LoL Worlds 2022 breaks 1 million viewers on opening day of Play-Ins

The 2022 World Championship has gotten off to an impressive start, breaking 1 million viewers on the first day of the Play-In stage.

Worlds 2022 got off to an exciting start in Mexico City on September 29. Although the opening day of the tournament was plagued with pauses, viewers flocked to Twitch and YouTube for their first taste of international League of Legends since the Mid-Season Invitational.

This World Championship will be League’s first full-capacity roadshow international event since Worlds 2019, with fans returning to venues across North America to watch their favorite teams battle it out.

And that roadshow has gotten off to a good start — with the broadcast already breaking 1 million peak viewers on the first day.

Fnatic versus Evil Geniuses brings in highest viewership

The most-watched game of the day was none other than the time-old EU vs NA matchup of Fnatic vs Evil Geniuses. And that’s saying something, given that fans had to wait almost an hour and a half for the matchup to start after players were forced to move into isolation to play.

Unfortunately for those who waited, the game was finished in under 30 minutes. Fnatic dismantled Evil Geniuses, with three members of the roster going completely deathless.

Although the opening viewership was strong, it hasn’t matched the records set for the opening day of Play-Ins in 2021. The 2021 broadcast averaged over 150,000 more peak and average viewers than 2022 — which, while not a tragedy, sets a worrying trend for the remainder of the tournament.