Each year, Twitch hosts dozens of show tournaments as part of the Twitch Rivals series, drawing in the platform's most popular streamers. In 2023, content creators competed in both casual and esports titles, as well as determining champions not only in IRL competitions but also in classic chess matches. Which competitions attracted the largest audience?
The Most Popular Twitch Rivals Tournaments in 2023
The most popular tournament in the Twitch Rivals series in 2023 was the Twitch Rivals Squid Craft Games 2 (Survival Cup) featuring Minecraft. This was the second tournament in the Squid Craft series, which caused a sensation in 2022 by attracting over 2.2 million Peak Viewers. The original event involved only Spanish-speaking streamers, but organizers invited top English-speaking content creators such as xQc, Sapnap, Quackitytoo, Dream, Tfue, and others for Squid Craft Games 2.
Overall, the broadcasts of the second Squid Craft generated 22.6 million Hours Watched — representing 43% of all Twitch Rivals tournaments in 2023 and marking a record high in the series' history. For comparison, this was approximately the same as the viewership for IEM Katowice 2023 (Counter-Strike) or The Bali Major 2023 (Dota 2).
Twitch Rivals Squid Craft Games 2 also led in terms of peak viewership, gathering 1.68 million PV. If we were to compile an overall ranking of tournaments for video games in 2023 (in both esports and streaming), Squid Craft Games 2 would have secured the eighth spot based on viewership.
The top 10 most-watched Twitch Rivals tournaments of the year also included events featuring Rust, Elden Ring, Fall Guys, Party Animals, and other titles. Among the classic esports disciplines, Twitch Rivals Apex Legends TDM Drop In attracted the largest audience. Within the top ten tournaments, notable mention goes to Twitch Rivals Ultimate Challenge, Live from TwitchCon Las Vegas, where popular streamers competed not in computer games but in small challenges on stage in front of a live audience.
The Most Popular Twitch Rivals Channels in 2023
In Twitch Rivals tournaments, it's common to see the same popular content creators participating, often covering the competitions on their channels. In 2023, the most watched participant of Twitch Rivals was the Spanish streamer Auronplay — his channel generated over 4.1 million HW mainly due to events centered around Minecraft. In the second position was Canadian streamer xQc with 3.8 million HW, followed by the official Twitch Rivals channel with 3.79 million HW.
Speaking of peak viewership leaders, the top performer in this aspect on Twitch Rivals was Shadoune666 —he gathered over 690K Peak Viewers during his stream when he entered the decisive round of Squid Craft Games 2.
It's worth noting that among the top ten most-watched channels on Twitch Rivals, six were Spanish-speaking streamers, while the remaining four were English-speaking (including the official channel of the series).
The Most Popular Disciplines and Languages on Twitch Rivals in 2023
In 2023, organizers hosted 56 events as part of the Twitch Rivals series, including online tournaments and entertaining LAN events within the TwitchCon festivals. Most frequently, Twitch Rivals participants engaged in Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Minecraft. There were three events each for Apex Legends, Among Us, and classic chess. Competitions also took place featuring League of Legends, Valorant, FIFA, Escape from Tarkov, Rocket League, and other titles.
Overall, Twitch Rivals organizers strive to offer a diverse range of games, focusing not solely on traditional esports disciplines but also on entertaining games. These are titles where streamers don't necessarily need to showcase high-level skills but can simply entertain themselves and their audience.
Regarding popular streaming languages, the situation mirrors that of the most-watched channels. Leading the pack are Spanish and English, accounting for over 90% of the total viewing hours across all tournaments. Following at a significant distance are French, German, and Italian, making up around 9% combined. It's noteworthy that the top languages are predominantly European, whereas the shares for Japanese or Korean are quite negligible, despite there being several popular streamers from these countries on Twitch.
