Most popular esports teams of Q1 2025
The first quarter of the year delivered plenty of surprises, thrilling matches, jaw-dropping comebacks, and astonishing plays for esports fans around the world. Every title had its own underdogs and standout performers, and not all fan-favorite teams and players found success at the start of the 2025 competitive season.
Top esports teams by viewership in Q1 2025
There were no surprises in League of Legends: T1 remains the most popular team not only in the game but in all of esports. Throughout the first quarter of the year, the team averaged nearly 800,000 concurrent viewers per match, significantly more than any other top team across all other titles. Expectations were sky-high for the reigning world champions to make a strong start to the season, but things didn’t go as planned.
Heading into 2025, T1 made a major roster change by parting ways with veteran top laner Choi “Zeus” Woo-je. Early in the season, the team also began experimenting with its bot lane lineup, with academy player Sin “Smash” Guem-jae stepping in to replace Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyung during the LCK Cup 2025. The results didn’t live up to expectations, and Smash wasn’t the only one to blame: T1 crashed out of the tournament in sixth place, missing the chance to compete at the newly introduced international event, First Stand.
Fans were outraged by the sudden lineup changes and even began staging protests outside the team’s headquarters in Seoul. Despite direct intervention from T1 CEO Joe Marsh, which resulted in Gumayusi’s reinstatement, tensions have hardly eased: fans continue to demand leadership changes. A deep run in the LCK 2025 Season could have helped calm the waters, but the team has struggled to find form, losing half of its opening matches and currently sitting in the middle of the standings.
Most popular esports teams Q1 2025
Shifting our focus northeast of Korea to Indonesia, we find the most popular Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports team, RRQ Hoshi. Much like T1 in League of Legends, Rex Regum Qeon has been the undisputed audience leader in its game for years, and 2025 has proven to be no exception. In the first quarter alone, RRQ Hoshi averaged over 576,000 concurrent viewers and may have found its biggest international rival for the rest of the year.
While the MPL Indonesia season is still unfolding and its storylines taking shape, fans’ attention in Q1 was largely directed at the international stage, namely the ESL Snapdragon Pro Series. RRQ Hoshi delivered a modest performance at the APAC Finals, barely scraping into the playoffs before falling in the first round to eventual champions ONIC Philippines.
Despite finishing just 5th–6th in the regional finals, that was enough to qualify for the Snapdragon Masters event, where RRQ stepped up and made a run all the way to the grand final, only to be stopped once again by ONIC Philippines. There’s little doubt RRQ has revenge on its mind, and it’s very likely the team will get its shot this summer at the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2025.
Team Spirit has claimed just one trophy so far in the new season / Photo: Stephanie Lindgren/BLAST
In Counter-Strike, the start of the season was mostly dominated by the revamped Team Vitality in terms of results. But when it comes to viewership, the most popular team of the year so far is last season’s breakout sensation, Team Spirit, led by their superstar donk. The team’s matches averaged over 421,000 concurrent viewers in Q1.
Team Spirit kicked off the year on a strong, though not flawless, note. Out of the top-tier tournaments they attended, the team secured just one title (BLAST Bounty Spring 2025) but consistently placed within the top four at others. On two occasions, they were stopped by none other than Vitality. No doubt, the Serbian-Russian team will be eager to get their revenge as the season unfolds
In North American Valorant, a new fan-favorite may be emerging, not just in terms of competitive performance, but also audience engagement. For a long time, Sentinels held the undisputed top spot in viewership, but that crown now appears to belong to G2 Esports’ North American roster. The team averaged 371,000 concurrent viewers across their matches in Q1, largely thanks to their impressive run to the finals of the season’s first international event.
G2 Esports kicked off the season with a bang, winning the VCT Americas Kickoff by defeating none other than Sentinels in the grand final. They further cemented their status as regional leaders at VALORANT Masters Bangkok 2025, where they came just one map away from claiming the trophy, but ultimately fell short against their rivals from T1.
For now, it looks like G2’s dominance in the Americas is here to stay. In the regional league that began in late March, they remain the only undefeated team and have already secured their spot in the playoffs, where they’ll enter as clear favorites.