February 5 – EA Sport’s FC Pro Open tournament has set the record as the most popular tournament in EA football esports history, the developers have announced.
In the two-month period between November 2023 and January 2024, FC Pro Open garnered an average minute audience (AMA) of over 165,000 and over 6 million hours watched – more than doubling the viewership of last year’s EA SPORTS Cup.
“FC Pro’s record viewership and participation in its first year is a testament to the passion and dedication of our players, fans, and our growing FC Pro community,” said Sam Turkbas, Senior Director & Commissioner, Football Esports, EA.
“A massive thanks to the team who has worked tirelessly to bring FC Pro Open to life and delivered on our promise to build the next era of football esports. I’m proud to say that every day of broadcast broke our previous record for highest average viewership.”
Having comfortably broken their own viewership records, EA generated a bigger audience by offering in-game rewards via objectives achieved by watching the FC Pro livestream, meaning that players could unlock unique items simply by tuning in to watch the competition.
A huge campaign was rolled out across the hit game, which is the best-performing title in the sports genre by some distance, featuring player items that upgraded depending on the performance of the corresponding competitor in the tournament. This meant that every player that accessed the game, which recorded over 11 million players in its first week, had an active interest in the competition as it affected their in-game experience.
Following eight weeks of head-to-head matchups, the FC Pro Open will conclude with the Finals on Saturday, February 3, bringing together eight of the top-seeded players to compete for their share of $500,000 in prize money and a seat at the first-ever FC Pro World Championship this summer.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1734912934labto1734912934ofdlr1734912934owedi1734912934sni@g1734912934niwe.1734912934yrrah1734912934