Dota 2’s Bali Major is the final stop before The International 2023, meaning hype for the pro scene should be building quite nicely, but the huge event’s group stage has actually struggled to attract any substantial viewership.
Despite being hosted in one of the most passionate Dota 2 regions, statistics reveal Bali groups have become the least watched among all major tournaments in the 2023 season.
With the group stages coming to an end, pro play stat-tracking site Esports Charts took a deep dive into the numbers and found the Bali Major performed the worst in attracting viewers during group stages compared to the Lima and Berlin Majors.
While the Bali Major is taking place in Southeast Asia, a region considered highly competitive and passionate, the games have been live at terrible times for European and North American fans, mainly running while they are asleep or at work. The absence of viewers from these two regions noticeably impacted the Bali Major.
In addition to timing problems, fans also have been complaining about the production quality, lack of a YouTube broadcast, and bad stream quality. Many Dota 2 players from EU and NA who did decide to stay up for the event have begun giving up after IO Esports and Epulze failed to fix the constant stutter and tearing that occurred on English streams.
Related: Dota 2 fans call out Lima Major organizers for subpar production quality
Considering DreamLeague Season 20 was also a few days ago, fans have also been experiencing Dota 2 burnout. DreamLeague delivered both in terms of production and quality Dota 2 gameplay, decreasing the Bali Major’s credit.
In light of Bali Major’s performance, Esports Charts reposted a 2022 research where they revealed tournaments held in SEA would be able to attract more viewers if they were to utilize time slots between 9am and 12pm GMT.
With playoffs starting July 5, Bali Major could still salvage its Dota 2 viewer numbers with some key schedule changes, though that looks unlikely to happen.
