The VCT 2025 Stage 2 season has wrapped up, sending the best teams from around the world to Paris for the highly anticipated VALORANT Champions. However, the road to Paris revealed some very telling numbers about the state of competitive VALORANT across different regions. According to data from Esports Charts, while some leagues are gaining momentum, others are struggling to maintain their audiences.

VCT EMEA Shows Steady Growth

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa experienced a steady climb in peak viewership this season. VCT EMEA reached 274,774 peak viewers, a big jump from 199,788 in 2024. The average viewership also grew slightly, moving from 96,376 to 99,337. This growth is even more impressive considering the league had a longer broadcast schedule of 123 hours compared to last year’s 90 hours.

Matches like BBL vs Team Liquid and Team Heretics vs M8 drew huge crowds, with over 200,000 viewers tuning in. Interestingly, the Grand Final between Team Liquid and GIANTX did not make the top five most-watched matches, showing that earlier rounds still generate some of the biggest hype.

VCT Americas Faces Decline

While EMEA grew, the story in the Americas was less encouraging. VCT Americas suffered a significant drop, with peak viewership falling to 295,084 from last year’s 394,975. Average viewership also dropped sharply from 203,829 to 155,558.

The most-watched series was 100 Thieves vs LOUD, peaking at 295,084. LOUD continued to be the main driver of audience numbers, featuring in most of the top matches. However, this season saw no playoff matches making it into the top five most-viewed games, a worrying sign for the league’s competitive draw.

Language distribution highlighted the region’s popularity in different markets. English streams led with 168,793 peak viewers, followed closely by Portuguese at 145,933, with Spanish streams drawing 62,780. Still, compared to last year’s massive finals, the league’s viewership volatility is hard to ignore.

VCT Pacific Reaches New Heights

In contrast, the Pacific league was a major success story. VCT Pacific peaked at 426,912 viewers, a massive increase of nearly 100,000 compared to the previous year. The grand final between RRQ and Paper Rex was the season’s most-watched matchup, proving the playoffs are a huge driver of excitement in this region.

Other big matches included RRQ vs Talon and PRX vs Talon, confirming RRQ and PRX as the biggest audience magnets. Although the average audience dipped slightly from 163,033 to 155,918, the record-breaking peak viewership shows strong momentum heading into Champions.

Interestingly, Japanese-language streams, which dominated last year, saw a decline from 235,302 to 153,488. English broadcasts, however, climbed to 142,313, signaling a shift in the region’s fan engagement.

VCT China Shows Promise

China’s VCT league recorded mixed results, with peak viewership slightly dropping from 39,601 to 37,537. However, the big story was average viewership, which more than doubled from 5,027 to 10,555. This indicates the league is building a stronger and more consistent base of international fans.

The most popular match of the split was EDG vs Trace Esports, while other strong showings included FPX vs Wolves and the Grand Final between DRG and BLG. Since Chinese mainland viewership numbers are not fully tracked, the true size of the audience may be much larger than reported.

What This Means for VALORANT Esports

With VCT 2025 Stage 2 wrapped up, the data shows that VALORANT esports is continuing to grow globally, but the growth is not evenly spread. The Pacific league is booming with record peaks, EMEA is holding steady, China is steadily building its fanbase, but the Americas are seeing worrying signs of decline.

As all four regions send their top teams to Paris for Champions 2025, Riot Games will be looking closely at how these viewership trends carry into the year’s biggest tournament. With $2.25 million on the line and global bragging rights at stake, Champions could either stabilize or further expose the volatility in VALORANT’s regional popularity.

 

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