The 2025 season of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) has officially kicked off with regional tournaments across the International Leagues. The VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff has already completed its first two days of competition, drawing an impressive 336,040 peak viewers. This figure marks a significant increase from last year’s Kickoff event, with a major boost in international interest thanks to Ava “florescent” Eugene’s highly anticipated debut. As the first Game Changers signing to compete in the VCT, her presence played a crucial role in driving viewership numbers.
High-Profile Teams and Unexpected Standouts
The first two days saw competition between top-tier teams such as NAVI, Karmine Corp, Team Liquid, KOI, GiantX, and BBL Esports. These organizations have solid regional fan bases, with some backed by influential content creators who streamed the matches to their audiences. However, it was the showdown between Apeks and Gentle Mates that took the spotlight, pulling in the largest viewership numbers. This surge in interest stemmed from both Florescent’s debut and Gentle Mates’ substantial French following, making it the most-watched match of the tournament so far.
VCT 2025- Apeks vs. Gentle Mates (image via Getty)Women’s Esports Gaining Momentum
Florescent’s VCT debut occurred on the same day as Imperial Valkyries, the women’s Counter-Strike 2 team, faced off against NAVI in BLAST Premier Bounty Season 1. This match generated incredible viewership, surpassing last year’s record-setting VCT 2024 Game Changers Championship. With nearly half a million concurrent viewers, it underscored the rising popularity of women’s esports on a global scale.
Apeks vs. Gentle Mates: The Standout Match
Despite fierce competition, the match between Apeks and Gentle Mates stood out immediately. Shortly after starting, it had already eclipsed the peak viewership of every other game. Even the Karmine Corp vs. NAVI matchup, which had over 60,000 French-speaking viewers on Kamet0’s Twitch stream, couldn’t match the numbers. By the match’s final moments, its peak viewership surpassed all others by over 100,000.
Lucas “Squeezie” Hauchard, a co-founder of Gentle Mates and one of the most-followed Twitch streamers in France, played a significant role in driving these numbers. His co-stream of the match reached over 100,000 concurrent viewers. Additionally, another 100,000 English-speaking fans tuned in across official broadcasts and various co-streams. International audiences showed great interest in Florescent’s debut, leading to the event’s highest English-language peak viewership so far.
A Highlight Performance from Florescent
One of the most memorable moments from the tournament’s early stages was florescent’s incredible 1v3 clutch during her debut match. Her performance further solidified her position as a rising star and a key factor in the tournament’s impressive audience numbers.
Meanwhile, Spanish viewership saw a dip due to the absence of Ibai “Ibai” Llanos, who did not cover KOI’s match this time around. As a co-founder of KOI, he had previously drawn large audiences to their games, especially during last year’s Kickoff event. However, the decline in Spanish-language viewers was balanced by an increase in other regional audiences, including Russian and Portuguese-speaking fans.
Strong Viewership Trends Continue
Compared to last year, both the average and peak viewership numbers have grown significantly, largely due to the popularity of the Apeks vs. Gentle Mates match. This game was an outlier in viewership, exceeding the numbers seen in other opening-day matches. Even Karmine Corp vs. NAVI, one of the most anticipated games, only managed to achieve roughly two-thirds of the viewership that the non-partnered teams’ matchup generated.
VCT 2025- EMEA Kickoff (image via Getty)What’s Next in the Tournament?
The VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff is off to an electrifying start, with major games still ahead. Team Vitality’s newly formed superteam, featuring Felipe “Less” de Loyola Basso and Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev, is set to face Karmine Corp. Meanwhile, 2024 Champions runner-up Team Heretics will go up against Gentle Mates, and Apeks is already in a tough spot, having dropped into the lower bracket of this double-elimination format.
With these high-stakes matches on the horizon, the tournament is expected to sustain strong viewership numbers. Fans can keep track of upcoming games via the schedule tab on the event page, ensuring they don’t miss a moment of the action.
