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With only a few offline tournaments under its belt, WePlay! Esports’ stock as a tournament organizer has shot to the top of the charts.
Amid heavy praise and calls for the organizer to host a Major, the numbers don’t lie. WePlay hosted the most-watched Minor in the history of the Dota Pro Circuit and its most recent tournament achieved some spectacular records.
The WePlay: Tug of War Mad Moon tournament had 295,000 viewers at its peak. This means that the event managed to achieve about 60 percent of the viewer counts of previous DPC Majors.
The event registered these viewership numbers despite the fact that this was a third-party tournament held over five days with no DPC stakes and just eight teams participating.
WePlay! Esports’ events had some top-tier production despite their relatively small scale. The Bukovel Minor was held in a ski resort that featured a cozy, wintery atmosphere and ended with literal fireworks, while the Mad Moon event had a cyberpunk theme that even featured a brilliant custom model of Drow Ranger.
The caliber of the teams invited to the event is another big reason as to why WePlay tournaments have been so successful. Nigma were present at both events, while Mad Moon also enjoyed the company of tier-one teams like Team Secret.
While Virtus Pro and Gambit have had shaky performances, their names alone were enough to entice CIS viewers to watch the event. The series with the highest peak viewers wasn’t even the grand finals, but rather, Nigma’s matchup against Virtus Pro in the lower bracket finals.
Aside from the two CIS teams, Nigma took part in five of the most popular matches of the event. That’s unsurprising, though, considering that they were part of the highest-stakes matches in the tournament.
Related: Nigma reverse sweep Team Secret to win WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon
The grand finals of the competition between Nigma and Secret went the full five games, but the rapid pace of each game ensured that there was no boring moment even when one team was dominating the other.
Just three DPC Majors have been planned for next year, but the introduction of regional leagues might mean that WePlay! Esports’ stellar work in the CIS region will be rewarded.
