The WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS took the world by storm at the live finals during the inaugural Olympic Esports Week 2023, captivating audiences worldwide, amassing nearly two million views on the @Olympics YouTube channel. 

Held at the Suntec Centre in Singapore, the WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS finals of the Olympic Esports Series 2023 drew an impressive audience both in person and online via the YouTube livestream. Engagement surrounding the event was equally remarkable, as the livestream generated about 7,000 comments and received over 62,000 likes.

The success of WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS highlights the growing appeal of esports, alongside its power to engage with diverse and new audiences worldwide and bridge physical and virtual sports communities.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WBSC (@wbsc)

The about two million views represents a 200% growth on the viewership of the baseball event at the Olympic Virtual Series in 2021. Also compares impressively with other iconic Olympic moments on the @Olympics YouTube channel such as the Baseball and Softball finals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which garnered 311,000 and 1.1 million views respectively in addition to the global TV coverage. The final of the baseball event, Japan vs USA, recorded 37.0% as the average household rating in Japan, which was the best number among all disciplines at Tokyo 2020.

It was Japan’s Shoma Mori – “SHORA” who stood at the centre of the podium after securing the first ever Olympic Esports Series baseball title. The rising eBASEBALL™ superstar added another trophy in his growing haul after also taking Olympic Virtual Series 2021 title. The IOC selected baseball as one of 10 virtual sports to feature at the first Olympic Esports Series, with the game WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS, which was released by Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. (KONAMI) in February 2023.