In recent days, the World Championship (Worlds) 2022 has gone through the intense yet captivating stages of the Play-In and Group Stage. Many surprising results have occurred, including the dramatic victory of GAM Esports, the representative of League of Legends (LoL) from Vietnam, against the strong opponent TOP Esports (TES) from the LPL. At the same time, TES is the first LPL representative to exit the tournament this year.
In the coming days, the Quarterfinal matches will officially kick off. With many intriguing matchups like Royal Never Give Up (RNG) vs. T1 and the LCK showdown between DWG KIA (DK) and Gen.G Esports (Gen.G), the matches in this round promise to be even more exciting. Not to mention, there will be several matches that could be decisive for the championship of Worlds 2022.
However, up to now, according to statistics from Eschart – a site specializing in tracking viewership of Esports tournaments, this year’s event has fallen short compared to last season. Specifically, the viewership for Worlds 2022 has decreased by nearly 40% compared to Worlds 2021. However, this viewership does not account for the platforms specific to the LPL region, which typically attract a very high audience.
The reason for this may largely stem from the fact that Worlds 2022 is being held in the United States and Mexico. The time zone difference has caused the tournament to lose a significant number of viewers in regions where League of Legends is very popular, particularly in Asia. In Worlds 2021, the tournament was held in Iceland, a country that does not have a significant time zone difference compared to Asia in general and Vietnam in particular.
Moreover, T1 continues to demonstrate its appeal as the team with 3 out of the 5 highest viewership matches at Worlds 2022. Among those, the matches between T1 and Fnatic (first round) and T1 vs. EDward Gaming (first round) are the two matches with the highest viewership, with 1.39 million and 1.30 million viewers, respectively.
The Worlds 2022 tournament has been, is, and will continue to bring many more exciting matches. However, it seems that Riot will need to reconsider hosting tournaments in locations with time zones that are too different from regions where League of Legends is popular. Because, as of now, this is causing quite a few issues for both Riot and the participating teams.