- Twitch will host the first live Twitch Rivals competition at its inaugural TwitchCon Europe event.
- Created specifically for streamers, Twitch Rivals is normally used not as a standalone event, but to complement those organized by third-parties and developers.
- Twitch Rivals will feature two of the most popular games on Twitch—Apex Legends and League of Legends.
TwitchCon Europe will host the first live Twitch Rivals esports competition April 13-14, showcasing popular streamers as they compete in Apex Legends and League of Legends 
. By putting esports front-and-center, the company is adding another layer of awareness around Twitch Rivals as well as the streamers involved.
Twitch Rivals is a tournament series that pits Twitch Partner and Affiliate streamers against one another as they compete in popular games. Designed specifically for Twitch streamers, the 2019 season features over 100 events and until recently, has always lived exclusively online.
Data previously sighted by Twitch shows that streamers who have participated in Twitch Rivals events have seen 20% more viewers on average and 90% more ad revenue on event days.
In addition to the first live Twitch Rivals event, this year also marks the first time TwitchCon will be held overseas – in Berlin, Germany. The 2018 US TwitchCon, held in San Diego, California, sold out with “tens of thousands” of attendees, according to the company.
Putting esports at the core of TwitchCon could be construed as a move to establish Twitch Rivals as the premiere streamer-driven esports brand.
However, in a previous interview with The Esports Observer, Twitch head of esports programs Justin Dellario said that Twitch Rivals isn’t the platform’s attempt at strategically positioning itself in the market. Rather, it is Twitch’s way of complementing traditional esports events produced by developers and third-party organizers.
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The Road to TwitchCon Europe, sponsored by Twitch Prime, will generate buzz for the series’ live debut. Streamers Chris “Sacriel” Ball and Georgio “Pow3rtv” Calandrelli will compete in the Apex Legends Challenge on March 26, and then Moe “Yassuo” and Frederik “NoWay4U_Sir” Hinteregger will participate in the League of Legends Showdown April 3.
Amazon’s streaming platform has cemented its place firmly in the esports industry as a tool for discovery and brand awareness, community outreach, and as a viable revenue stream. Many of the most popular games have found an audience on Twitch, putting the company in a unique position to align with publishers and star players.
Just this week, FACEIT and T1 announced their first Apex Legends Invitational, which will be broadcast live on Twitch. A new trend of playing Grand Theft Auto V as a role-playing game (RPG) has thrust the 2013 game back into the spotlight—further illustrating Twitch’s star power.
