DPC season has started, but where are the spectators?!

At the beginning of 2020, the whole world was already tuned into an imminent COVID-19 pandemic. It not only brought down the global economy but also left people without work. Esports found itself in a better position, and while the largest events and tournaments were threatened, many esports organizations and players kept their jobs.

Esport, just like traditional sports, has not been immune to the impact of COVID-19. And already on March 12, it became known that the organizers of the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 Major canceled the tournament 3 days before its start. Many esports organizations managed to come to the United States to participate in this tournament, as its results influenced the world DPC leaderboard, thanks to which they can get an invitation to participate in The International. Unfortunately, instead of the promised tournament, empty halls and a transition to online were waiting for them. No esports or tournament organizations were ready for this. What is the way out of this situation?!

In 2019, after the end of The International 2019, Valve announced a new regional league system, which was to take effect after TI10. The new system was supposed to systematize the schedule of competitive games throughout the year and provide teams with new options for growth and development.

Since no one got a response from Valve, the tournament organizers took the lead. ESL One, BTS, WePlay!, Epic Esports Events and ONE Esports, taking the idea of regional leagues as a basis, began to conduct online tournaments one after another.

After moving online, the audience for Dota 2 broadcasts has grown significantly. People were sitting at home and watching games, and Twitch increased its metrics by almost 40%.

Such an influx of audience to streaming sites has a positive impact on their development. Due to the growing popularity of the streamer community who covered broadcasts without delay, Twitch and Valve have changed the streaming rules for tournament organizers and community streamers. Unfortunately, Valve turned its attention too late not only to streaming services but to the game itself as a whole.

Due to the fact that the tournaments were held without interruptions and their value was minimal, the audience, as well as the players, were simply tired of Dota 2. Everyone was waiting for an official response from Valve. And only on November 24 it became known about the exact date of the start of the DPC season 2021.

On December 31, 2020, there was a loud announcement of the start of the DPC season, which everyone was waiting for. After reassuring the community that the tournament organizers had several months to prepare, the players looked forward to the first official matches.

But not everything went smoothly, the start of qualifications for the tournament was not without a scandal. The complicated rules of the open qualifiers and the unreasonable list of invited teams for the closed qualifiers caused a wave of indignation among players, commentators and analysts alike.

Many tournament organizers, in their own defense, tried to prove to the community that they were not to blame, citing lack of time for preparation. As a result, at the start of the qualifiers, the viewer, instead of games, watched only numerous technical victories, and in some regions, it was impossible to even watch the broadcast, due to its complete absence.

The problems of the qualifiers were left behind. It's time for the long-awaited DPC matches of the season. Only now the audience is reluctant to watch the broadcasts of the championship. So why did this happen?

Due to Valve's indifference to tournaments and the support of the eSports scene, oversaturated with online leagues 2020 year and the loss of motivation from the players themselves, the audience's interest in the game itself and watching the championship has greatly decreased.

The most disastrous region in the qualifiers was North America. There were a lot of unknown teams in it, so the region was left out of the audience. In general, the statistics of views and peak audience at the qualifiers, quite accurately reflects the situation with competitive Dota in the regions.

With the start of DPC, the situation does not change at all. And even the big names of esports players could not bring the same popularity to the tournament as the competent approach to the OGA Dota PIT Season 4 championship.

The statistics show that the total number of spectators from all regions during the closed qualifiers for the DPC season does not reach the peak of the most popular matches during the 4th season of OGA Dota PIT.

Despite Valve's efforts to support the development of the esports scene in some regions, they have failed to attract sufficient viewership. One of the main reasons for this was the poor advertising of DPC, and in some regions, even its absence. As a result, the start of the DPC season had a positive effect only for South America, the rest of the regions were only in the red.

The reason for such a sharp decline in popularity is not only the oversaturation of Dota but also the incorrect approach to the DPC season as a whole.

Due to the extended DPC season schedule, and the inability to host third-party tournaments within the dates set by Valve, viewers will not be able to enjoy the matches between Tier-1 teams.

At the moment, there is no competent distribution of the playoff stages, moreover, the difference between the prize money in the majors and the leagues is not so great. As a result, it doesn't motivate the teams to give their best.

In addition, the difference between the prize money for DPC 2021 and DPC from previous seasons is very different. For many, the lack of a difference in prize money in all regions became a problem: $280,000 in North and South America and in Southeast Asia, it is completely different $280,000. Will the new system be able to financially support its players, especially those who depend on Dota 2?

The new DPC Season system isn't ideal for everyone, and Valve says it is primarily aimed at supporting certain regions. It helps in the development of the Tier 2 scene by adding finance for teams that do not win major tournaments.

But this approach does not solve the problem of losing interest in tournaments among the public.

One of the solutions to this problem may be an investment in advertising and the organization of the tournament as a whole. From previous experience, we know that Valve is not particularly fond of reinvesting money in Dota 2 and the development of new helmets for them is a clear priority, but what about delegating authority. If Valve gives the tournament organizer more freedom and the opportunity to make more money from the DPC tournament, they will be motivated to advertise this event. Also, it is possible to involve the community and create commercials or cinematics for the tournament, as for example, it was on Epicenter.

In addition to all this, the problem with a small prize fund on the Major completely discourages skilled teams from showing their maximum. And the recently announced prize pool of the first major ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021 does not reach the declared $1,000,000 at all.

We can only hope that Valve will be able to solve this problem, or again let things go to chance.