Farewell to Beyond the Summit — What were the company’s biggest events?
Yesterday, Beyond the Summit announced that it will be closing doors after its current contracts are completed. After a challenging 2022, the esports production company hoped to survive 2023 with an improved business pipeline. However, their strategy was futile. Instead of continuing in uncertainty, BTS management has now decided to prioritize the smooth transition of its staff. In the announcement, co-founder LD thanked everyone for supporting the company. As we bid farewell to one of esports’ legends, we take you back to the biggest events held and/or co-organized by Beyond the Summit.
Beyond the Summit’s history
Beyond the Summit was founded by Dota 2 caster David ‘GoDz’ Parker and David ‘LD’ Gorman in 2013. After falling in love with Dota 2 esports, the two dreamed about producing their own esports events. Despite initial road bumps, the team grew and hosted their first Dota Summit in the original BTS house. A year later, BTS held its first Smash Melee Summit and moved to a small office. The expansion continued in 2017 when the company reached 20 full-time employees. In the same year, it opened its European studio. In 2019, BTS introduced its 20,000 sq. ft. facility in Los Angeles, from which it operates until today.
Since then, Beyond the Summit has developed into a holistic content producer. In addition to high-quality esports events, it provides branded content pieces, merchandise design, and more! BTS is most known in the Dota community. But its tournaments are beloved within many other esports scenes, including Smash, Counter-Strike, and Valorant. Despite many offers, BTS remained an independent company to ensure its integrity and authentic approach to content. One of the saddest moments for the team before yesterday’s layoffs was when Dota developer Valve Corporation ended its partnership with BTS. After being a crucial pillar of Dota’s ecosystem for years, BTS was shut out of the equation in October 2022.
Beyond the Summit’s biggest events
For over 11 years, Beyond the Summit has produced excellent esports experiences all across esports and media. BTS events share a total prize pool of over $7.6 million. Moreover, BTS tournaments were live for over 8,000 hours, accumulating a total of nearly 190 million Hours Watched.
From this extensive portfolio, BEYOND EPIC Europe/CIS was the biggest event co-hosted by BTS in terms of Peak Viewers. This Dota 2 tournament from 2020 was created in collaboration with Epic Esports Events and RuHub. Held in an online setting, twelve teams fought through a Group Stage and double-elimination Playoffs for a share of the $200,000 prize pool. More than 300,000 PV watched Team Secret defeat Team Nigma (now Nigma Galaxy) in the Europe/CIS division Grand Final.
Due to BTS' origins in the Dota community, it isn’t surprising that three out of their top 5 events were Dota 2 competitions. The DPC EEU 2021/22 Tour 1 Division I takes second place with a BO3 series between Natus Vincere and Team Spirit. the DPC league was one of BTS’ staples, and its first iteration attracted almost 200,000 Peak Viewers. The third Dota event among the top 5 is the Dota Summit 7 at rank five. Hosted in 2017, the offline competition featured eight of Dota 2’s best teams. The Grand Final between Team Secret and Virtus.pro pulled in almost 180,000 PV.
Noteworthy is also the Ludwig x Tarik Invitational from the start of 2023. This Valorant event was organized together with two of the biggest streamers. Furthermore, it featured high-class teams and on-air talent. Despite its short Airtime and a relatively small prize pool of $50,000, nearly 200,000 Peak Viewers witnessed The Guard beat TSM in the Grand Final. The cs_summit 6 North America is the only CS:GO tournament among BTS’ top 5. The A-tier event from 2020 peaked at over 190,000 viewers.
We already discussed most of BTS’s top Dota events. Unsurprisingly, two other DPC editions are in places four and five. They’re also later tours from the 2021/22 league. The Tour 3 Division I peaked at over 160,000 viewers, while the Tour 2 Playoffs stayed slightly below that number. To summarize, all of BTS’ five most-watched events had over 150,000 Peak Viewers. The BEYOND EPIC is the only one to break 300,000 PV.
In comparison, The International 10 holds the Dota all-time PV record with over 2.7 million. However, it’s clear that third-party events, such as BTS’, can’t compete with Dota’s giant. Still, BTS Dota circuits can keep up with the likes of ESL One and DreamLeague in terms of PV.
Beyond the Summit’s Super Smash Bros are just as niche as the esport itself. But within the Fighting Games Community, BTS is among the top organizers. Its most popular Smash competition, the Smash Ultimate Summit 5 from 2022, attracted over 130,000 Peak Viewers during its Finals. This makes it the sixth-most watched Smash tournament of all time by PV. With nearly 120,000 PV, the Smash Summit 11 ranks eight on the same list. As a reference, EVO 2019 has the highest viewership peak at almost 250,000.
BTS has produced CS:GO tournaments since 2017. Their Peak Viewers are relatively even, ranging from just below 150,000 PV with the cs_summit 7 to over 190,000 with the cs_summit 6 North America. These events never made it among the top CS competitions and are far from the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 in first place with over 2.7 million PV. However, cs_summit’s audience can compete with some IEM, BLAST, and ESL iterations.
Beyond the Summit has definitely left its mark on the esports landscape. For example, it has produced more first- and third-party events and coverage over the last eleven years than any other English organization. Despite grim expectations, BTS remains open to exploring opportunities. It will also finish its ongoing calendar, including the Smash Ultimate Summit 6. Although unlikely, perhaps BTS can continue to create exciting esports content afterward.
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