The fervour surrounding Valorant esports is continuing to heat up at the ongoing Masters Toronto 2025. The global audience for the esports tournament reached a new peak concurrent viewers mark during the kick-off playoffs match, which saw North American champion G2 Esports face off against the ever-popular Paper Rex.
Following a successful group stage, the Canadian event has moved on to the playoffs stage, where the world’s top eight Valorant teams battle against elimination. On top of G2 Esports’ highly popular clash against PRX, the other first-round matches were highly watched, too. North American fan-favourite Sentinels managed to defeat China’s XLG Esports in their first match, but top-seeded Pacific team Rex Regum Qeon lost to Wolves Esports in a surprise upset for the Chinese team.
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The final first-round playoffs match saw Gen.G Esports face off against European powerhouse Fnatic. This match was lauded as an ‘early grand final’ by many co-casters, who felt that these two teams are among the strongest competition at the tournament. Ultimately, Gen.G Esports took a terrifyingly close 2:1 victory, with one map decided in overtime and the other two completing the full 24 rounds. However, none of these matches could come close to the excitement generated by G2 Esports and Paper Rex.
The showdown between North America and Asia set a new record viewership for the event, with viewership rapidly spiking upwards during both the first and second maps of the competition. Part of the reason why this match-up is so exciting for fans is the clash of playstyles: whereas G2 Esports play a very slow, fundamental Valorant, Paper Rex are much more explosive and willing to take fast, messy fights. Ultimately, G2 couldn’t keep things under control against Paper Rex’s power, and the match’s top viewership reached over 745,000 Peak Viewers for PRX’s valiant victory.
English-language viewership for the match was particularly high, with a combination of native English speakers from North America and a wider audience of international English-speaking fans combing together to cheer for PRX. Esports Charts has in-depth language and platform statistics available for all esports events in our database, available as part of a PRO subscription.
The action at Masters Toronto continues this week, with some teams standing on the brink of elimination already. Upcoming matchups like Sentinels vs PRX are sure to delight fans across the globe, and elimination matches featuring top teams from various regions are sure to receive a passionate local following of fans. Visit the Schedule tab of the Masters Toronto page to check out when the next game can be caught live.
