2023 has been a huge year for the esports industry, with major new games being introduced and big audience figures racked up in the most popular tournaments. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, but the signs are there that 2024 is going to be another special year as this sector continues to grow.
Will LoL Worlds 2024 Break 2023’s Record?
The way that competitive gaming has gripped us can be seen most clearly in the viewership numbers for the League of Legends World Championship 2023, commonly known as LOL Worlds. It was confirmed on social media that this event had broken the previous record for esports viewers, with six million concurrent viewers for the first game.
This is the defining moment of the LoL season and T1 recently claimed the 2023 trophy in their home country of South Korea. As for the 2024 event, the latest news suggests that it will be held at The O2 in London, in the UK, on November 2 next year. Tickets aren’t yet on sale at the time of writing but we’re already looking forward to seeing if a new online viewership record gets set.
League of Legends has been the leading game in pro gaming for several years now. Released in 2009 by Riot Games, we’ve seen numerous updates like new quests and modes, but the big question is how long this game can stay at the top of the heap while newcomers are brought out every year.
The PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Introduces CS2
Perhaps the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 won’t be the biggest esports event of the year, but it’s going to be remembered as being the first time that Counter-Strike 2 is played in a Major. This event will be held in the Royal Arena in the Danish capital between March 17 and 31, giving us an early chance to see how the top teams are making the transition to the new game.
The decision by Valve to replace the classic CS: GO with the new CS2 provided one of 2023’s most controversial moments, as some gamers showed their unhappiness with the switch. This led to an influx of negative reviews and criticism, but the main esports tournament organizers have quickly confirmed that they’ll be moving to CS2 next year.
This is far from the first time that PGL has hosted an event of this nature, with their track record including the most-viewed CS: GO tournament (Stockholm in 2021) and the biggest indoor esports tournaments (Antwerp in 2022). You can make a bet on CS games in 2024 by looking at the latest odds online. Esports betting can be found for all the big events like the BLAST Premier and the ESL as well as on other games. Place your wager as the action is taking place or look ahead to upcoming matches you want to predict.
The International – Dota 2 Set for Big Changes
Valve is the organizer of this eagerly-awaited Dota 2 event, and they’ve already announced that 2024 will have some changes from previous events. They’ve mentioned that the coming year will have as many as ten Dota LANs, while they also plan to remove the Battle Pass and add some extra in-play features.
The 2023 version of The International was held in October, with Team Spirit finally triumphing in an emphatic manner, beating Gaimin Gladiators by 3 to 0. A prize pool of more than $3 million shows how important this competition is in the esports world and fans are already looking forward to seeing who wins it in 2024.
The pro Dota 2 circuit began in 2017 and quickly became one of the first massive esports tournaments. However, with Valve announcing the end of the pro circuit after this year`s matches, we’ll need to wait to see what happens from next year onwards.
New and Emerging Games
Valorant is another game that’s proved to be a hit and that has some big tournaments lined up for 2024 but is there a chance that newly released games bring a completely new event to the esports industry? Now, hopes are high for ZeroSpace, but it seems unlikely that we will see this game released in 2024.
Another possibility is the release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in 2022 help this game’s competitive scene to continue growing. Another interesting outlook is that the card battler called Shadow verse – or something similar from this genre – could really take off to challenge the first-person shooters and MOBA games that dominate esports.
For the moment, it seems likely that the big tournaments we mentioned continue to be the most important events in this industry. Yet, there are signs that esports are still evolving and that it could bring us new tournaments that help to broaden its appeal even further soon.
