Look Sports Media – The Valorant Esports World Cup (EWC) Grand Finals, featuring a clash of titans between FNATIC and Team Heretics, delivered a shockingly low peak viewership of just 451,943, a far cry from the over 1 million viewers who tuned in for the VCT Masters Toronto final. This significant disparity raises questions about the EWC’s overall success and points to a potential viewer boycott fueled by widespread criticism.
The underwhelming numbers stand in stark contrast to the popularity of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT). While official figures don’t include Chinese viewership, the disparity is still striking. Even more telling, popular Twitch streamers like Mixwell (397,855 viewers), beyAz (121,905 viewers), and GOFNS (444,787 views) collectively attracted a larger audience than the official broadcast, indicating a significant portion of fans opted for alternative viewing experiences. This trend isn’t isolated to Valorant; similar resistance to official broadcasts is emerging in other esports titles, including League of Legends, where a Caedrel co-stream sparked heated debate.
The EWC’s broadcast issues played a significant role in the low viewership. Viewers voiced numerous complaints, citing missed engagements, high player ping (unexpected for a LAN event), inconvenient scheduling, and numerous technical pauses, including one semifinal pause that lasted over two hours, with a prolonged period of a black screen and audio outage. Many described the overall production quality as significantly inferior to VCT Masters Toronto, further exacerbating the viewership decline. One viewer tweeted, "the EWC (for VALORANT at least) has to be one of the worst events I’ve ever spent any time watching. what a miserable display of production. I feel bad for all those involved, including the teams attending."
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With the EWC now concluded, teams shift their focus back to the regional VCT circuits. VCT China, EMEA, and Americas will resume on July 16th, with the Pacific region starting a day earlier. These regional stages are crucial for qualification and seeding for the upcoming VCT Champions in Paris, where FNATIC, Team Heretics, and especially Paper Rex (VCT Toronto Masters champions) are expected to be strong contenders. However, the EWC’s shortcomings serve as a stark reminder of the importance of broadcast quality and fan engagement in maintaining the health and growth of the esports ecosystem.
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