Esports are a hard thing to measure. There are tens of millions of gamers in America, but the percentage of those that watch esports is dramatically less, even if nearly all esport viewers are gamers. This creates a problem where many gamers think esports are dying just because they aren’t connected with them. However, CS:GO has rebuked that in their recent Season Six Finals where the broke previous records for viewers.

CS:GO’s Majors may have already come and gone, but the CS:GO Pro League Finals in Odense, Denmark still know how to pack a crowd. Running from Decemeber 5th-10th, the finals saw SK Gaming – a German-founded organization with a Brazilin division – face off against FaZe Clan, one of the most popular esports organizations in all of Europe. It was SK Gaming that came out on top, securing their second win towards the Grand Slam Series and establishing themselves as a continual power house across the European scene.

The arena for the event was sold out every single day, and concurrent viewership was massively higher than the previous year. Season 5’s finals – held last year in Dallas – saw a 17% growth in viewership from Season 4. Season 6’s finals saw their viewership at nearly 100%, putting the concurrent viewership at approximately 380,000.

This is just one more sign of massive growth across the esport scene, an industry that shows no signs of slowing down or stopping. League of Legends finals saw a concurrent viewership of over half a million users for their Worlds tournament this year, leading the charge in esports viewership growth. Even in small areas, the influence of esports can be seen in more than just the economy. FaZe Clan, who nearly took home the trophy at CS:GO’s finals, has been seeing much, much more activity across other esports, especially League of Legends.

Numerous streamers have commented on the phenomena of seeing players sporting the FaZe Clan tag while they are competing in ranked matches, a sign that the illustrious European market – the same market that created DOTA, the mother of all MOBAs – is beginning to spread more into casual play.

There are approximately 150 million gamers in America alone, 90 million if mobile gaming is excluded. Though half a million viewers seems like a lot, it is tiny portion of that 90 million jackpot, and currently what all esports are trying to grow far more aggressively. There is little doubt that 2018 will see even higher numbers for CS:GO’s Season 7 Finals, with LoL probably once more leading in growth numbers.