Dota 2 took the lead in August’s Top 10 Games on Twitch by Esports Hours Watched, climbing three spots to surpass Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and Hearthstone. Dota 2’s The International tournament helped the game generate 38.2 million esports hours, or 65% of its total hours watched on Twitch. League of Legends held onto second place with 19.7 million esports hours watched thanks to the European and North American LCS playoffs. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive dropped two positions to #3 due to a lack of major tournaments in August in contrast to July, generating 6.5 million esports hours watched.

The strongest climber last month was PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG), entering the ranking for the first time at #6, with 2.3 million esports hours watched. This can be attributed to a successful Gamescom Invitational. Interestingly, esports hours only accounted for 3% of its total hours watched on Twitch, and PUBG was the #5 most played core PC game in August according to our PC Game Tracker. Rocket League rose in the ranking for similar reasons, jumping five spots and taking #8 with 1.6 million esports hours watched. Its growth was driven by the Universal Open Season 1, which contributed 50% of the total hours Rocket League was watched on Twitch.

Newzoo’s Twitch Tracker is one of many solutions within our esports intelligence portfolio. Together, they power Newzoo’s landmark Global Esports Market Report and complement Newzoo’s Esports Consumer Insights service covering 28 countries.

PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS Takes #1 by Total Hours

PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS claimed the #1 spot in August’s Top 20 Games on Twitch by Total Hours Watched with 73.8 million hours. This marks the first time League of Legends has failed to take the top spot since we started our Twitch Tracker service in October 2015. PUBG’s growth was due to increasing popularity in terms of players and streamers. Some of the most popular Twitch streamers mainly played PUBG last month, which attracted impressive viewership numbers. League of Legends dropped one spot to #2 and Dota 2 climbed two positions to take #3.

The fastest climber in last month’s ranking was StarCraft: Remastered, climbing 88 spots to #18. The remastered version of the 1998 RTS video game and expansion pack were released on August 14, causing the game’s significant rise after being quickly picked up by streamers and broadcasters. The second largest climber was Path of Exile, taking spot #8 thanks to the release of an expansion pack, which attracted attention among popular streamers.

Dead by Daylight entered the top 20 at #16, gaining 10 positions due to the release of the DLC “A Lullaby For The Dark” at the end of July and Summer Bloodfeast Community Event. Other new appearances on the list were made by Rocket League and The Elder Scrolls: Legends at #17 and #20, respectively.