GeoGuessr Esports Is Insane

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At a time when many esports are being forced to make tough decisions, there’s a new game in town.
Geoguessr is one of the most interesting esports today - and it’s starting to take off.
The 2024 World Cup hit impressive viewership numbers for a nascent esport - and more than quadrupled last year’s numbers. It featured established esports hosts like Launders, Pala and Seltzer.
And now, an esports organization, Imperial, has signed World Cup semifinalist Orlando - a first for the esport.
So today we’re taking a look at what sets this Street View-based esport apart from the rest of the crowd: and where the future could take it.
Written & Hosted by: Josh Bury (@throwngauntlet.bsky.social)
Edited by: Patrick Weiers (@patrickweiers)
Produced by: Danny Burke (@lurkeyburke)
All footage courtesy of: pastebin.com/N...
Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).
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[@theScoreesports]

Do you watch pro GeoGuessr? The Acer Nitro V 15 Gaming Laptop with an Intel Core i9-13900H Processor, on sale now, only on Amazon: thesco.re/4hWAYy1

[@ameame32]

Yeah I do it's as fun as the german pro pretzel cutting competition

[@Diopside.]

@@ameame32 Any pro onion slicers?

[@melchi5663]

Not yet, but it looks like GeoGuessr will be the one to watch in 2025.

[@melchi5663]

1:30 core i9 13th gen with rtx 4060? Sounds like wasted money and energy on CPU that could have much greater benefits if spent on GPU. i9 is not really for gaming, it is for productivity. 13th gen is known for very bad thermals, unless you de-lid it and either direct-die cool it or replace the cheap IHS with a copper one. Acer is advertising a gaming laptop, and they put in the MID TIER 40series gpu, I wonder why. WHAT IS THE PRODUCT OWNER DOING OVER THERE?

[@melchi5663]

1200 USD for that? My MSI with 12th gen i7 + 4070 was 1300eur a year ago. (and likely outperforms that Acer Nitro in gaming performance). 16GB RAM on that Acer and only 512GB SSD? Can't even install the full newest COD.

[@feneb6497]

Pro GeoGuessr player here! (I'm actually playing in the World League, you can see me in the clip at 12:27 😅) This is an amazing video, its extremely impressive how well you've covered all the different factors affecting how geoguessr functions as an esport, as well as the history of the game. I agree that it has huge potential as an esport, and I'm excited to see where it goes!

[@sayansingha6370]

🐐

[@FigsyGames]

Holy 3h!T it's Feneb! lets go

[@PingSharp]

Hi Feneb, congrats on your current 9th place in the World League! This is indeed a great video, probably the best description of the game I've seen.

[@Canadagraphs]

@@FigsyGames Forget Feneb, I saw Figsy Games in the comments on here.

[@user-ex7yq6xq9s]

bro keep doing what u do, you have an insane talent

[@one_million_hamsters]

These are the guys who make me scared to post nice pictures of my local park

[@Timi7272]

I posted a picture of a building near my home this year once and one of my followers, literally one minute after, posted the exact coordinates for it. Geoguesser is skill based, but I think there's automated tools as well. You can find similar pictures with google lens, but that doesn't always have location information. I still have no idea how he did it.

[@shawan4545]

​​@@Timi7272 are you sure your gps tag is turned off in your camera settings? People can easily extract the coordinates by just looking at the metadata. No automated tools required.

[@samkim581]

@@Timi7272really good players can tell where you are just off the colors of the dirt and the skyline now a days lol. Scary people

[@zerx70]

LMFAO legit but the thing is they're a very little minority but still makes you anxious

[@zethyuen8859]

Please don't. It's easy to track you down.

[@Lunehardt]

You have to mention GeoWizard when you talk about the history of the game man

[@psillycybin4740]

Are we even recording?...yes we are. I love me some GW

[@TheRubinho96]

Great video, the only thing missing I think is a mention of Geowizard (or Geoguessr Wizard as he used to be known). He used to be the biggest Geoguessr KZbinr in the world before he really branched out into other formats, and I’m sure his early videos got many people into playing the game. He surely had a massive influence on the game and the start of it becoming bigger and bigger

[@dudeg6967]

Truth! Geoguessr Wizards content is some of the real OG content

[@tehjburz]

This is fair. I would have gone through some of the OGs in-depth but the vid was already at max length, so I had to just mention the dedicated streamers in passing.

[@TheRubinho96]

@@tehjburzunderstandable! Great video nonetheless which will hopefully make even more people excited about Geoguessr

[@Renbruh]

they did mention geowizard during the finals they showed a 3 second clip of him saying get in

[@Leyrann]

Pretty much half of the current pros started playing because of his videos. Absolutely worth a mention.

[@chrispham6599]

Who needs to spend trillions of dollars in surveillance tech when you can just hire these guys?

[@tomasgoes]

CIA just adding cropped pictures so they can be identified.

[@ontariomotorsport7038]

I guarantee you the FBI already has 100 dudes like that

[@Marta1Buck]

a dude from CIA reacted to rainbolt video, he basically said that CIA pays too little, he better work somewhere else.

[@SchnelleZiege]

Top tier esport. But they gotta fix the scoring a bit though. First rounds can be meaningless while round 8, 9, and 10 are way too important.

[@KTCA0P]

Without the positive upscaling though the rounds may drag for many, many, many more rounds after. Has to be a sudden death of sorts at some point.

[@kyleb_b]

As someone in the community, the geoguessr devs who run the main competitions are universally recognized as really bad at responding to user feedback and organizing the events. There's so much potential though if they get their shit together

[@NBoi56]

​i dont mind comebacks, but holy fuck the multipliers in the later rounds are TOO HIGH, make 5 amazing guesses in a row beating your opponent by a big margin and make one bad guess and its gg. you can genuinely have mediocre asf guesses for 3 rounds in a row and have it have 0 impact on the results. never could take that seriously ever

[@josefernandez4423]

the multiplier should stop at 3x at round 6+ and extend the rounds past round 10. the game is fast so there's no problem for matches getting long. we are used to long matches anyway with the top esports today.

[@SchnelleZiege]

@@KTCA0P i agree, but there're better/fairer ways though.

[@Leyrann]

What stands out to me the most is that pro Geoguessr has an _incredibly_ appealing hype cycle for viewers. You get a bit of calm while looking around with the color caster giving their thoughts on the plausible location, and then the pros pick their locations and you get to see the difference between them, which builds hype, and then the actual location pops and the damage is dealt, and all the hype is released. That all happens over the course of about a minute, and it's just incredibly _fun._ I've watched League of Legends weekly for over a decade at this point, but I find myself more engaged when I watch Geoguessr.

[@JohnYoo39]

The short dopamine release cycles are undeniable.

[@kirathewizard]

2:01 skip ads

[@G0A7]

As someone who watched the finals with some friends, that was one of the most exciting sports event ive seen in my life

[@illuminoeye_gaming]

So hype. The comeback attempt

[@fandikabagaskara2613]

True true. I watched it from rainbolt clips channel i think. That finals is more entertaining than dota TI final XD

[@arifasatria7704]

@@fandikabagaskara2613 Ngl, that finals was really hyped

[@iMíccoli]

​@fandikabagaskara2613 btw if you didn't know , that channel is stealing content. It doesn't belong to rainbolt :/

[@iMíccoli]

​@@arifasatria7704 that's what we call cinema

[@jazzrock1128]

GeoGuessr World Cup '25. Sponsors: TripAdvisor, Trivago, Hertz, Air France, Bing Maps (Cause google fked around and almost killed geoguessr), Mariott Hotel, and literally every single fking multinational brand that falls within the tourism industry. Make it happen please.

[@faraban.geoguessr8447]

Oh please no, geography and journey is not about sponsorship, leave us alone from tourism commercial imperatives

[@Canadagraphs]

@@faraban.geoguessr8447 BUSINESS is about sponsorship though, and the reality is this is a business. Also, reality is, if the game wants to grow, it needs outside money to do that. The winner of the entire thing doesnt even make enough to from the tourney to get out of the "poor" rating in most 1st world countries. Let alone the person who finishes 13th or lower that only got $500. More sponsors would = better prize $ for the events.

[@tray2204]

As someone who has watched the geogusser competitive scene for a long time now, I only hope the devs follow more and more of what the players want to grow the game.

[@MatBad96]

This is one of few games which doesn't feel like a waste of time cause you learn a lot about geography

[@Timi7272]

I love that Launders is part of the casters

[@simonpeterdebbarma]

GOAT, lau is the man

[@Ninjakiw1]

As a cs fan who recently met launders irl, i love that he is part of it. Such a cool dude

[@Canadagraphs]

Really good video. Excellent job at explaining the game, and the nuances of the game to newcomers. I was unaware Orlando got a sponsorship deal. Guessing by the actual World Cup there will be half a dozen people on the stage with one. Have to lol @ Fau having an Alberta bollard just propped up in the corner of his room.

[@joshuacerbito]

"The trees look polish" he said

[@Leyrann]

Sometimes they unironically do look Polish.

[@Desperoro]

First of all, Geoguessr popularity started with very different style. Most popularity gained from GeoWizzard and others (I have watched Chicago Geographer) who played Gg in style of trying to move around the map and find exact spot. That was true Geoguessr, that was how I have played it. Than game has changed to be more competitive, and with clips from Rainbolt or zigzag it started to have very different vibe. Rainbolt clips broke through to people who haven't even had geography in their interests and many thought he is a god or Cia agent. Than other players became more popular, I personally watch Zigzag. But I would like to see competition with old time style. So first to get 5k on every point. So more investigation, not dart style

[@BathTeth]

That is a good Idea. A "Perfect Game Mode" would require a different skill set. I believe even GW could beat zigzag and Rainbolt in this format, because they mostly do fast region guessing, while GW is pretty good at figuring out the exact street. Blinky would still be the favorite though. ^^

[@Desperoro]

@@BathTeth ZigZag would still have that issue with slow moving. Ať least for training. But yeah, I would appreciate that mode

[@pbanaszek]

Thats true, I went into Geoguessr, because of Rainbolt clips, still watching him and Zigzag. Its really fun game, where you can learn about geography, other countries and also can inspire you to travel more and get to know different cultures. From time to time I can find fantastic location, which I want to visit some day, and pin them on my maps google account :)

[@shiver186]

It makes sense that to be world champion you need to be able to adjust to every playstyle. Does Moving players think that MKs insta guesses are annoying and boring? Yes. Does it work for MK? Yes. You need to adapt overcome like in any other esport.

[@jeffreychandler8418]

exactly. Plus they can only win by becoming better at NMPZ because then they'd beat MK, which forces MK to get good at move.

[@KhoaPham-i6t]

i can't believe you guys didn't add the clip of rainbolt getting really accurate on geoguesser based on the sky alone. literally just blue.

[@PingSharp]

I'm gonna have to hop in and pull an erm actually 🤓 Oftentimes, it's just luck. It's still very impressive, but a lot of these sky/grass guesses are based on the camera quality, sometimes even the date of copyright. For example, if the sky looks grainy, it's very likely that it's going to be either India, Nigeria, or some other countries that have what we call "sh*tcam", as in shitty camera quality. So it's down to deciding between 1 of say 5 countries that match the given quality. He does get them wrong as often as the odds would suggest, but only posts them in shorts form when he gets them right. No one can consistently guess the correct country solely based on the sky, but even when watching his uncut videos, he is impressive as heck.

[@epthopper]

@@PingSharp it also isn't even rainbolt posting on the "rainbolt clips" channel (where a lot of these clips are). It's just some random guy clipping his vids

[@PingSharp]

@@epthopper yea that makes sense too. He literally doesn't care lol

[@Mia279_]

Happy to see that the first LAN was mentioned here, Geoguessr kinda put it under the rug for some time! Like they used to call this "the first Geoguessr world cup" and then called next years world cup the same, so it's a good thing that it was mentioned here. French streamers like Antoine Daniel are a big reason for the popularity of the game in France, so that's why a lot of French players are really good at the game if some people are curious as of why!

[@illuminoeye_gaming]

I did NOT know that someone got signed by an org. Good for them.

[@FigsyGames]

Lets go! Good to see Geogeussr on the channel keep it coming

[@barleduckgeo]

goat

[@IMightWinPvP]

answer: get google to use some of their near infinite $$$ to sponsor huge tournaments, (allowing more people to see the beauty of google maps and so drawing more people into it)

[@tren1ty_gaming]

This is the first esport i can see having a VR category

[@lucasvasconcelos5705]

I've seen both finals with Consus and Blinky and I must say: it's my second favourite esports alongside Rainbow Six and behind CS

[@mkbettm9188]

Wb rocket league super fun to watch

[@Marta1Buck]

You have 2 second(s)

[@go1988]

Watching Geoguesser is like watching a quiz show in the sense that you can participate from home. This might be a big appeal for older folks who are used to primarily watch TV and are familiar with similar concepts from there

[@n1njafish894]

lets be honest, we can attribute the rise of geoguesser to one man, the myth the legend. Rainbolt

[@ground.jordan]

pretty thorough vid, shoutout to Fau!

[@xeta6-Mobile]

I just saw final round of DougDoug AI vs Neuro and that felt like an Esports Geoguesser Tournament 😭

[@josefernandez4423]

geoguessr world cup is a breath of fresh air.

[@raviolimatt]

It was really fun showing Geo gessr WC for my parents, they were having fun trying to guess, even tho everywhere was somewhere in Brazil for them lolol

[@adzter96]

History of Geogussr with no Geowizard mention? He's probably the person with the biggest impact in growing the game and he inspired quite a few of now pros.

[@Taylor.L.]

Government Farming Recruits lol

[@gniludio]

The idea of Geoguessr is just perfect...

[@taylorabcdef]

rainbolt and launders?!?! perfect caster team

[@Polar15-te2ym]

no "gradient of Senegal" D:

[@shineko79]

Love the Ultros poster in the background

[@PomianGaming]

Rainbolt bout to be the max verstappen of pro geoguessr

[@sejhnly]

I personally think that being good at all modes is what makes you the best. Anyways, its really cool to see this game grow.

[@WisdomLearner]

They should partner with, countries that promote their tourism industry. Yes companies have deep pockets but do you which has even deeper pockets, nations.

[@Canadagraphs]

Wouldnt work. Countries would want optimal attractions highlighted, instead of a dirt road with a house that looks like it hasnt been lived in for 20 years being shown. Also, players would then know "oh, the gov of *insert country* is sponsoring", the map will weigh heavily to them, and they would focus more on practising that country. There was an event a couple months ago sponsored by Ford, and conveniently like 1 to 2 rounds every game were outside of a Ford dealership.... and I am sure any top tier player could just study a plethora of ford locs & have a super good idea where 1 was when it came up, imagine that now when all they have to do is memorize popular attractions of a country.

[@h1murashi]

Somewhere, someone in the military is already trying to weaponize this.

[@PenguinLord10]

bold of you to assume they haven't already

[@PingSharp]

They definitely have, the people that do that are just not publicly known. Pro geoguessr players probably have way more knowledge about things like signs and electricity poles though, since government employees can just look that up with external tools. Geoguessr players have to memorize it since using external tools is considered cheating.

[@GeoMeridium]

I mean, fine-tuned versions of ChatGPT can already hold their own against the best human players. I think there's going to be a cheating problem, if we don't get ahead of it.

[@ieradossantos]

12:04 The overlay is quite boring. Make the time in between rounds 'set' and make the entire 'gaming' aspect of the game visually appealing. The entire thing needs a remodel... The round only start after the host (commentator) clicks on 'start' so there is no rhythm to the rounds. The players just sit there and get 'surprised' by the start of a new round. That should be like 5 sec max in between rounds. The damage indication is so boring, its just a bar. There is no hype to it, the multiplier is also quite boring (visually). Nothing really happens, all the hype is internal. So that should be different, there is more but these 2 points are a great place to start.

[@michaelo4476]

what would you change these to though? i'm not sure how you can make a health bar interesting

[@ieradossantos]

A animated health that shatters, burns, cracks, freezes or whatever as damage is dealt. Add little particle effects like sparks, flames, or smoke. Give me at least a special group of 5K animations customized for each country / continent. Idk. I'm high as a kite and this it not my area of expertise but something like that

[@michaelo4476]

​@@ieradossantos tbf those do sound cool. i do like how it's simple in a way but some special stuff for certain situations like a 5k would be nice

[@MarcCastellsBallesta]

As a viewer of the Microsoft Excel World Championship, you guys have such a wider target audience you can succeed.

[@pbanaszek]

When I watched this year finals of Geoguesser, my gf was thinking that it will be boring ( I've watched previous games, it was her first watching live), but at the end she admitted it was pretty entertainment and we even didnt know, how fast 1 hour went during watching this finals :)

[@TheLastQuazar]

The governments about to hire whoever won this

[@AvaMiller-o1x]

I can binge your vids for hours!

[@ziwuri]

Fau is the Eric Rosen of Geoguessr

[@Desperoro]

One more thing. Moving game is problematic, because in every part of the world the connection to street view servers is different and some players are not able to properly train and compete in moving on time.

[@leoaltivez7161]

The earth you are stepping on is insane

[@user-ve2zx7zc4i]

best knowledge testing competition

[@sumitpurohit8849]

This can even be a big tv/web show. Why just limit to esports niche

[@Piggy_ip]

Could you consider Impact Point as a game with potential for being an esport? love playing that game

[@vince5456]

GeoGuessr eSports be ballin.

[@smad66]

TheScore, or the devs not mentioning Geowizard is insane to me. He was the biggest factor when it comes to geoguessr's success

[@BathTeth]

I think there might be a bit of bad blood, because GW declined to be part of the E-Sport scene (like commentating etc.). He said on one of his videos, that he were invited but didn't have the time to go.

[@smad66]

@BathTeth yeah I get that but turning down commentating because you aren't good enough to commentate (cough pala) doesn't invalidate the work he done to get geoguessr on the map (pun intended)

[@ezKael-ko5uk]

These are the type of players. You should not trashtalk online

[@Geheimnis-c2e]

He doesn't need your IP address, he knows where you are physically.

[@CoachJohnMcGuirk]

They should make a smell based version where you have to smell armpits blindfolded and then guess who it was from a lineup. Call it "B.O. guesser"

[@bobosss]

lmao hahaha

[@Desperoro]

And sound version

[@alexbucsp]

GeoGuessr is never gonna be a successful esport until we get that a mid caliber player was texting minors

[@HEXZ0R-]

ah finally the browser game ive been playing for year finally have video in thescore esports KEKL

[@Coppertine_]

Kirania mentioned!!! He's mega goated in NMPZ

[@deadrixhanon1776]

Other way to increase revenues for the game is i think a country sponsored event.

[@Canadagraphs]

What do you mean country sponsored? Do you mean an event with just players from 1 country? Or do you mean an actual Country sponsoring an event? If its the latter.... wouldnt work. Every major country, and most minor countries covered by street view have specialists in that country already. On top of that, the country in question would probably only want "nice" looking locations, or popular tourist spots show, and would NOT want a random dirt road with 1 house that looks like no ones lived in it for 20 years to be shown., which takes away almost all the skill needed in the game. If you mean an event with just players from 1 country, theres honestly only 7 to 10 countries with a talent pool deep enough to have a GOOD QUALITY event of more than 4 players.

[@Nateyo]

Why am I more willing to take geoguessr more seriously as an esport than mobile games?

[@PepinoTheGreat]

You can feel Mike's energy is like... "whatever... these dudes are crazy about something I did and now they want to make it e-sports, I don't care man, Google's wanting my money and I have to pay 50$ to these grass deprived kids and they want me to make it a serious competitive scene? These nerds should go to those places in person instead of looking at the world though a screen. Give me a break" He looks genuinely indifferent and even unwilling to have to center his work around the hype it has created *having so much potential* for family friendly e-sport material. My prediction, if it keeps its current management, GeoGuessr will clash before the second trimester of 2025

[@Nominokoni]

Remember that these guys turned down NBI's offers.

[@GuessWhereAmIGame]

Did you try street walk immersive videos instead of static street views? 🎉🎉❤

[@leoaltivez7161]

50$ for 8 pc mc nuggets is insane

[@leoaltivez7161]

The air you are breathing is insane

[@krish-ut9de]

i dont play it BUT you gotta see the finals for yourself before watching this video

[@Kellexyz]

Shout out to geowizard

[@HenryZhoupokemon]

Imagine if rainbolt competed tho

[@Shakazaramesh]

He wouldn't do very well, pretty much all of the world cup competitors are better than him.

[@HenryZhoupokemon]

@ nah I’m saying instead of streaming what if he dedicated his time to practicing to be a world class player. Does he have what it takes to

[@creedolala6918]

anyone else get strong Gyllenhaal Nightcrawler vibes from this dude mike?

[@ThofuGear]

geoguesser and excel sheet esports gotta be my favorite gender

[@niklasjagas]

All of these guys would be shivering if Rainbolt went for proplay

[@duc_tator]

Video Excel esports next?

[@tonitaipalus8722]

14:50 if sims 4 had esport then surely this game will find its place

[@leoaltivez7161]

Concord is insane

[@Krisskn12345678910]

Moist Esports would be perfect fit for probably most of the GeoGuessr pros. Ludwig and Charlie would probably take care of most of the content, and it would boost the esport by getting new viewers

[@PukMaxi]

They know more about our earth than aliens do.

[@freddywalston]

Audio is kinda nasty on this one

[@darko612]

Note this people have the potential to be FBI Agents btw 😂

[@luscioushermit8154]

Imagine geo guesser getting cinematics n shi every year and also skins

[@walcon6996]

3:16 damn people in 2013 where ass in geoguessr xD

[@Kiriemy]

That butterfly is too Japanese, this is from Hokkaido

[@aboxthatdr0x0ls]

ESPN THE OCHO

[@leoaltivez7161]

Mr Beast is insane, someone put him inside an assylum

[@ColaGuts]

WHERE LIZ?

[@Brian.mp4]

Geotastic for those who want free

[@frankmills1917]

2:00

[@proportion11]

so u are saying there is a purpose to studying geography now?

[@78diegox]

Peak

[@8milestreet]

good video

[@chad_penguin]

wait so rainbolt isnt the best geoguesser, just the most popular? or does he not compete?

[@dom1n8a]

just the most popular, still probably a top 100 player though

[@Canadagraphs]

Most popular. He found a style of tiktok clips that worked, and went viral through that, and became famous from them. In his preferred mode, NMPZ, he absolutely COULD compete with the World Cup players in that format.....but as soon as you add in NM, his skills start to diminish, and in moving, he wouldnt even be in the top 500. Hes exceptionally skilled, and still honestly probably better than some who competed in the qualifiers for World League, but he would never win the WC, and honestly if he even made it to the WC, would get bounced in the round robin round...... so its just better for the game & his marketability to have him as a caster.

[@tierinie]

Rainbolt is probably the best non meta player, if they played upside down pixelated 0.001 he would win every time Rainbolt has fbi skills while the pros are just good at abusing the game

[@freinan476]

@@tierinie winning everytime is an overstatement lol, pros would get used to it eventually and prob will get even better than him

[@tierinie]

@@freinan476 I don't think you understand Pros spend 24/7 using meta techniques While rainbolt spends 24/7 actually learning about the places and their cultures etc If you to drop rainbolt physically to some random place he would know that place While pros who rely on meta too much would have a high chance of failing

[@tomaz9601]

Very nice game, hard to learn and praticly impossible to master

[@leoaltivez7161]

Nutting on your girl is insane

[@RyanBreaker]

based t-shirt

[@2BXD]

$50 lol

[@bhavgupta8317]

NEVER BUY ACER LAPTOPS

[@Theaddekalk]

new game? lol

[@xavierkrantz1098]

do a don't @ me on Pokemon Unite, that game has SERIOUS E-Sports potential, and to me it will reach 5 million dollars in prize money in 2029.

[@Apple_Beshy]

The thing I hate geogussr is their greed in money before they have free to play but now they canned it

[@leoaltivez7161]

Your lack of vocabulary is insane