In 2012, the Brasil Game Show (BGS) hosted the first official League of Legends (LoL) tournament in the country. Since then, the Brazilian presence in the eSports scene has been increasing exponentially.
eSports has become a career opportunity for many young people who play games for fun. Currently, Brazil has a total of 8,600 professionals. Half of these athletes (4,388) are still participating in competitions in 2023.
A study published on the website Aposta Legal analyzed more than 5,000 Google searches for words related to eSports (including searches for the name of the most popular games and Brazilian competitors), combined with data provided by the platform eSports Earnings (esportsearnings.com) and Liquipédia ( liquipedia.net).
The search was carried out with the aim of checking the popularity of the competitive segment in the country in 2023, and also analyzing Brazil’s placement in global rankings.
With 4 million worldwide searches for the acronym eSports, Brazil is in 7th place among the biggest fans on the planet, representing 3% of worldwide searches for the word. The country is second only to major eSports powers such as Spain (7.4 million searches), Philippines (4.5 million) and Canada (4.1 million).
According to the survey, this year Brazil is in 8th place as the country with the most active pro players in the world, just behind China (6,990 athletes), Germany (5,786), France (5,407 players) and the United Kingdom (4,560 ).
Fortnite, Valorant and Free Fire are the most popular games in Brazil
The study also pointed out which eSports titles Brazilians are looking for the most to play in 2023. With 507,000 searches on Google, Fortnite is the most popular among players.
Valorant appears in second place in the ranking, with 365,000 searches for the game in Brazil. Soon after comes Free Fire (288 thousand searches) and League of Legends (198 thousand searches). Interestingly, Dota, one of the pioneering eSports, is not among the most searched.
According to the survey, Brazil is in the Top 3 of countries that most search on Google for the listed games.
People from Paraná are the ones who are most searching online for the Fortnite game in 2023. In the Federal District, Valorant and Overwatch are the most played by residents. In the state of Maranhão, the favorite games are Free Fire and eFootball.
List of the best eSports players in Brazil
The survey also indicated the Brazilian eSports competitors that earn the most in the country. At the age of 21, Karl “Alem4o” Zarth is the captain and in-game leader of G2 Esports and has earned around $206,000 this year alone. The athlete received his highest prize (200 thousand dollars) at the Six Invitational 2023 tournament.
Gabriel “volpz” Fernandes is the new member of Team Liquid. In April, Volpz pocketed US$5,497.00 at Liga Brasil 2023. But, he won his biggest prize (90,000 dollars) with W7M Esports, at the Six Invitational 2023.
Gustavo “Herdsz” Herdina is currently playing as the in-game leader for W7M Esports. In 2023, the athlete has already earned US$ 94,711.00. In 2022, its revenue was US$ 25,804.00 in premiums. At age 22, this is the most successful year of his career.
The total revenue of the 10 players on the list presented in 2023 is US$ 808,298.00, surpassing the R$ 4 million mark.
Methodology of the study on the Brazilian eSports scenario
Conducted in April this year, the study evaluated more than 5,000 searches on Google for words related to eSports (including searches for the name of the most popular games and Brazilian athletes), combined with data provided by the platform eSports Earnings (esportsearnings.com) and Liquipédia (liquipedia.net) to check the popularity of eSports in Brazil.
The survey reveals:
- The popularity of eSports in Brazil and worldwide;
- The most popular games in Brazil;
- The Brazilian pro players that earn the most in Brazil.
