogre Magi: 52%WR

One of the tankiest supports, Ogre Magi is very good at ganking and is almost not kill-able during the early game. Harassing the enemy carry with his skills is so effective and is damaging at the same time. His ultimate Multicast is passive which enables him to cast his items and abilities multiple times clearly as u can suggest from the name of the skill. 

Grimstroke: 48%WR

Launched alongside TI8, Grimstroke has become an offensive support and is one of the most picked in the pro scene. His ultimate binds two enemies, preventing them from moving away. Any ability cast on the enemy will also be received to the other enemy bound by soul bind. The ability to silence, stun, damage and to control the enemy is why Grimstroke is a lovely pick.

Shadow Shaman: 50%WR

Shadow Shaman has always been a great support. His abilities to disable and damage the enemy is great for the early game as well as late. Incredible for pushing and defending towers as well. His ultimate Mass serpent wards are great for pushing enemy towers and can be used as a Defense as well if the enemy is pushing in your lanes.

Interested in earning cash and prizes competing in Dota 2? Repeat.gg offers many ways to earn and add new tournaments weekly! Sign up now to begin competing today.

Highest Earning Countries in Esports in 2019

By
Xander Tuenissen
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0
highest earning esports countries

Esports industry earnings continue to skyrocket as the business grows; these were the highest earning countries in esports in 2019.

These days, we hear about the influx of new money into esports on a daily basis. Yet, it remains surprisingly hard to pin down how much of it is going around in our scene at a given time. Estimates by market watchers can vary substantially. It’s still hard to put an actual price on viewership and most of the industry’s companies only publish financial information in the form of marketing materials.

Fortunately, there is at least one other solid indicator that we can use and that’s prize pools. How much our athletes take home compared to the years before tells us something about how far we’ve come after all. It also gives us an idea of what the biggest markets in our industry currently are, although we’re of course only measuring that by winnings and not total players.

If you are only here to steal our awesome infographic, feel free to skip to it by clicking here.

The Top Ten

For this year, Esports Earnings lists the following top ten highest earning countries:

Numbers taken as of Dec 9, 2019.

RankingCountryPrize money+/-Players+/-
1 (1)United States$38,182,823.25 +28.35%4721+21.2%
2 (2)China$18,323,315.48 +0.05%962-20.6%
3 (3)South Korea$16,258,958.61 +13.79% 1020+20.5%
4 (5)Finland$9,612,301.18 +28.82285-19.5%
5 (8)France$8,973,797.61 +42.48%944-1.7%
6 (4)Denmark$8,657,475.46 -18.01%376-9.4%
7 (9)Canada$7,054,547.24 +39.14%791+7%
8 (11)Australia$6,234,305.28 +45.93%760+1.7%
9 (7)Sweden$6,026,858.86 -4.88%424-19.8%
10 (13)United Kingdom$5,780,587.48 +79.49%672-15.4%

Highest earning countries of 2019

In brackets is their position on the list last year. Similarly, the percentages denote a comparison to its 2018 performance.

There are some interesting things to unpack here.

Search Jobs in the U.S.

Follow the Money

So far this year, we’ve seen a total prize pool of $209,317,612.01 (as of Dec 9). Last year this number was $162,754,167.19. This is a 28.61% increase. Of this money, the top ten countries earned $117,950,565.53 this year. That was $109,513,716.42‬ a year ago. This, in turn, is a 14.24% increase.

On top of that, last year saw the prize money for the top ten distributed between 10,950 players. This year that number was 10,955, an increase of only five.

These numbers suggest that esports’ growth, at least in the professional segment of these countries, has almost entirely been an increase in prize money and not one of player base.

Prize money share by country

The Elephants in the Room

So now we know that there is, relatively, the same amount of money at the top. Yet if we look at the percentages, the distribution of these winnings has strongly shifted. France, Canada and Australia, for example, have seen a strong increase in money, while staying on a similar number of players. Finland and the United Kingdom saw big increases as well on even fewer players.

These changes can be explained in two words: Fortnite and Dota.

In 2018, Epic Games made a commitment of $100,000,000 to its Fortnite esports circuit. It was made halfway through the year, however, and the first official World Cup only took place this July. Which means that this year is the first where we see the full effect of this.

Similarly, Valve’s premier Dota 2 event, the International, has grown from a “humble” $1.6 million get-together in 2011 to a $34,330,068 crowd-funded juggernaut this year. Its winners, OG Esports, took nearly half of this money, which greatly shifts the balance in their respective home countries. (Johan “N0tail” Sundstein’s country of Denmark benefited less from this, as Danish CS:GO squad Astralis really messed up the 2018 stats with all the winning they did that year).

China and Russia did a lot less well in Dota this year, which is reflected in their standings. The latter country even comes in at a twelfth position for 2019, after being the sixth earner twelve months ago.

The weight these games’ relatively few events have on their overall circuits is reportedly one of the reasons Counter-Strike pros rejected Valve’s proposal to create a similar event for their game. It does mean CS:GO is now the third highest paying game in esports, down from the second position last year.

RankingGamePrize money
1Fortnite$64,422,992.50
2Dota 2$46,951,099.34
3Counter-Strike: Global Offensive$21,542,825.02
4PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS$12,890,294.86
5OVERWATCH$9,587,036.77
6League of Legends$9,149,456.80
7 Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 $6,517,557.00
8Arena of Valor$5,801,003.19
9Rainbow Six Siege$4,658,181.49
10Hearthstone$4,567,263.29

Highest paying games of 2019

Imbalanced growth

In conclusion, it’s safe to say, economically, esports is still doing very well for itself. It is slightly worrying that two games have such a big influence on the overall rankings though. In the same vein, the fact that 59% of the prize money is concentrated in the top ten countries is understandable, but perhaps not the best for long-term growth.

Highest Earning Countries Infographic

If anything, we hope that in 2020 we can even this out a little, to support and grow the smaller scenes. But of esports still being here by then, there should be no doubt.

Repeat.gg has several free-to-enter tournaments currently live! Sign up now and compete in League of Legends or Dota 2 tournaments.

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