Key Takeaways:
- AT&T* 5G and Fiber were behind the third iteration of AT&T’s Annihilator Cup and over four weeks, 20 competitors had a chance to claim their stake of a $375,000 prize pool and the prestigious Annihilator Cup title.
- The tournament concluded its final livestream on July 27th, featuring some of the biggest streamers and gamers, such as iiTzTimmy, DisguisedToast, and LuluLuvely along with other notable personalities.
- For the first time, AT&T partnered with gaming influencer JakeLucky of Gaming World Media, allowing him to create content and connect fans to the latest insider coverage. In addition, a custom AT&T Fortnite Map enabled fans to play the game with content creators and streamers and win prizes.
What’s the news?
iiTzTimmy has been named the winner of this year’s AT&T Annihilator Cup, taking home the $100,000 prize. In second place, Jake’n’Bake was awarded $50,000 while third place winner, Lirik, will receive $40,000.
Over the past four weeks, 20 of the world’s top streamers – including DisguisedToast, DrLupo, Summit1G, LuluLuvely, Tarik, Yassuo, Lirik and more – competed in the third AT&T Annihilator Cup: the ultimate test of versatility and skill featuring Apex Legends, Fortnite, Street Fighter 6, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
The tournament was live streamed through each competitors’ channel as well as the official AT&T Twitch channel. It was hosted by renowned gaming personality, Alex ‘Goldenboy’ Mendez, live from the AT&T Fiber powered studio in Los Angeles. Based on both their team and individual performance each week, competitors earned points towards a unified tournament leaderboard and the player with the most points after all four games was crowned the 2023 AT&T Annihilator Cup Champion.
Weekly MVP winners throughout the four weeks included iiTzTimmy (Apex Legends), Dr.Lupo (Fortnite), Jake‘n’Bake (Street Fighter 6), and iiTzTimmy (CS:GO).
Plus, week after week, individual game experts provided commentary on the stream. Broadcasts and gameplay highlights can be seen on AT&T’s Twitch channel.
By the Numbers:
- During the tournament, an average of 114K viewers watched live, generating over 1.3M total hours watched. CS:GO was the most popular week in terms of average viewership, 127K, and total hours watched, 519K. Meanwhile, Fortnite had the highest peak concurrent viewership, totaling 179K. Overall, AT&T Annihilator Cup is continuing to grow and become more significant to the gaming and streaming audience. Its total program video on demand (VOD) views reached 13M and since its inception in 2021, the tournament has increased its hours watched by over 50K and peak viewership by 30K.
- Adding on to the excitement, this year's Annihilator Cup practice rounds offered fans an exclusive opportunity to witness their favorite streamers in action before the tournament, granting them a sneak peek at the custom AT&T Fortnite Map. In addition, there was also an introduction to a new and exciting component, Annihilator Cup After Hours, giving fans the opportunity play alongside some of their favorite streamers live in the tournament broadcast.
- Some additional highlights included competitors forming a train in the lobby of Fortnite week and Lirik performing an iconic 1G moment in CS:GO. Another high point was iiTzTimmy undeniably dominating the Apex Legends portion of the tournament, securing 9 kills to win game 1 and 13 kills to win game 2. And in the world of modern controls, Jake’n’Bake stuck to classic controls, winning big during Street Fighter 6 after a 2-1 grand final win over Lirik.
What’s next?
The Annihilator Cup is an example of how AT&T shows support of the esports and gaming communities through its products like Fiber and 5G. These unique services and platforms continue to create one-of-a-kind engaging experiences for both gamers and fans.
AT&T has also built powerful connections for some of the best gaming organizations. Most recently, AT&T announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Tribe Gaming, one of North America’s biggest mobile focused esports organizations. This partnership is all about connecting and unlocking innovative content and experiences for millions of mobile gamers – ultimately bringing the mobile gaming community closer to their favorite games, creators, and players than ever before.
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