Kick is buying into esports tournaments, and it could carry some big implications for the entirety of the streaming and esports industries.
Top streaming platform Twitch was originally built on things like esports, speedrunning, and competitive gaming, Kick didn’t have those roots, being brought to the fore in a more mature and diverse livestreaming landscape, and esports tournaments have typically remained centered on Twitch. That’s starting to change now, as Kick looks to make inroads with notable esports tournament organizers and the fans and viewers that accompany them.
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While there’s a constant and steady churn of Counter-Strike tournaments going on at any point in the year, two of the biggest CS2 events in September stood out from the rest. Those events were StarSeries Fall 2025 and Fissure Playground 2.
These events were notable to some degree just based on the organizers themselves. StarLadder is a legacy name in the esports space, but it largely exited CS2 in 2020 before returning here. Fissure has been a staple of Dota 2 in the last year, but hasn’t done much in Counter-Strike. But what really made these events most notable was the fact that the tournaments were exclusively streamed on Kick.
While Twitch remains the more consistent platform for esports viewing, these events could only be watched live on Kick. Some fans were irked by this due to the inconvenience of having to jump over to a platform they were less familiar with, though those concerns were dispelled quickly enough. Still, it harkens back to a different era of esports streaming that could mark a major shift.
Broadcasting rights are a largely untouched source of revenue for esports tournament organizers, but if Kick is willing to boost its presence in the space, that could quickly change.
In most cases, tournament organizers simply default to streaming their events on Twitch and YouTube. While this can yield some money in the form of subscriptions, donations, and ad revenue, rights fees are what propel traditional sports leagues including the NFL and NBA to being multi-billion-dollar businesses. Few esports tournament organizers have ever touched this, though there are some notable examples.
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The biggest and most successful are the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League. These official leagues operated by Activision Blizzard signed exclusivity deals that reportedly generated over $200 million in revenue from Twitch and YouTube combined between 2018 and 2025. Facebook also had a short foray into esports streaming, partnering with ESL to stream a handful of tournaments in 2018.
While these proved lucrative, they were always a rarity within esports.
YouTube and Twitch seemingly stopped signing these kinds of exclusive contracts, with mixed results in OWL viewership perhaps being partially to blame. Kick may now be bucking that trend. If that’s the case, it could be a key revenue stream for esports tournament organizers and their events moving forward.
There’s no official word on exactly how much money may have changed hands between Fissure, StarLadder, and Kick. It’s unlikely that it was the kind of nine-figure deal that Activision Blizzard drummed up for its leagues in the past, but even something far lower would be a valuable benefit to these companies. If Kick makes a habit of seeking exclusive broadcasting rights for esports tournaments, it could have major ramifications for the entire industry by incentivizing esports event organizers to seek out exclusive deals, and challenging competing platforms like Twitch to pony up cash of its own.
And for Kick, the platform already boasts streamers with huge followings. If it’s able to become a consistent home for esports events, that’s one more tool at its disposal in the pursuit of further growth.
Featured image credit: StarSeries
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