The International Esports Federation (IESF) has revealed the games to be featured at the 15th World Esports Championship, scheduled for August 2023 in Romania. CS:GO, Dota 2, Tekken 7, eFootball, PUBG MOBILE, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang will be included in the event, with no changes to the lineup since the previous edition held in Bali, Indonesia in 2022. According to the IESF’s website, the female CS:GO tournament, supported last year by GIRLGAMER, will also return.
The World Esports Championship, one of the longest-running esports tournaments worldwide, is unique for showcasing national teams from IESF member countries rather than esports organizations or teams. PUBG MOBILE and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) were first introduced to the event last year, boosting viewership. With over 670,000 peak viewers, the 2022 MLBB tournament became one of the most-watched events of December 2022.
However, overall viewership has been relatively low, with the combined viewership of CS:GO, eFootball, Tekken, Dota 2, and PUBG MOBILE totaling just over 102,000 views in last year’s edition, according to Esports Charts data. Tekken and CS:GO experienced the lowest viewership, with the former peaking at just over 3,000 viewers and the latter at around 5,700 viewers.
MLBB’s success may be due to the presence of a national team-based MLBB tournament at another popular event in the scene, the SEA Games. The final match between Indonesia and the Philippines was the most popular at both the SEA Games 2022 and the IESF World Esports Championship.
Despite lackluster viewership for five of the six games last year, IESF President Vlad Marinescu remains optimistic, stating, “We are thrilled to announce that the same six tremendously popular game titles will be featured in the upcoming championship.”
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