Our Game Streaming Tracker shows that December 2018 was a great month for esports on console, with four console-first esports titles making it into our top 10 games on Twitch (by live esports hours). These titles are FIFA 19 (#5), Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (#6), Street Fighter V (#7), and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (#8). Apart from Street Fighter V, all of them are new additions to the ranking. The four games together accumulated 7.2 million hours of live Twitch viewership in December 2018. In this article, we will explore the esports performance of each of them.

FIFA Scores Impressive Esports Numbers in December

Plenty of big FIFA 19 esports competitions took place in December, including the FUT Champions Cup November (November 30 to December 2), PGL FIFA 19 Cup Bucharest (December 8 to 9), and Gfinity FUT Champions Cup December (December 14 to 16).

This led to FIFA 19 producing 2.3 million hours of live viewership on Twitch in December 2018 , with over 90% of this coming from EA’s official Twitch channel.

, with over 90% of this coming from EA’s official Twitch channel. During the same period in 2017, FIFA 18 (the previous title) generated just 20K hours of live Twitch esports viewership. That means that FIFA 19 produced more than 100 times more viewership a year later.

of live Twitch esports viewership. That means that FIFA 19 produced more than 100 times more viewership a year later. This spike was expected, as only a few smaller-scale FIFA tournaments took place in December 2017. Still, the impressive numbers for 2018 are a testament to EA doubling down on its FIFA esports offering.

Black Ops 4 Helps Call of Duty Esports Boom

Black Ops 4, the newest entry in the Call of Duty franchise, has fared well with critics, players, and now esports viewers.

The title’s first major esports competition was CWL Las Vegas, which took place from December 7 to 9 and kicked off the 2019 CWL season.

Black Ops 4 generated 2.3 million hours of live Twitch esports viewership in December 2018 , compared to 1.7 million hours for last’s year’s game, Call of Duty: WW2, which featured a similar big competition, CWL Dallas. That’s year-on-year growth of 35%.

, compared to 1.7 million hours for last’s year’s game, Call of Duty: WW2, which featured a similar big competition, CWL Dallas. That’s year-on-year growth of 35%. The vast majority (93%) of live Twitch viewership for CWL Las Vegas came from the official Activision channel.

Street Fighter V Enjoyed Popularity but Declined Year on Year

Street Fighter V was featured in two high-profile esports competitions in December 2018, namely the Capcom Cup 2018 and the GEICO Championships 2018.

The game was viewed live on Twitch for 1.3 million hours in December 2018, down from 1.6 million hours in December 2017 .

. Capcom’s official Twitch channel accounted for 86.5% of live Twitch viewership in December 2018.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Joins the Esports Battle

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released in December 2018. The Smash community has long been split, with many opting to play 2001’s Super Smash Bros. Melee over newer releases.

The narrative around Ultimate’s esports scene, however, has been far more positive. Many notable Melee players have embraced the newer game.

This is reflected in our Game Streaming Tracker data. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate generated 1.1 million hours of live esports viewership on Twitch , a remarkable feat for a game in its release month.

, a remarkable feat for a game in its release month. This is also 20% more live Twitch viewership than the previous Smash title, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, produced in December 2017.

CS:GO Shoots to the Top on Twitch

Twitch’s most watched game by live esports hours was CS:GO, which only just edged out November’s #1, Dota 2.

CS:GO’s ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals took place between December 4 and 8, so this was somewhat expected. League of Legends, however, again held onto the #1 spot on YouTube .

. Meanwhile, Hearthstone jumped two positions to #4 on Twitch , mostly due to the HCT Sweden by DreamHack and HCT Philadelphia.

, mostly due to the HCT Sweden by DreamHack and HCT Philadelphia. Owing to the strong performance of console titles, Overwatch dropped five positions to #9 on Twitch .

. Mobile esports climbed back up the YouTube ranking, with both Arena of Valor and Clash Royale jumping three positions to #2 and #3, respectively.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

While this article includes data from December 2018 and is in line with our Game Streaming Tracker posts so far, a change to our YouTube data collection methodology was implemented on January 1, 2019. The details of this change and their impact will be highlighted in our next article in February.

Newzoo’s Game Streaming Tracker

Looking to track the world’s most viewed games, identify top streamers, or pinpoint esports heroes? Newzoo’s Game Streaming Tracker offers the most comprehensive overview of the game-streaming market. Updated daily, the tracker includes instant insights on the number of hours watched, hours broadcast, and the average number of viewers for various metrics, such as games, esports broadcasters, streamers, publishers, and genres.

Want to know more? Contact Fabrice Zaumseil, fabrice@newzoo.com, to request a demo of our Game Streaming Tracker.