Big Dota is soon to return to Malaysia: how popular were local events in the past?

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ESL recently announced ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, a return to Malaysia which has not seen a major Dota 2 tournament in over a year. The event will see 12 teams filter down to only 8 through a group stage before the venue opens its doors to fans on the 15th of December in the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre. The 15th of December will mark the beginning of the Playoffs stage for the event.

The event will also feature a $1,000,000 USD prize pool for teams to compete for, putting this tournament on the same level as ESL’s recent DreamLeague seasons. The ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 will be the first ESL One event in 5 years to feature such a large prize pool, the most recent one being the ESL One Birmingham 2018.

Tickets for the event range from 100 euros to only 30 for the entire three days, with the arena being open all three days for all fans. ESL reports the Premium and Plus option tickets are almost sold out, so expect a fully crowded arena in person for the tournament. With so much invested into this event, this tournament may become Malaysia’s largest-ever Dota 2 event. Check out the tickets on the official ESL page for the event here.

Most popular Dota 2 events in Malaysia by Peak Viewers

The previous most popular Dota 2 event hosted in Malaysia was The Kuala Lumpur Major hosted by PGL. The event was hugely successful not only in terms of Malaysian Dota 2 events. The Kuala Lumpur Major was one of the most popular Dota 2 majors of all time, currently ranked as the sixth-most popular Major Dota 2 event in our database. 

The ESL One Malaysia 2022 event was also one of the most popular events of its kind in Dota 2. The event is currently the fourth-most popular ESL One event held for Dota 2, and ranks behind events like the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 and the ESL One Berlin Major 2023. Events hosted in Malaysia seem to be some of the more popular Dota 2 events hosted in the discipline, and this is despite the rampant domination of League of Legends and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in the region. 

Malaysia seems to have room for Dota 2 in the tight Southeast Asian MOBA market and previous events held in the country have been wildly successful. The ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 has plenty of competition in terms of viewership, but if it is able to match the viewership of events like ESL One Malaysia 2022 or The Kuala Lumpur Major, it will become a major success for viewership in the region.