For many Dota 2 fans, The International is the biggest and baddest competition there is. TI 11 was supposed to have been a fitting end which saw some very exciting gameplay through this season’s DPC.
Instead, poor production value, bad management and even lousier communication has marred the Grand Old Dame of esports.
According to Esports Charts, the number of TI 11 viewers through the group stage as of October 18, decreased when compared to last year’s TI 10 viewership figures.
In short, peak viewership is down by 40 per cent this year compared to previous year, while the overall number of hours watched has dropped by 32 per cent.
According to Esports Charts, there are a number of possible causes which contributed to TI’s fall in viewership this year. Some of them are the absence of TI shows on the SteamTv channel for the first time and time difference in Southeast Asia, which makes it inconvenient for Europe – Western audiences.
But viewers and fans think there is a simpler reason: the organisers themselves.
The Professional Gamers League (PGL) company, Valve’s official TI broadcast partner, is under heavy scrutiny following their poor execution in TI 11.
Many Dota fans across the world were disappointed when PGL announced their decision to allow first ever sponsorship in TI last September. Fans argued that sponsors’ involvement is a sign of disrespect toward faithful followers who have been sponsoring TI’s prize pool via the purchase of battle passes since 2013.
Moreover, the sort of sponsors that were promoted during the LCQ and group stage games, gambling sites in particular, sparked criticism in the community. Many believe that their choice has tarnished Valve’s reputation, which has been known for its aggressive stance against gambling in the competitive scene.
As the competition continued, the outrage about this sponsorship got heated as well. Viewers were incredibly irritated during the LCQ and group stage games as the sponsors’ placement took sizeable space on the livestream. They were also upset with how commercial advertisements in the PGL official livestream commentary were excessive and interfered with online audience engagement.
Speaking of livestream, PGL’s use of Twitch as its official streaming platform has been met with criticism as well. The availability of both the PGL and the official dota2TI channel on Twitch caused confusion among TI fans, making it more difficult for them to find a live broadcast of the tournament.
In addition, the quality of production from PGL did not escape the ire of the Twitter crowds. Of course, it’s not unusual to point out the lack of a dedicated studio in TI 11. Rather than bringing the production crew and shipping it straight to Singapore. PGL opted to handle everything remotely.
As expected, this led to a decline in the quality of live broadcasts. The frame rate issues, observers being late in highlighting the crucial moments during games and connection issues were only few of the many setbacks that occured during LCQ and group stage games. It’s so bad that Asa Butterfield tweeted that a Smash Bros tournament, which is relatively less popular in comparison with Dota 2, has better production value than PGL’s TI.
The casters on TI couldn’t do much to help with this as well. There were production issues that might be heard by the audiences due to remote connection and hardware differences. Some even say that the audio they were listening to was not always clear or there were doubled in-games sound.
Things worsened when they began blocking viewers who criticised their livestream harshly in the livestream’s comments section.
Valve needs to evaluate the performance of PGL, particularly for an event of this complexity, based on their production record to date.
The departure of the BTS production team from the Dota professional tournament for the upcoming season could diminish the audience’s confidence in Valve even further, especially if the company continues to keep PGL as their production partner for future tournaments.
