Sport remains one of the true levelers in the world today, capable of inspiring and educating in equal measure. More importantly, it remains one of the most important topics of discussion worldwide, and that spills over to video games, where the demand for sports and racing titles is always high.
This is why many content creators devote their time to this genre, producing the best content for their followers. Of course, some of these names are more popular and successful than others, which is what Streams Charts will list below.
Most watched Twitch sports categories in Q1 2023
FIFA 23 is the most viewed sports game of the first quarter of this year with 78.61M Hours Watched. This football simulator title by Electronic Arts has been at the forefront of its genre since 1993, and with the split between FIFA and EA, it surely is the end of an era. Another football game, FIFA Online 4, is the eighth-most watched category at 6.18M HW.
The Sports category comes in second after notching an hour-watched count of 75.25M. With so many sports events happening, including many football seasons across the world reaching an end, the viewership has remained healthy. Rocket League rounds off the podium by recording 31.06M HW, showing that it remains incredibly popular as a watchable esport on many platforms, especially Twitch.
Chess, which saw a renaissance during the pandemic lockdown era, is fourth via 23.52M HW, thanks in no small part to the likes of Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura regularly streaming their matches. Poker comes in next after registering 17.29M HW, thanks to the number of tournament and sponsor broadcasts still being pretty high.
NBA 2K23, one of the most popular sports video games, is sixth thanks to a lofty 9.30M HW, and it remains one of the most popular games to stream. Madden NFL 23, which often boasts record viewership numbers during esports events, amassed 7.28 HW to take the seventh spot, and with its popularity, it will continue to appear in such lists. Car racing simulators TrackMania and iRacing completed the top ten after accumulating 5.42 HW and 4.99M HW, respectively.
Most watched sports streamers in Q1 2023
The most viewed sports streamer is the official Kings League channel by a country mile, as it achieved 35M HW during the first three months of 2023. The league, co-owned by Barcelona and Spain legend Gerard Pique, has been a success and revelation in terms of viewership, even selling out games at the legendary Camp Nou.
Second is the official Rocket League channel with 4.17M HW, thanks in large part to the slew of tournaments held over the first quarter of the year, with much more action promised as we head into the summer. Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura is third with 4M HW, as the streams of his and other games have been a huge hit and helped chess gain an almost-renewed following globally.
Coming in fourth is xQc — whose main sports category in Q1 was Psyonix’s massively popular vehicular soccer video game Rocket League — as he also collected 4M HW, with the Twitch megastar’s popularity seeing no signs of abating. Brazilian content creator Casimito rounded off the top five after gathering 3.48M HW (his top game was sports), which might be a little on the low side considering he topped this list for 2022.
Spanish Twitch sensation ibai — who actively covered Kings League — comes in sixth with 3.43M HW, which is sure to rise as the esports season progresses. Next is the official Chess channel, which hit 3.31M HW, and with the rise in popularity of the game, fans can expect it to post more such numbers through 2023.
The last three spots go to individual channels gerardromero, handongsuk, and runthefutmarket, which recorded 3.25 HW, 2.59M HW, and 2.24M HW, respectively.
