Key Takeaways
Dplus Kia swept Karmine Corp 3-0 to win the $600,000 League of Legends title in Paris.Group Vitality Fem beat Natus Vincere PH 4-2 to defend its Esports World Cup MWI crown.LYON received Free Hearth with 155 factors, edging AG.AL’s 122 and LOUD’s 111 in Paris.
The 2026 Esports World Cup marked the primary version held outdoors Saudi Arabia. Organizers moved the match to Paris Expo Porte de Versailles after saying the relocation in Could. The occasion drew greater than 2,000 gamers from greater than 200 golf equipment throughout 24 video games and 25 tournaments, backed by a document prize pool topping $75 million.
4 titles had been lively over the past week: Dota 2, League of Legends, Free Hearth, and the MLBB Girls’s Invitational.
League of Legends Delivers the Largest Crowd
League of Legends pulled the most important viewers of the week. Esports Charts tracked a peak of 1,449,163 concurrent viewers for the match, with the semifinal between T1 and Karmine Corp drawing about 1,447,194 peak viewers by itself.
The playoff discipline fashioned after a GSL-style group stage that despatched eight groups right into a single-elimination bracket: Bilibili Gaming, T1, AG.AL, Dplus Kia, Gen.G, Karmine Corp, Hanwha Life Esports, and JD Gaming. Dplus Kia beat Bilibili Gaming 2-1 within the quarterfinals, then Gen.G 2-1 within the semifinals, earlier than closing out Karmine Corp 3-0 within the grand ultimate. Karmine Corp reached the ultimate by beating T1 2-1 in its personal semifinal. Gen.G beat T1 within the third-place match.
Gosugamers reported that Dplus Kia bot laner Smash earned MVP honors, and that the win marked the crew’s first worldwide title since 2020. Dplus Kia collected $600,000 from the $2 million prize pool. Karmine Corp took house $340,000 as runner-up.
Group Vitality Fem Defends Its Crown
Group Vitality Fem beat Natus Vincere PH 4-2 within the MLBB Girls’s Invitational grand ultimate, defending the title it received beforehand. Natus Vincere PH reached the ultimate by beating Galaxy Phoenix 3-0 within the semifinals, whereas Group Vitality Fem received previous Geltek Cyber Group 3-1. Geltek Cyber Group then took third place with a 3-0 win over Galaxy Phoenix.
The match peaked at about 565,483 concurrent viewers, with the Vitality-NAVI ultimate drawing the most important crowd of the bracket. Pre-event supplies listed a $525,000 purse for the match, whereas a public schedule web page later listed $500,000, leaving the ultimate payout determine unresolved.
LYON Tops a Crowded Free Hearth Discipline
LYON received the Free Hearth title with 155 factors, forward of AG.AL on 122 and LOUD on 111, in accordance with the official Esports World Cup outcomes dataset. The occasion known as LYON’s complete a record-breaking factors haul. The match ran as a multi-day battle royale format reasonably than a head-to-head bracket.
Twenty-four groups had been cut up into two teams of 12 for the opening rounds on July 15 and 16, with the highest 4 from every group advancing immediately and the underside two eradicated. Groups that completed fifth by means of tenth moved right into a survival stage on July 17, the place the highest 4 superior to hitch the group winners in a 12-team grand ultimate on July 18.
Esportsverse listed the whole Free Hearth purse at $1,025,000. Publicly out there outcomes confirmed LOUD’s third-place payout at $120,000, Twisted Minds’ fourth-place share at $80,000, and Fluxo W7M’s fifth-place complete at $61,000.
League of Legends outdrew each different title with a public viewership determine this week. It’s 1,449,163 peak topped the MLBB Girls’s Invitational’s 565,483 and Dota 2’s 324,997. Free Hearth’s peak viewer rely was not uncovered within the publicly listed sources.
Dota 2 Grand Last Nonetheless Unresolved at Cutoff
Dota 2 was the one title left open on the shut of the week. Group Yandex beat Vici Gaming 2-0 to lock in third place, however the grand ultimate between Betboom Group and PARIVISION remained stay as of 6:50 p.m. Paris time on Sunday, with Liquipedia nonetheless itemizing first place as “TBD.” Betboom Group reached the ultimate by beating Vici Gaming 2-0 within the semifinals, whereas PARIVISION received previous Group Yandex 2-1.
Dota 2 carried a $2 million prize pool of its personal. Esports Charts and Discipline Degree Media reported a $750,000 winner’s share, with Group Yandex banking $200,000 for third and Vici Gaming taking $120,000 for fourth. The match peaked at 324,997 concurrent viewers, with the Betboom-PARIVISION ultimate logging the most important crowd of the week for the title.
Integrity Investigation Shakes up Dota 2 Discipline
The week’s largest controversy hit Dota 2. The publication gosugamers.web reported that Playtime gamers Classic and Darkmago had been suspended amid an integrity investigation, and that the group later parted methods with Classic, Darkmago, and a 3rd participant, Frank. Playtime forfeited its match in opposition to Vici Gaming and was eradicated from the match. Vici Gaming superior to face 1w Group as an alternative.
What Comes Subsequent
The Paris version closes out a run that began July 6 and continues by means of August 23 throughout the town’s venues, with the second week almost full. With three champions already determined and Dota 2’s grand ultimate resolving shortly after the reporting cutoff, the week gave organizers, sponsors, and broadcasters a transparent learn on which titles are pulling the most important crowds heading into the match’s remaining weeks. League of Legends’ viewership numbers, specifically, give Riot Video games and match organizers a powerful knowledge level as they plan future occasions within the Paris market.
