Biggest esports events and moments of 2021

This year was another banner year for esports, with the return of offline LAN competitions after mostly online play in during the COVID pandemic, notable accomplishments in championship events, numerous viewership records broken and new esports emerging. Looking back on 2021 esports, these are 10 significant moments or events that people will remember.

League of Legends, VALORANT, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Rocket League and Rainbow Six Siege esports are all featured on this list. Although no mobile esports events made the cut, 2021 saw tremendous growth for mobile esports, which will surely make this list in years to come.

IceLAN brings League of Legends and VALORANT to Iceland

May 6-30

Photo credit: Riot Games

Iceland was the center of the esports world in May. With the uncertainty created by COVID, Riot Games was able to bring players on LAN in a relatively safe and isolated setting without fans in Iceland for international competitions in both League of Legends and VALORANT.

The first half of the month featured the first League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational since 2019 after the 2020 edition was canceled due to COVID. The second half of the month saw the first-ever international VALORANT LAN. After a seven-day long tournament, Sentinels emerged as the best VALORANT team in the world, giving North America a rare major international esports championship.

Ninjas in Pyjamas win Six Invitational

May 23

Brazilian players have been increasingly dominant in the professional Rainbows Six Siege esports scene. When Ninjas in Pyjamas won the Six Invitational, it marked the first time that an all-Brazilian roster won the biggest and most prestigious event in R6. It also ushered in a year in which Brazilian rosters won every major title. Team oNe won the Mexico Major in August and FaZe Clan won the Sweden Major in November. Brazilian players and teams have been known to challenge the best teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but in 2021, they made it known that R6 was the FPS game that they would dominate.

Minnesota ROKKR complete BO9 reverse sweep

Aug. 1

Best-of-9 series are uncommon. Coming back from 0-4 to reverse sweep a BO9? That had never been done before. Until the Minnesota ROKKR reverse swept the Toronto Ultra in the Call of Duty League’s Stage V Major. After the Atlanta FaZe, the Ultra were the next-best team in the CDL throughout 2021, so for the ROKKR to come back against that caliber of team was remarkable. It also was the high point of a talented ROKKR roster that finished in fourth place at the Call of Duty League Championship.

Shanghai Dragons compete worst-to-first turnaround

Sept. 25

Photo credit: Overwatch League

The 2021 Overwatch League season came to an end with a championship for a team that was the worst in the league just a few years ago. They went 0-40 in 2018, the Overwatch League’s inaugural season. In 2019, they improved to 13-15 and made the play-ins but were knocked out before the playoffs. In 2020, they emerged as one of the best teams in the league, going 27-2 in the regular season but falling just one game short of the league’s grand final. Finally, in 2021, they finished one of the most remarkable worst-to-first turnarounds you will ever see in sports or esports history.

Worlds breaks viewership records again

Nov. 6

League of Legends viewership has continued to surge over the past few years, with new records seemingly being set every year. This year was no different. The League of Legends World Championship topped 4 million viewers for the first time across all online platforms tracked by Esports Charts. It happened during the grand final of the tournament, which ended up being a thrilling five-map set between China’s EDward Gaming and South Korea’s DWG KIA.

The 4 million viewers do not include the millions that were likely watching in China, which are largely responsible for the 73 million peak viewership number released by Riot Games. That also was a record over the 46 million peak during the 2020 Worlds grand final.

League of Legends' 'Arcane' drops on Netflix and is a hit

Nov. 6

Photo credit: Riot Games

The year 2021 might be remembered as the year that esports really went mainstream. In part it’ll be due to the mainstream success of Riot Games’ “Arcane.” The League of Legends-inspired show’s premiere on Netflix coincided with the grand final of the League of Legends World Championship to gin up interest but has garnered fandom beyond the esports and gaming industry. It boasts a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was the No. 1 show globally on Netflix for the week of Nov. 15 to 21. It also peaked at 1.8 million viewers on Twitch when it premiered on the streaming platform, giving it the sixth-highest peak for any category on Twitch.

PGL Major Stockholm sets record at first CS:GO major in two years

Nov. 7

The PGL Stockholm Major was the first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major tournament in two years. Natus Vincere won one of their numerous 2021 titles at this event on LAN in front of a raucous crowd. The major shattered the previous CS:GO record for viewers, with the grand final coming in at over 2.7 million viewers, according to Esports Charts. It more than doubled the previous record, set in 2017. Not only was this emblematic of the growth that esports viewership has seen in the past few years, but it also was probably indicative of all the pent-up demand as a result of few LANs and live crowds over the past couple years.

VALORANT Champions, first VALORANT world championship, takes place

Dec. 1-12

Photo credit: Riot Games

Although Masters: Reykajvík was the first international competition in VALORANT esports history, Champions was the first world championship event in the game’s history. The 16 best teams from around the world throughout 2021 competed at this event, which culminated with Europe’s Acend beating Russia’s Gambit Esports in the final.

Besides the significance of the first-ever world champion being crowned, Latin American team KRÜ Esports made waves, upsetting North America’s Sentinels and Europe’s Fnatic. It was one of the best performances by a Latin American team in esports history.

First Rocket League LAN in two years takes place in Stockholm

Dec. 8-12

Like other esports, Rocket League held its first LAN in quite some time in 2021. For the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS), the Fall Major in Stockholm was the game’s first international LAN competition in two years. Unlike CS:GO, which welcomed crowds to several LAN events in the latter half of the year, Rocket League went the League of Legends and VALORANT route and held the event without an audience. The tournament ended with a much anticipated matchup between Europe’s Team BDS and North America’s NRG, which BDS ended up winning.

Halo Kickoff Major Raleigh opens Halo Infinite esports era

Dec. 17-19

Photo credit: HCS

The Halo Championship Series returned with the Kickoff Major Raleigh, which marked the first major international tournament for Halo Infinite. Cloud9 became the first Halo Infinite major champions in what was the first HCS event since 2019 and the first Halo LAN since 2020. With viewership peaking at 267,279 according to Esports Charts, this was the most watched Halo esports event ever.

Lead photo credit: PGL