League of Legends Season 2 Championships most watched eSports event of all time
Riot claims over 1.1 million peak concurrent online viewership for last week's world championships; more than 8.2 million total unique viewers for online and TV combined.
Riot has released numbers for the recent League of Legends Season 2 World Championships which took place last week at the Galen Center Arena at the University of South California. Riot is reporting that at peak, over 1,154,000 unique people watched the event online, not counting TV numbers. More than 8,282,000 unique viewers tuned in total via online and TV combined, with 2,402,225 people watching through Korean and Chinese TV.
Over the course of both the World Playoffs and Finals, people watched 24,230,688 hours of League of Legends. These numbers make the Riot Season 2 World Championships the most watched competitive gaming eSports event of all time, according to the company.
With the rise of watching games through streaming services such as Twitch.TV and Own3d.TV, this record has been broken several times in the past year. Two months ago, the bar was set by Valve's The International Dota 2 tournament, taking in 567,000 concurrent viewers, half from China. In June, Major League Gaming brought in 437,000 concurrent viewers and 4.7 million unique viewers for the Spring Championships. Riot has now shattered those previous records.
“It was obviously an honor to be asked to commentate the Season 2 World Final, the viewing figures are amazing”, Leigh “Deman” Smith, broadcaster for the Season 2 Championships, told GameSpot. “To think that we were being watched by similar amounts of people as a major sport gets legitimizes what we in eSports have been driving for the last 10 years plus to achieve. It was truly a great moment in eSports history I can say I was a part of.”
The Taipei Assassins won $1 million by defeating Korea's Azubu Frost in the Grand Finals.
I like how eSports are getting more popular. The greatest human muscle is the brain after all, so it's good to see sports make use of that too.
I hate how every LoL news turns into a fight between MOBA players. Just enjoy your bloody game and stop trying to convince others how much better your "choice" was compared to theirs.
Anyway, great finals, although that CLG vs WE match was brutal and in general Riot's schedule was a pain for us Europeans (finals started at 2 a.m. CET when they could've easily chosen an earlier time than 5 p.m. local time on a Saturday.)
I'd rather watch pro wrestling...
WOOOOOOOO!
LoL and HoN are inspired from dota.
And next week they will say that they are more popular then psy gangnam style... oh wait, that was last week. Too bad RioGames are just a bunch of liars and false statistic makers.
masterdrat Its actually not a far fetched claim. I watch Twitch.tv daily, and League of Legends is the top watched streamed game in the list every single day. I personally have seen it as high as 500k, and it wasn't even this event.
lol @ "OF ALL TIME!" ...how much time is "all time" as far as e-sports is concerned?
"DOTA 2 IS IN BETA... WATCH WHEN IT GOES LIVE" STFU. I play both games and yes dota has more dept and no standard metagame but LOL is more popular and famous.
Both games also have one of the most toxic communities ever. LoL introduced the honor system and until they post some results we have no clue how much of an affect it has.
Never played Hon so can't comment on that. But the facts are in your face LOL is more famous, DOTA 2 has more dept. Anyone who disagrees with these two facts needs to go either install DOTA2 or Beg Valve to release their full numbers like Riot has for LOL.
Evilbunz dota 2 is just in such a wierd place right now. Lol is so simple to go into while dota is kinda hard to get. Snowballing too in dota 2 is so common games are hardly ever even.
Evilbunz
DOTA2 has been in beta longer then LOL
DOTA2 is a casual version of DotA.
LOL is to DotA as COD is to BF.
Incoming jealous fans from DotA 2 and HoN trying to make a case for why their game is better. (Meanwhile, sponsors dropping their teams and starting LoL teams)
If there was a game I really liked and it was shown on T.V. as part of a competition I would tune in.
I disagree with people who think "e-sports" is a waste of time. You are still competing, even if it isn't physical like traditional sports. It is similar to chess tournaments. Besides, if you are making money playing games, why would you complain? As long as a person is doing what he/she loves, it is legal, and he/she appreciates it, he/she should not listen to negative talk.
Personally, I have wanted to compete in these kind of tournaments for money because I like competition in video games, but I am putting it off to focus on digital artwork and animations for now. But I don't see how playing games for money is pointless or a waste of time.
Flint247
More people play video games then play sports.
How many people who watch and spend the money play sports?
So is e-sport a waste of time?
Carebears FTW.
Key word: "Claims".
this game is full of trolls and leavers...i wonder how people still play this game
icebox53 because not everyone is 1200
icebox53
What MMO isn't?
megakick icebox53
LoL is not an MMO, wow really?
Jestersmiles megakick icebox53
its a mmog, massively multiplayer online game.
NaturalDisplay Jestersmiles megakick icebox53 Actually, it's a moba, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
Jestersmiles icebox53Fail
why did the fat guy touch his team mates ass.....so wrong
Look to me like a victory hump lol xD
I wish I could play videogames and earn 1 million dollars. Oh well, I guess I'll stick to something practical. I wonder what are the odds of getting into the tournament?
Disgusting.. horrible game. Both HoN and Dota are better.. I don't get it! But, at least it gets people to watch esports. I suppose I should be happy about that..
TimeFrame Horrible game? How so? You do realize several of Dota creators help create LoL. How is HoN and Dota better when the LoL has average of 1.4 million players playing everyday (based on 2011 statistics) not to mention having such a huge prize pool in only it's second year of tournaments (season 2). So what has HoN and Dota now a days that makes them "better" than LoL?
utbigred TimeFrame The battle of the fanboys.
utbigred TimeFrame Those "dota creators" you are talking about have had little impact on the Dota we have today. Check the timeline for Dota history. Icefrog has balanced and made it to what it is, and he's working for Valve. And are you saying more players = better game? In my opinion LoL isn't a better competitive game just because it has more viewers and Riot throwing money at it.
mr_fox_ utbigred TimeFrame
"And are you saying more players=better game?"
You get numbers like that for a reason. If it ain't overall quality then hell its something Valve isn't doing right now.
mr_fox_ TimeFrame Again you aren't getting the point here. As you said, "in your opinion" that LoL isnt a better competitive game. Ok if it isn't the explain why? You can criticize about LoL all you want but the fact that the popularity and what the company does for its player base is what makes the game what it is today.
utbigred mr_fox_ TimeFrame
Keep in mind DOTA2 is still in beta. It hasn't actually been released, but it's still a top contender in the esports arena. Once it's openly free to play the numbers are going to change considerably. I like watching them both, but comparing them at this point in time doesn't seem as worthwhile as later when they are both release titles.
utbigred mr_fox_ TimeFrame LoL is just a more casual and accessible game. Simple as that. More people will play it before more people have the ability to play it and not get frustrated.
There are many things in DotA that were taken out in LoL like denying, active items and basically every damage type except whatever you call magical and physical. And towers do waaaay more damage in LoL so it's a lot easier to hide under tower and escape ganks. Plus every hero has an ability that allows them to go back to base, instead of having to sacrifice gold and an inventory slot for a tp scroll.
mr_fox_ utbigred TimeFrame You must think NFL Football is terrible too.
Don't worry, those players swimming in their pool of money will take your criticism to heart.
Tremblay343 utbigred mr_fox_ TimeFrame
LOL has active items
DOTA2 PVP fights are shorter then LOL fights. You run and poke in DOTA2
DOTA2 has some micro-managing like Starcraft and Warcraft.
A lot of mechanics from LOL were put in DOTA2. Fortify?
DOTA2 is a lite version of DotA.
DOTA2 is a basterdized version of DoTa.
DOTA2 is a lame duck.
megakick Tremblay343 utbigred mr_fox_ TimeFrame
Fortify was implemented in DOTA 2 from LoL you say?, Dota had the glyph of protection in towers before LoL was released, get your facts straight.
Has Steve Two has stated, dota 2 is still in beta and its competetive scene, along the whole year is much "busy" than LoL, every day many games are played for tournaments, while LoL having a healthy competitive scene, its more focused on grand events rather than a continuous one, I play both 3 games(incunding HoN) and watched the competitive scene of them all with much interest, LoL has these huge numbers(congratulations on that a huge mark for e-sports), but they come due to the high acessibility LoL had, and the fact that its running for 3 to 4 years .
That high acessibility to the game, turns the game "noob" friendly and its a much more casual game thatn dota, ofc it will have more players because it attracts ppl that chose to spend that much time in these games. Putting that aside having played all 3, i state that DOTA 2 is clearly the superior game)of course that is just my opinion) in the genre having a much more nuanced metagame and whole greater number of viable interessting strategies that help to keep the games dinamic and different almost every game you see and play(considering u play at a rather medium-high skill level) rather than the 90% of games of 1 top 1 mid and 2 bot. I could go on and on about this topic there is so much to be said.
megakick utbigred TimeFrame Dota all stars was utter crap, it took Icefrog to come and balance it to make it the game it is now.
Plus Dota all stars it just a mess up version of Eul Version, the original creator of Dota who also works for Valve.
LoL fanbot is fanbot.
Lol nice try trolling. Know your facts before opening your mouth.
Jestersmiles utbigred TimeFrame ITs' DotA = Defense of the Ancients
DotA allstar made DotA popular just like how Riot made LOL popular.
utbigred TimeFrame
by that logic, COD is the second coming of games, the Wii is the best console ever , and NSYNC is the best musical act of all time.
More players does not mean better quality LoL bot.
Jestersmiles TimeFrame I'm sorry what? Quit putting words into people's mouths. Never have I said more players equals better quality. Just because I was trying to get an answer as to why people say HoN and Dota is better than LoL automatically makes me a bot?
Not a single person here has given me a legit answer when asked that question.
Jestersmiles utbigred TimeFrame
Have fun playing a game that may never be released no new modes just old new champions :D
DOTA2 is not doing much better then HoN made some noise then but nobody really cares now.
DOTA2 is DotA with microtransaction and icefrog is backstabbing everybody great guy he is.
inb4 people sayin DOTA 2 is better. =/
Anyway, good on you Riot. You really know how to capture a gamers attention.
And not a *EXPLETIVE* was given that day.
Quite the accomplishment for e-sports.
GANGNAM STYLE!
Gz to china or japan ...again :/
Can't we just call it competitive gaming and leave it at that? Or let me ask another question. Are competitive chess matches considered a sport? A "b-sport"?
wwlettsome no because there is a difference in physical needs. A sport by definition needs to have a physical component. The difficulty of said physique is not specified, nor necessary. The fact of the matter in chess or other board games or card games, it doesn't matter how hard or fast or anything physically that makes you worry about actually DOING the activity. SC2 and LoL have more emphasis on actually doing things physically (SC2 more so). While sometimes the game can be decided on WHAT you are doing typically things are decided on HOW you yourself do that. The dedication that it takes to perfect actually doing it is something entirely different from what it is know WHAT you are doing. That is what makes a sport a sport and if you don't see that you are blind.
wwlettsome
DOTA2 is as exciting as Chess according to the numbers.
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