Six Invitational, MSI Lead a Big Weekend of Esports Action – Weekly Twitch Top 10s, May 17-23
It was a huge weekend for esports as both League of Legends and Rainbow Six Siege hosted their first international, in-person tournaments of the year. The games drew big numbers, once again highlighting the importance of international competition to the esports ecosystem.
Twitch’s Top Channel – xQc
Félix “xQc” Lengyel should probably send the operators of the NoPixel Grand Theft Auto V server a fruit basket at this point given the amount of controversy and viewership he’s mined from them. The top streamer on Twitch has been banned from NoPixel for a fifth time, naturally only surviving to boost his viewership.
The far more interesting story is that of Rainbow Six Siege and the Six Invitational. While the game had more broadcast time this week than Riot Games’ Mid-Season Invitational, the fact that its main channel could produce more watch time than the world’s leading esport hosting its first MSI in two years is significant. R6 had huge momentum after the 2020 Six Invitational, but like so many titles that momentum was crippled by the pandemic. Fortunately, it appears that demand for the game’s biggest tournament has been unshaken by a year without seeing the world’s best play against each other.
Twitch’s Top Content – Just Chatting
Going forward, Just Chatting may see a bit of a decline in viewership as the hot tub streamers using the category are moved into Twitch’s new hot tubs, pools, and beaches section. The category will still likely remain on top, but whenever Lengyel is inevitably unbanned again perhaps GTA could more consistently challenge for the top spot.
Also of note is the fact that the Six Invitational pushed R6 into the Top 10. It is fitting to see it ranked next to Apex Legends, and R6 serves as something of a predecessor to the resurgence Apex is currently experiencing.
Now, all eyes will turn to Valorant for the week-long Masters event – the first international competition in the game’s history. With a full week of competition, and increased viewership from popular content creators co-streaming the event (Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek actually had more viewers than the main competition broadcast on Monday), there’s simply no telling just how high Valorant will climb.
