VCT Masters Copenhagen had fewest viewers in Valorant history
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesVCT Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen brought with it the hype of the crowd, but the event had the lowest viewership numbers in international Valorant history.
The second international Valorant LAN of 2022 came to a close on July 24 as FunPlus Phoenix beat Paper Rex in an epic five-map series played in front of a crowd at Forum Copenhagen.
After over a year when Valorant LAN events had to be held behind closed doors amid the global health crisis, the presence of spectators marked an important milestone for the esport and added more hype to the tournament, with players admitting that they were “feeding off the energy” of the crowd.
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesBut even with that going for it, VCT Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen struggled to attract viewers. According to statistics website Esports Charts, the tournament posted a peak viewership of 783,985, which is the lowest figure in international Valorant history.
The Danish event was the second international Valorant LAN that could not hit 1 million concurrent viewers after last year’s VCT Stage 3 Masters Berlin, which had a peak viewership of 811,370 viewers. It also had by far the lowest average viewers in the game’s history at 317,604 — an 18.5 percent decrease when compared to the German event (389,971 average viewers).
Valorant viewership (peak viewers/average viewers)
- Valorant Champions 2021 (1,089,068/469,083)
- VCT 2021 Stage 2 Masters Reykjavík (1,085,850/488,364)
- VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters Reykjavík (1,065,887/416,236)
- VCT 2021 Stage 3 Masters Berlin (811,370/389,971)
- VCT 2022 Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen (783,985/317,604)
Every esport goes through growing pains, and Valorant is no exception. The VCT Stage 2 Masters viewership numbers will certainly give Riot Games some food for thought, especially as the esport is reaching a critical stage in its development.
Riot is currently reviewing applications for the international league system that will come into effect in 2023. Several organizations, including NYXL, DarkZero and Complexity, have decided to take a step back from competitive Valorant after having their applications rejected by the developer.