Hearthstone World Championship Posts Peak Audience Since 2020

The Hearthstone World Championship 2026 took place in Anaheim over the weekend as part of BlizzCon 2026. The event peaked at 41,387 concurrent viewers and concluded with OTGxhh defeating XiaoT 3-1 in the grand final to claim the title and a $100,000 prize.

Broadcasts for the tournament generated about 858,600 Hours Watched, a figure slightly below the previous edition. Peak viewers rose nearly 10% year over year. The semifinal between Wu “XiaoT” Juwei and Wu “Curfew” Zheng-xian registered the highest single-match peak, exceeding the grand final’s peak.

OTGxhh entered the event without major titles and won his first major championship. XiaoT is one of Hearthstone’s most experienced competitors and has earned more than $344,000 in career prize money.

English-language coverage accounted for nearly 59% of total Hours Watched. Twitch supplied more than 80% of platform viewership, with most of the remainder coming from YouTube. The official English playhearthstone Twitch channel attracted the largest audience and a total of 65 distinct channels carried coverage of the event.

By peak viewers, the 2026 championship ranks among the series’ top five. The 2020 event drew more than 89,200 concurrent viewers; peak audiences in the years after 2020 were lower.