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April 28,
2020
Q1 2020’s Most Impactful PC Games: COVID-19 Policies, Off-
Season, and a Rising Star
esportsobserver.com/q12020-pc-games-impact-index
For the fourth quarter in a row, Riot Games’ League of Legends
was the most impactful PC game. Being the landmark for the
most impactful
esports-related PC games, League of Legends was joined by
Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 , and
Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six
Siege as tier 1 games. For Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, it
was the first time the game reached the highest tier.
Several games that had a significant impact on the esports
ecosystem throughout the previous quarters improved or
downgraded on the
Impact Index due to a lack of esports competitions as novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) policies caused suspensions,
postponements, and
cancelations of several major esports events globally.
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This seasonality of esports competition is reflected in The
Esports Observer’s PC Games Impact Index for the first quarter
of 2020. For a
detailed breakdown of the key performance indicators that
determine a game’s index score, click here to review 2018’s
initial Impact Index
report.
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Year-Round Dominance
A major part of League of Legends’ dominance over the Impact
Index stems from the game’s enormous player base as it
continues to dwarf
other games’ player bases. During Q1 2020, League of Legends
had a player base almost three times as large as the Impact
index’s second
place: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Furthermore, the game
was the most-watched game on live streaming platform Twitch
in the first
three months of the year.
Most professional League of Legends regional leagues started in
mid-January and generated stable viewership throughout the
quarter. The
four major professional leagues of the Riot Games-run global
competition structure (North America, Europe, China, and South
Korea), all
were able to shift to an online format and return to official

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competitive play quickly in response to COVID-19
measurements.
An Early Start
An early start into its 2020 competitive year helped Counter-
Strike: Global Offensive secure the Impact Index rank 2 for the
second quarter in
a row. On Dec. 31, the BLAST Premier Spring Series was
kicked off in London, which saw FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, and
G2 Esports winning
their respective groups, qualifying for the Spring Finals in
Moscow, which have been since canceled due to COVID-19 and
replaced with
regional offline formats.
Probably one of the most bizarre esports tournaments ever, the
$500K USD Intel Extreme Masters XXIV – World
Championships in
Katowice hosted the last major international in-person Counter-
Strike: Global Offensive tournament for the time being. In an
empty arena,
which is usually filled by tens of thousands cheering their
favorite teams on, Natus Vincere claimed the title over G2
Esports in a lopsided
series. During that series, the three biggest broadcasts of IEM
Katowice 2020’s Counter-Strike competition combined for a
max concurrent
viewership (CCV) of 745.6K.
One Major Down
Rounding out the Impact Index’s top three is Valve’s Dota 2
for the second issue of the ranking in a row. One of the game’s
biggest events
of the year took place in January, as Team Secret came out atop
the $1M prize pool DreamLeague Season 13: The Leipzig
Major.

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The tournament, which was one of initially five planned Majors
for 2020 – two of which have been canceled since ( ESL One
Los Angeles
and EPICENTER Major 2020 in Moscow), generated 4.88M
hours watched on its English Twitch broadcast, while it’s
Russian-language
broadcast surpassed that amount with 5.48M hours watched on
the platform.
Out of all four tier 1 games of Q1 2020, Dota 2 has the smallest
player base, but the combination of viewership and esports prize
pools
pushed the game to rank 3.
A Rising Star
While Rainbow Six Siege’s Impact Index score certainly
profited from COVID-19 policies as the game hosted the highest
prize pool
competition of the quarter with the $3M prize pool Six
Invitational 2020 in Montreal, which acts as the game’s
informal World Cup, the
game has proven its impact on the esports ecosystem over the
last couple of years considering it is steadily rising in
popularity. The
game’s player base recently surpassed 55M.
The 2019 Six Invitational had seen a 300% increase in esports
viewership. This year the event grew once again, generating
5.37M hours
watched on Twitch over the full tournament compared to 3.01M
in 2019.
Tier 2 Shooter
Epic Games’ Fortnite once more occupied the fifth rank on the
Impact Index. While there were no major esports tournaments

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during the
quarter, a solid player base and Twitch viewership kept the
game relevant.
The Impact Index’s sixth rank, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare ,
saw it’s newly created franchised Call of Duty League kick off
on Jan. 24 in
Minneapolis. In addition, the game is rather popular with
players as it boasted the fourth largest player base of all ranked
game titles.
Compared to the Q4 2019 Impact Index, the game improved by
seven spots.
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Krafton Game Union’s PLAYERUNKOWN’S

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BATTLEGROUNDS downgraded three ranks being the seventh
most important PC game during Q1
2020. In the first three months of the year, the game saw several
smaller regional tournaments but no major global competition.
Rocket League, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, and Magic: The
Gathering Arena – The Midfield
The viewership and prize money contribution from the Rocket
League Championship Series Season 9 and the Rocket League
Spring Series
helped Rocket League secure rank eight on the Impact Index.
Hearthstone, which is one of the game ecosystems that
traditionally sees very little competition of the first quarter of a
year, only had one
major esports event during the period, the Masters Tour in
Arlington. The $500K tournament was won by French Helios
Gaming player
Zakarya “xBlyzes” Hail.
Judging by viewership and player base, the two most niche
games StarCraft II and Magic: The Gathering Arena ranked
tenth and eleventh,
respectively, in the Impact Index. Both titles were carried by
the scale of their esports ecosystems.
While the StarCraft series has faded somewhat from its former
glory, the Intel Extreme Masters – World Championships in
Katowice has
remained one of its consistent bright spots each year. This
year’s $250K prize pool tournament generated 1.14M hours
watched on ESL’s
official channel.
Meanwhile, Magic: The Gathering Arena’s most important
annual event, the $1M prize pool Magic World Championship,

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generated 1.49M
hours watched.
FIFA 20 and More Activision Blizzard Titles
Electronic Arts’ FIFA 20 claimed rank 12 on the Impact Index
for the second time after making its debut on the ranking in Q4
2019. The
game’s impact on the esports ecosystem is underlined by its
viewership and success of its esports initiatives, including the
FIFA eClub
World Cup 2020 and FUT 20 Champions Cup Stage, which took
place during the period.
As the Overwatch League was in its offseason during Q1, the
game’s viewership stats plummeted. Because the same was true
for
Overwatch’s whole esports ecosystem, with only one relevant
tournament held during Q1, the NetEase Esports X Tournament,
the game
lost three ranks on the Impact Index compared to TEO’s
previous Index.
The last two spots on Q1 2020’s ranking were occupied by
Activision Blizzard’s titles Warcraft III and World of Warcraft .
Warcraft III saw a
few smaller esports tournaments over the period, while World of
Warcraft’s main event of the quarter was another World’s First
race.
The esports initiatives of most games mentioned in this article
have been severely affected by COVID-19 policies. Check out
our COVID-19
coverage on all things esports business to learn about the latest
developments in the ecosystem.
Tags: Call of DutyCounter-Strike: Global OffensiveDota 2FIFA

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20FortniteHearthstoneLeague of Legends Magic: The Gathering
ArenaNewzooOverwatchPC GamesPC Games Impact Index Q1
2020 Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds Rainbow Six: Siege
Rocket
LeagueStarcraft II Warcraft IIIWorld of Warcraft
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https://esportsobserver.com/tag/world-of-warcraft/Q1 2020’s
Most Impactful PC Games: COVID-19 Policies, Off-Season, and
a Rising StarYear-Round DominanceAn Early StartOne Major
DownA Rising StarTier 2 ShooterRocket League, Hearthstone,
StarCraft II, and Magic: The Gathering Arena – The
MidfieldFIFA 20 and More Activision Blizzard Titles