Image courtesy of ESL
The ESL One: Cologne 2016 event was the biggest in ESL history.?
One of the biggest events in the CS:GO scene, ESL One Cologne, just ended on the 10th of this month. It crushed several records and the hosts themselves agree that it will go "down the history books as the world's largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event in the game's competitive history." Over 14,000 people attended the live event, filling the Lanxess Arena up to 72% capacity and creating a new record for ESL attendance.
While the online viewership numbers remained the last for the most part, the Twitch stream still gathered a very respectable 60,585 viewers while live. The viewers on all the online platforms where the tournament was streamed, including Twtich, Azubu, Hitbox, and Yahoo! all racked up a total of 31 million hours of viewing time. Viewers also spent 55% more time in each of the 68.6 million sessions when compared to last year.
When it came to the playoffs, there weren't many upsets and things went as most fans predicted. The quarterfinals went as follows: VP beat Astralis 2-0, SK beat Flipsid3 2-0, Team Liquid beat Natus Vincere 2-1, and Fnatic beat Gambit 2-0. The semi-finals were a bit more interesting as in addition to SK beating VP 2-1, Team Liquid obliterated Fnatic with a 2-0 victory, making it probably the biggest upset of the tournament. The winners of the whole thing, as many expected, was the new Luminosity roster of SK Gaming, who beat Team Liquid 2-0.
With attendance numbers like these, ESL is sure to gain even more as time goes on. It also remains to be seen whether everyone's favourite team will come out on top at next year's ESL tournament as well.
Headline image courtesy of ESL
