Counter-Strike 2 became the most-watched esports title in the second quarter of 2026
The analytics agency Stream Hatchet has published its Q2 2026 Live Streaming Trends Report. According to the study, Counter-Strike 2 managed to unseat the long-time leader, League of Legends, from the top spot in the global ranking by total viewer hours.
Valve’s shooter surpassed its competitor in total viewing hours across all global streaming platforms. Experts noted that the shooter and MOBA genres have completely displaced other genres from the top ten of the global esports rankings. At the same time, analysts noted a major shift among the platforms themselves: TikTok Live captured more than half of the live-streaming market (50.9%, or 8.9 billion hours), surpassing all traditional platforms combined. By comparison, Twitch, which holds second place, recorded 25.9% (4.5 billion hours), while YouTube Gaming accounted for only 10.3% of the global market (1.8 billion hours). The global total for all streaming during the quarter reached 17.5 billion hours.
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One of the biggest Valve-related tournaments of this period was the IEM Cologne Major 2026, which concluded on June 21 in Germany. Team Falcons emerged as the tournament champions, defeating FURIA 3–0 in the grand final.
Photo: Valve.
