The Honor of Kings World Cup (KWC) 2025 has become the game’s most-watched esports event, according to data platform Esports Charts.
With over 3m watch hours, the record marks a big milestone for the game as it continues to expand globally.
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The Honor of Kings World Cup 2025 achieved a peak viewership of 653,309 while it averaged 51,397 viewers across 71 hours of airtime. Despite its impressive viewership, last year’s Honor of Kings Invitational Midseason 2024, also at the EWC, did record a higher average viewership of 92,000.
It’s also important to note that Esports Charts doesn’t include data from Chinese platforms, such as Bilibili and DouYu. As a result, the actual viewership for the tournament could be much higher.
However, these numbers represent the highest viewership for the game in the West, with the English stream achieving a peak of 191,000 alone.
China’s dominance on show once again
That being said, the competitive gap between China and other regions was once again on full display during KWC. Both Chinese teams, TT Global and AG.AL, were directly invited to opposite ends of the single-elimination playoffs.
AG cruised through to the finals after dominant 4-0 wins against Alpha7 and Twisted Minds. TT Global also managed the same domination, although Nova Esports managed to take one game against the organisation in the semi-finals.
What also likely impacted viewership was AG and TT Global delivering a nail-biting finale.
While AG opened with a win, TT Global were able to win three games in a row to reach match point. AG, however, managed a comeback, pushing the series to a game seven and clinching the trophy.
With this intense action, it became the most viewed series of the tournament, followed by the semi-finals clash between Nova vs. Talent (108,184) and then the showmatch (103,928)
Interestingly, the showmatch achieved a peak of over 100,000 viewers and featured Honor of Kings stars. This included Jang ‘Hoon’ Seong-hun and Michael ‘Mobazane’ Cosgun, who were earlier supposed to play in the EWC, but in a different game: MLBB’s Mid-Season Cup.
Their team, BTK, which was signed by S8UL ahead of the MSC, was disqualified by MOONTON Games because Hoon and Mobazane competed in an Honor of Kings event earlier this year. The team announced last week that it was jumping ship to Honor of Kings completely.
What’s next for Honor of Kings esports?
The Honor of Kings 2025 esports roadmap features a total investment of $15m (~£11.2m) into regional leagues and three international tournaments – the Invitational, World Cup, and the International Championship.
The viewership numbers signify one thing: that Honor of Kings, which is the most-played mobile game in China, continues to expand its footprint globally.
The game will now return to regional leagues across SEA, the West, East, and Brazil, from where the top teams that qualify for the Honor of Kings International Championship will be decided. The final global tournament for the game will take place in November.
Source: https://esportsinsider.com/
