Most popular esports games in 2025 so far

Image credit: Colin Young Wolff/Riot Games

Recent reports have shown that the esports scene in 2025 has already been booming in viewership and prize pools.

It shows that while some games have wasted no time in hosting events, other’s have steadily declined in both commitments and viewer engagement.

According to Esports Charts, several games are already hosting events watched around the world and awarding millions in prizes.

Top Games Include League of Legends, VALORANT and CS

To probably no one’s surprise, League of Legends (LoL) once again tops the charts in terms of peak viewership for esports games in 2025. On February 13th the game saw nearly 2m viewers at one point during the LCK Cup 2025.

In second place we have VALORANT, with peak viewership of over 1.3m during this year’s Masters Bangkok Grand Finals. Despite having fewer ongoing tournaments than LoL, it has offered a richer prize pool overall at $750,000 so far.

Image Credits: Riot Games, Colin Young-Wolf

Counter Strike 2 (CS) is the last of the big three, with the highest number of ongoing tournaments at 10. As result, it has accumulated a staggering $3.7 million in total prize pool money. The highest prize pools were awarded at both PGL Cluj-Napoca and IEM Katowice 2025 at $1.25 million each.

Is 2025 the Year for Mobile Esports?

Within Esports Chart’s top 10 esports games of 2025, three of them are classified to be on mobile platforms.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, a 5v5 MOBA on iOS and Android that recently launched in China, ranks fourth, surpassing Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Dota 2.

Its Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 APAC challenge finals attracted a peak viewership of over one million. 2024 was also successful with 167 tournaments, including the $3m EWC X MLBB Mid-Season Cup.

Another notable mobile game to highlight is Honor of Kings, another 5v5 MOBA game. Though not as successful as LoL, it boasts a larger total prize pool of over $300,000. With 85 tournaments in 2024, 2025 could prove to be even bigger.

Surprise Esports Games Falling Behind This year

Beyond the top 10, there are a few surprise titles that have not seen as much activity so far this year.

Marvel Rivals, the latest hero shooter craze, has topped Overwatch 2 in prize pool and viewership in 2025 so far.

Where Overwatch has offered $65,000 and has a 147,000 peak viewership, Marvel Rivals has given away $200,000 and over 175,000 peak views.

Other noteworthy titles ranked between 20-11 include Call of Duty, Rocket League, Street Fighter and Free Fire.

Though with this year’s Esports World Cup introducing several games in its catalogue this year, a resurgence in viewers may be on the horizon for several of these games.