The International is well behind us, and it saw Chinese team Newbee winning a very casual $5 million in prize money. I know there are many of you in the Lazygamer community who strongly dislike or have little regard for Dota 2 (or MOBAs in general), but I take comfort in knowing that there are at least 20 million other people who find it as fascinating as I do.
It really is quite something, a whopping 20 million people taking interest in an eSport. According to Valve (via Polygon), this years event had over 2 million concurrent viewers at one stage, more than double that of the year before. While that is impressive, it still lags behind close rival, League of Legends.
Although the prize pool may not have been as impressive, The League of Legends championship 2013 saw a total of 32 million viewers, with a concurrent peak of 8.5 million. It will be interesting to see if the 2014 event will show growth or a decline. There is no denying that the game is far more popular at the moment.
Still, it is really impressive growth for Dota 2. This years tournament was viewable through many sources, including those for newcomers and even broadcasts on ESPN. The final may have been slightly disappointing (only because the 2013 final was so nail-biting), but the rest of the tournament was fantastic. There really seemed to be no dominant team, at least not until Newbee found their stride and defeated anybody who stood in their way.
If Valve can keep innovating their ideas of community involvement as well as game coverage, I don’t see why the tournament won’t just keep growing in viewership every year.
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Last Updated: July 30, 2014
Rince&pop
July 30, 2014 at 13:38
Damn, those are impressive figures. And don’t worry Martha, I have it on good authority Emperor Trev and Admiral Erwin are regular DOTA fangirls.
Sith JJ
July 30, 2014 at 13:40
I’m neither here nor there with DOTA. I like it, but I’m not crazy about it. I see why people like it as much as they do, but I’d rather play something else.
ToshZA
July 30, 2014 at 13:44
This?
http://www.makeup-beauty-tip.com/images/cosmetics-specialist-game.jpg
Rince&pop
July 30, 2014 at 13:44
Is that eyeliner I see? 0_O
ToshZA
July 30, 2014 at 13:45
No idea, I’m not the expert here.
Sith JJ
July 30, 2014 at 13:45
Oi! I only noticed that comment now per chance. I’ve been busy doing something you all should also be doing: WORK!
But, I’ll admit that Trevor’s comment has potential for comment of the week, even if it is at the cost of my dignity.
ToshZA
July 30, 2014 at 13:47
I’m off to CT on a 2 week holiday on Friday. Since I’m freelance, I’m already in holiday mode 😀
Yay me.
Sith JJ
July 30, 2014 at 13:48
I live in CT. Capetonians are always on holiday 😉
ToshZA
July 30, 2014 at 13:49
So I hear. Looking for permanent work down there, need to get my ass out of Jozi.
Sith JJ
July 30, 2014 at 13:54
Then you’ll have to change your handle to TosjZA
ToshZA
July 30, 2014 at 13:55
Sjoe, serious? 😛
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
July 30, 2014 at 13:56
yeah along with having your front teeth removed so that you can have a passion gap like everyone else
ToshZA
July 30, 2014 at 13:56
LOL. I’m not into that stuff man, keep it in your pants. 😀
Rince&pop
July 30, 2014 at 13:47
Well let’s put it this way, if he doesn’t win comment of the week, puppies will suffer…
Hammersteyn
July 30, 2014 at 13:48
XD
hairyknees
July 30, 2014 at 13:56
I KNEW IT!
Admiral Chief Dovahkiin
July 30, 2014 at 14:00
MSM
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 30, 2014 at 15:14
Did you also know he’s a terrible liar? :/
Admiral Chief Dovahkiin
July 30, 2014 at 14:01
The game is interesting, the people playing it, less so :p
Hammersteyn
July 30, 2014 at 13:48
It’s not that I don’t like Dota, I just don’t find it fun to play, then again there are 5 000 000 reasons why this is not supposed to be casual game that you just play. Maybe that’s way some players are toxic.
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
July 30, 2014 at 13:55
Great. Now that there are so many viewers I can see rugby style ads appear in the streaming.
Sith JJ
July 30, 2014 at 13:56
As long as they don’t ban alcohol ads it’s okay with me.
Rince&pop
July 30, 2014 at 13:57
Or an article on LG everyday 0-O
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
July 30, 2014 at 14:22
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
#kidding
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 30, 2014 at 15:17
I’ll admit it, I watched a bit of The International. For about 5 minutes. Because I didn’t understand what the presenters were talking about, there was an eye-watering jacket & some team breakdown where a Chinese guy was talking about how badly he wanted to win because he wanted to retire & marry his gf. Nooit boet.