League of Legends’ top gaming spot on Twitch threatened by Valorant, GTA

League of Legends has held the top gaming spot on Twitch for most of 2022, and that continued in July. However, the flagship Riot Games title is under threat from two sides: Grand Theft Auto V as well as Valorant.

The Twitch stats for July 2022 are in, and League of Legends’ dominance might be at threat though as both Valorant and GTA near in on the legacy MOBA’s throne. 

Riot Games’ flagship title pulled in 121.3 million hours watched in July 2022 ⁠— an increase of 2.2% from June. However, their FPS game Valorant came in closely behind with 120.7 million (up 18.6%), with Grand Theft Auto V up there with 120.1 million (up 13.9%).

The three games were far and away the best performing on Twitch, with the fourth-placed Apex Legends not even pulling half the viewership at only 55.4 million.

It’s alarming at first glance, but there are some things playing in League of Legends’ favor that might see it remain on top past July. Both Valorant and Apex Legends had their viewership stats buoyed by tournaments ⁠— Masters Copenhagen and the ALGS Championship respectively.

League of Legends still has all the domestic leagues being played across the world as the World Championship in October and November nears.

Valorant Masters Copenhagen nearly pushed Riot’s FPS title over its MOBA one on Twitch.

The GTA V question is a trickier one though. With roleplaying servers always ebbing and flowing in activity, all it takes is for the big streamers to hop back on board in droves to start pumping up viewers. 

GTA V and League of Legends have traded the crown plenty of times in recent years, and seeing it shift between the two yet again in August won’t be the biggest surprise.

Beyond the podium, there’s some positives. Twitch itself had a 3.4% increase in viewership across the board, and after most games fell in hours watched in June, they have since rebounded: Minecraft was up 34.4%, Dota 2 13%, and Fall Guys a whopping 83.8% thanks to it going free-to-play.

CS:GO and Fortnite were the only two games in the top 10 to face a decline. And beyond gaming, Just Chatting was still Twitch’s number one category with nearly 269 million hours watched.

You can find the top 10 most watched games on Twitch in July 2022 below.

Top 10 most watched games on Twitch in July 2022

Ranked by hours watched.

1. League of Legends: 121,287,274 (+3.0%)
2. Valorant: 120,711,351 (+18.6%)
3. Grand Theft Auto V: 120,058,715 (+13.9%)
4. Apex Legends: 55,445,378 (+10.5%)
5. Minecraft: 53,738,426 (+34.4%)
6. Counter-Strike Global Offensive: 51,096,287 (-9.5%)
7. Fortnite: 47,525,559 (-8.4%)
8. Dota 2: 45,268,112 (+13.0%)
9. Fall Guys: 44,925,324 (+83.8%)
10. Escape from Tarkov: 38,628,111 (+127.2%)