Photo: LoL Esports
This one, we really didn’t see it coming… MSI is now over and RNG (LPL) has been crowned for the 2nd consecutive year. In Europe, the tournament took place in dead calm and the fans weren’t really fired up. Many voices, more or less influential, have also been raised to denounce a “useless”, “misplaced” competition or with a “format to change”. But despite all these complaints and criticisms, Riot Games can rest easy… MSI 2022 broke an audience record.
The figures ofEsports Charts are unequivocal. The MSI was popular this year and was massively followed. It’s a little hard to believe, but maybe it’s because we were too busy navel-gazing on the old continent. Europe is no longer, is not the center of the world in League of Legends.
New audience record: the MSI continues to grow
A criticism that often comes up in the Western community is that the MSI does not have the aura of Worlds. Even though all the major competitive regions are represented, there are far fewer teams involved (only one representative per region). Moreover, the format is repetitive: G2 thus played 6 times Evil Geniuses during the tournament. Not to mention the lack of suspense and surprise: the top 6 candidates qualified for the Rumble Stage and the announced top 4 were at the rendezvous of the knockout stage.
But in the end these criticisms are perhaps insignificant. The MSI will never be the Worlds and the tournament continues its own legend, with its own DA (artistic direction) and a different trophy. Above all, the numbers are good. This year, peak viewership reached a new record: 2,194,104 viewers. This is an increase of 19% compared to the 2021 edition, which was itself better than the previous editions. A peak of more than 2 million is a resounding success. Knowing further that Chinese audience is not even taken into account (impossible to have the figures) and that it surely represents a huge share.
Europe, overtaken on all sides?
In this context, how can we explain the perception gap between global figures and European/French opinions? There are many lines of thought. In bulk, we could cite the very tense schedule placing the MSI between the EUM and the resumption of the LFL. The absence of a big European performance is also to be taken into account: when you are sure not to win, you are less tempted to follow a competition.
Esport Charts had published a ranking of the most “popular” teams (average viewers) at the end of the first phase and G2 was not even really in the top 5… Ranked 5th but in reality 6th if we counted China, the Samurai were overwhelmed on all sides. Korea was obviously in front, but “small” teams were also: DFM (Japan), Aze (Latin America), saigon buffalo (Vietnam). Some will say that the schedules were not necessarily favorable to the European public. This is partly true, but it is also time to accept that the emerging regions are beginning to weigh more and more heavily, to the detriment of Europe. So even if with us the MSI was a bit “soft“, the hype was actually very present, somewhere else.
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The fans present in Busan gave their voice, but in the end it was not enough… In a disputed final that went to the end of 5 Games, it was the Chinese from RNG who ended up winning. The LPL is once again on top of the League of Legends world.