The Dota 2 TI 2022 viewership stats are pretty harrowing, with TI11 failing to come anywhere close to the popularity of rival MOBA, League of Legends. Post-group stage, players have been quick to voice their frustrations over Valve’s tournament management, possibly explaining why the stats are so low.
According to viewership analysis site Esports Charts, TI11 is performing significantly worse than both TI9 and TI10. The group stage totalled 23 million hours watched, with an average of 443k viewers and a concurrent peak of 680.9k.
In comparison to TI9 and TI10, hours watched has dropped by 19.6% and 32% respectively, while peak viewership has tanked by a depressing 18.2% and 40%. The unique viewers stat on Twitch has also dropped by 20%, painting a pretty bleak picture of TI11.
It’s important to note that this report doesn’t include the figures from Chinese streaming services “due to the unreliability of data they provide.”
In many ways this is to be expected. TI10 was the first international Dota tournament post-pandemic, and also celebrated the ten year anniversary of the game’s mammoth esports scene. TI11 has struggled to match it from the get go, with The International 2022 prize pool being significantly lower than TI10’s (not that it’s anything to smirk at, to be fair).
Another factor, however, appears to be fan discontent. Post-group stage the Dota 2 subreddit has been inundated with angry comments. “Valve owes the community an explanation around this year’s TI,” reads one thread, going on to list off issues with integrity (especially for non-English speaking teams) while also asking why Valve seemed to have lowered the production quality for the event, effectively stepping away and leaving PGL in charge.
Another writes, “instead of getting proper soundproofing, PGL is punishing attendees by turning sound too low. Can barely hear s**t in front row.” The soundproofing issue has impacted players, too, with Chinese squad Team Aster claiming they reported the issue only to receive no feedback.
All of these problems combined are likely the reason for TI11’s disappointing viewership. With the group stage over there’s still time for Valve to make changes to the tournament’s soundproofing and general fluidity, but whether or not that entices fans back to the tournament remains unseen.
Ahead of TI11 we spoke to Dota 2 legend N0tail about losing his gaming passion, and what hardware he recommends. If you’ve tuned into TI11 and have the urge to dive back into Valve’s MOBA, we’ve also got a list of the best Dota 2 heroes to help you out.