279,000 peak viewership across multiple channels
The numbers are in, and Smash Ultimate cleaned house this year at EVO.
According to a snapshot provided by Rod “Slasher” Breslau, Smash Ultimate was the most-viewed game in the history of the event across multiple channels with a peak viewership of over 279,000. Just in case you forgot Melee was out of the main stage for the first time in ages, and this absolutely cements Ultimate‘s rightful place at EVO: especially with that Joker-helmed finals match between Tweek and MKLeo.
As Rod points out, Dragon Ball FighterZ still holds a different kind of record. By way of its 2018 showing, that game was the highest-viewed single stream on just the EVO channel, without the need to rely on multiple channels, clocking in at 258,000. What makes it all the more impressive is that it wasn’t even the “main event,” like Smash Ultimate was this year.
Time once again has struck at the heart of the zeitgeist, and the newest hotness (Ultimate) is on top. With DLC running through 2020 (at least, Nintendo could easily announce another season/Fighter’s pass), it isn’t going away anytime soon.
In terms of other winners, nearly everything did well this year. SoulCalibur VI and Under Night hovered around roughly 40,000 viewers. Samurai Shodown achieved nearly 80,000, Mortal Kombat nearly hit 70,000, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle almost hit 100,000, Dragon Ball Fighter Z hit 120,000, and Tekken 7/Street Fighter V hovered over or crushed 200,000 viewers.
Nothing this year came close to the absolute low point of 2018’s Injustice 2: which had a peak of roughly 20,000 viewers.
Rod Breslau [Twitter]
