Esports Tiers List: Breaking Down the World of Esports

Esports has transcended from local LAN parties with a few computers to Linkin Park introducing players at the 2024 League of Legends World Championship. The industry has come a long way,  and with it comes many esports tiers and titles, that provide quality entertainment all year round. The world of esports has reached a global scale, with millions of fans tuning in from across the globe to watch their favorite organizations compete for the biggest prizes in esports.

Getting into esports

Image credits: Esports World Cup

Getting into esports can be intimidating at first, especially when you’re being introduced to tons of new information and you don’t really understand what any of the esports terminology means. The easiest way to start getting into esports and esports tiers, is to first identify which games do you believe you would enjoy watching as a spectator. If you’re a Call of Duty player, you’re going to want to investigate which games, including Call of Duty, have an esports scene. Once you decide which games you enjoy playing, and can see yourself getting into its esports scene, start diving further about the specific scene you want to get into.

Picking your ideal esport

Image Credit: Riot Games

Now that you have picked a couple of games you enjoy playing, let’s start taking a look at how you can get into watching specific titles. If you’re a Western League of Legends player, you’re going to have a relatively easy time getting into the esport, as the calendar is very simple when compared to other titles. Head on over to our LoL esports news section to understand more about the esports scene.

Let’s say you live in North America, odds are you are going to want to watch a league that plays when it’s suitable for North American fans. In this case, the LTA (League of the Americas) would be an ideal starting point. The official LoL esports website will provide you with all of the important information necessary to start watching professional North American League of Legends.

Now that you’ve got the esport and the specific league you want to watch, you may want to investigate an organization to be a fan of, though this may come after an extended period of time watching and learning the esports teams. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t start right away. Teams on occasion do provide entertaining content for fans to engage with, especially for newer fans.

Esports Tiers List

Now that you are well into becoming a true esports fan, let’s go over our esports tier list, where we rank the best esports titles to watch. This esports tiers list is done based on how popular the scene is, how engaging the developers are with the community, how the games interact with popular esports streamers, and much more.

Understanding esports tiers

Image credit: Davide Xu (@Dovi_X) (League of Legends Worlds 2024 opening ceremony)

Esports tiers are a subjective issue, but we believe we have put the games in the correct tiers. Let’s go over why.

Firstly, the games listed in the A tier are the powerhouses in esports. League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Dota 2 are the three games most people think of when discussing esports. These are some of the most popular video games in the world, and that’s including the large-scale AAA titles. They average millions of players each day, and their scenes have been around for a very long, and will continue to do so for potentially many years to come.

For example, Counter-Strike games have been around for so long, that the title has literal decades under its belt. From 1.6, to CS:GO, to now CS2, the game is ever evolving, and with it its vast esports scene which continues to put on amazing spectacles, such as the Shanghai Major which gave another region an opportunity to watch up close and personal one of the best esports in the world.

Scene security in esports

Riot Games is the standard bearer when it comes to running a successful esports scene. They were able to take the knowledge they know in League of Legends, and create another thriving scene, and their second title in our esports tiers list. VALORANT esports is FPS rival to Counter-Strike under the Riot Games banner. Riot is miles ahead of the competition when it comes to production, and that is why the game continues to set new records at every international event. The LoL developers just oversaw another successful esports season, which concluded with a collaboration with music band Linkin Park, who produced the Worlds 2024 anthem. These esports scenes are more likely for newer fans to get into, because they provide security for the fans knowing their scene isn’t going to be ripped apart like the Overwatch esports scene.