DPC 2021/2022 First Tour Overview

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First tour of the regional DPC leagues have ended. In a new Esports Charts article, we will tell you how Valve will offset the cancellation of the first major in 2022, which regions attracted the most viewers, and how the merger of two popular organizations increased the audience of the Division II in Southeast Asia.

The first major of the season was to feature the top four teams each from Western Europe and China; three from Eastern Europe and three from Southeast Asia; and two each from North and South America. But because of the complicated situation with COVID-19 in the world, Valve canceled the event and shortly after announced alternative online tournaments as a result of consultations with representatives of esports teams.

Instead of the major, additional regional events will be held in February for the top four teams in each region. Each event will have a $100K prize pool and 280 DPC points. Championships for Western Europe, Southeast Asia and South America will be held on February 11-13, and for Eastern Europe, China and North America — on February 18-20.

Statistics doesn't include data of Chinese streaming services due to the unreliability of the data they provide

Divisions II

Throughout the first tour of DPC 2021/2022, Divisions II teams clashed neck-to-neck, constantly outscoring each other. When the first set of matches came to an end, four of the six regions had to hold tiebreakers as several teams had the same number of points.

Eastern Europe, where Dota 2 is extremely popular, is the leader among all second divisions by viewership results. The region managed to accumulate 2.85 million Hours Watched, which is almost as much as South America, North America, China, and Western Europe accumulated together. The most popular match of all Division II ones was B8 vs. CIS Rejects, which gathered media players such as Dendi, RAMZES666, 9pasha, RodjER and Fng. This match was watched by 74.56K Peak Viewers.

Southeast Asia suddenly came in second place in terms of audience reach among Division II regions. The region managed to surpass Western Europe for the first time thanks to the increased popularity of NGX.SEA (ex-Galaxy Racer), which changed its name after the merger of Galaxy Esports with the famous organization Team Nigma in September 2021. In total, viewers spent 1.78 million hours watching broadcasts of the SEA Division II, and matches with the participation of NGX.SEA accounted for about 45% of them.

Divisions I

Much more attention of Dota 2 fans was attracted by the Division I matches, where the strongest teams of the regions competed not only for money and DPC points, but also for a place in tournaments, which became a substitute for the majors.

Western Europe showed the best viewership results among the first divisions. The region has many strong tier-1 teams with matches of interest to viewers from around the world. That's why it managed to amass 9.1 million Hours Watched in a tour.

Despite the fact that OG does not have a single two-time champion of The International, the team is still the most popular squad in the region. The organization has a large fan base, which is no longer linked to the presence of star players on the team. And that is confirmed by the statistics of the DPC season. Three matches featuring OG made it into the top 5 of the event in terms of Peak Viewers. The biggest hype was caused by the match with Team Secret, which gathered more than 245K people on the broadcasts. The OG matches in the tournament accumulated 3.2 million Hours Watched — about 35% of the event’s total. At the same time, 129.22K Average Viewers watched OG games, which is the best result in the region.

In second place regarding audience reach is Eastern Europe. The International 10 champion Team Spirit and NAVI, which has the biggest fan base in the region, took part in the event, and viewers spent a total of 5.32 million hours watching the division's matches.

It is interesting that the top five matches in terms of Peak Viewers consists only of matches between NAVI and Team Spirit, and the game of the teams with each other attracted as many as 197K Peak Viewers. At the same time NAVI became the most popular team in the region — it accumulated 2.2 million Hours Watched (approximately 41% of the event's total), as well as the leader in Average Viewers — 95.36K spectators. 

Southeast Asia's Division I, unlike the Division II, did not manage to overtake Western Europe in terms of viewership, and lagged more than three times behind, accumulating 2.8 million Hours Watched. On the other hand, North America caught up with China in terms of viewership, while South America failed to increase its viewership compared with the beginning of last year's DPC tour.

The leader in Average Viewers in Southeast Asia is T1 (44.75K Average Viewers). In North and South America, Evil Geniuses (45K Average Viewers) and beastcoast (22.18K Average Viewers) are in top position by this metric. In China, the leader in Average Viewers is PSG.LGD with 33.95K spectators. PSG.LGD vs. Royal Never Give Up became the most popular match in these regions — more than 93K Peak Viewers watched it.

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Although the first major of the new Dota 2 season will not be held, it's nice to see that Valve is not allowing the situation to get out of control, and listens to the esports community. With an additional tournament, the top four teams from each region will be able to win $50K and 250 DPC points for first place, $25K and 130 DPC points for second place, $15K for third place, and $10K for fourth place.

In addition, because of the cancellation of the first major of the season, 20 teams instead of 18 will compete in The International 11. Teams ranked second and third place in the regional qualifiers for TI11 will compete in the LAN-tournament for two slots in the main event of the year. According to Valve, these changes will bring balance to the DPC league system.

The next set of leagues is about to start in spring. Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 second tour will run from March 14 to April 24.