This year marked the tenth World Championship in League of Legends competitive history – and it certainly was a memorable one. Although our road to Worlds presented us with unique challenges – [pivoting to a single-city tournament][1], the [Vietnam Championship Series unable to travel][2], and having no live audience until the Finals – putting on the best show possible under the safest conditions was our ultimate goal.
The event kicked off with Play-Ins at the Shanghai Media Tech Center, introducing a mixed-reality stage that allowed us to travel virtually through the elements and bring the city of Shanghai indoors. Play-Ins in particular attracted significantly more viewership than in previous years, no doubt a result of the pent-up demand for top-tier esports competition after a season impacted by the global pandemic. Over the course of 38 Play-In matches, fans watched 160.92 million hours of play, a 61.76% percent increase from the same period in 2019, and the AMA increased 87.18% YOY to 3.6 million.
In total, the World Championship recorded more than 1 Billion Hours Watched, the highest ever, and we strongly felt your support!
[1]: https://lolesports.com/article/2020-world-championship-starts-sept.-25/blt2237ab89da64fb68
[2]: https://lolesports.com/article/worlds-2020-update-format-changes/blt844a57584da327bf
As we wrapped up at the Shanghai Media Tech Center, our sights were set on the Finals. The newly-built SAIC Motor Pudong Arena welcomed 6,312 live fans after we were taken aback by the 3,205,750 people – all who needed to be a Level 30 player or higher – who registered to come see the show live.
This year, we saw our first ever Finals Pentakill which was impressively pulled off by [Suning’s Bin on Fiora][1]. The Finals Pentakill is the first ever seen in a Finals match, and the twelfth overall in Worlds history.
[1]: https://twitter.com/lolesports/status/1322514268500185090?lang=en
PENTAKILL FOR BIN'S FIORA! #WORLDS2020 pic.twitter.com/pmgr2Jz2Gm
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 31, 2020
Despite this memorable victory in Game 2 of the Finals, Suning eventually was overtaken by DAMWON Gaming for the World Championship title in a 3-1 victory. With their impressive Worlds run, DAMWON Gaming put everyone on notice that Korea’s LoL Esports legacy was not a thing of the past.
The Finals were broadcast in 16 languages and across 21 platforms. After collecting, validating, and standardizing the data from all over the world, we are excited to share that the World Championship Finals has hit another record breaking 23.04 Million Average Minute Audience (AMA).
We could not have pulled off an event that included 114 games without the support of our twelve global partners including four new ones: Bose, Cisco, Mercedes-Benz, and Spotify. These prestigious brands joined our lineup featuring Red Bull, Mastercard, OPPO, Alienware, Louis Vuitton, Axe, Secretlab, and State Farm.
Worlds 2020 exceeded our expectations and projections in numerous ways, though we’re most proud of this number: Zero positive tests for COVID-19 among our players for more than a month of the competition.
Thank you for cheering us on throughout the challenging but memorable 2020 season. We learned a ton, proved our resiliency as a sport, and we’re looking forward to returning stronger than ever for Worlds 2021 with a grand multi-city tour of China.
