VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo Group Stage witnesses 18% dip in popularity compared to VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen

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The Valorant Champions Tour 2023: Masters Tokyo got underway in Chiba, Japan, on June 11, with the Group Stage ending on June 14. A slower Day 1 than the previous Masters event in Denmark was a harbinger of things to come, as the Japan edition failed to match up to last year's stats.

With big names like Team Liquid, Fnatic, LOUD, and Paper Rex not in action till the Playoffs, fans didn’t seem as interested in watching the Group Stage action this time around. Also, popular Valorant sides like NAVI and T1, both placed in Group A, failed to make it out of this phase, with the former finishing dead last with a 0-2 record. The American team, meanwhile, did just better, accruing a 1-2 record to be shown the exit door despite a winning start against EDward Gaming.

Moreover, the two lower-seeded sides from two in-demand regions fell by the wayside in Group B, leading to a lesser interest in proceedings that may be anticipated. Turkey’s FUT Esports finished third with a 1-2 record in the pool, while China’s Attacking Soul Esports lost both its matches to end dead last.

VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo Group Stage viewership results

Across its Group Stage, the VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo accrued 398K Peak Viewers, achieved during the NAVI versus EDward Gaming Group A Elimination Match. The Chinese side won 2-0 to send its more illustrious Ukrainian opponents home early, also reducing the attention span of thousands of live watchers in the process.

It was a really close battle for the tag of the most popular side, but two American sides that topped their respective groups came out on top when looking at average concurrent viewership. NAVI missed joining them atop the mountain by 3K people, showing that a better showing could have put the side in a position it has become accustomed to across esports disciplines.

  Essential and language stats from the last two VCT Masters competitions   

The PV number saw a fall of 18.3% from the VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen, while the Hours Watched (14.9%) and Average Viewers (8.8%) counts also decreased. The absence of the above-mentioned prominent teams from the Group Stage, plus the non-factoring of a few popular sides seemed to contribute to these stats being a rung lower in 2023.

Moreover, the absence of sought-after organizations like Paper Rex, Leviatán, FunPlus Phoenix, and OpTic Gaming affected the interest levels of audiences. All four were in the top six for most watched and popular sides at the 2022 event, with FPX going on to win the entire thing, beating Paper Rex 3-2 in the Grand Final. Also, with no Japanese sides participating this time, there was no home side for fans to cheer on, as they usually come out in full force during such instances.

When it comes to languages, the same three remained on the podium as the VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen. English was the most popular one, although it saw a decline of 5.7% this time, while Japanese was second even though it also dipped by 30.5%.

The former seemingly missed FunPlus Phoenix and OpTic Gaming, two teams from last year who contributed highly to the overall viewership charts as well. As previously mentioned, fans of the East Asian country, meanwhile, did not take kindly to no representation being there for them after they got to see Northeption participate in Copenhagen.

However, the biggest drop of 80.3% was reserved for the language in the third spot. Portuguese fans seemingly decided that the Group Stage of 2023’s VCT Masters tournament was not worth the watch as Brazil’s LOUD had gotten a bye to the Playoffs as a top-seeded team.

Also, with South American/LATAM representation reduced from three slots in Denmark to one in Japan, it looks like that has driven away a lot of watchers local to these regions, with Spanish also seeing a fifth of the peak concurrent viewership stats from last year.

The Playoffs of the VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo begins on June 16 and runs till June 25, with the four Upper Bracket Quarterfinals being Paper Rex versus DRX. Fnatic vs NRG, Team Liquid vs EDward Gaming, and LOUD vs Evil Geniuses. The three best-placed EMEA sides will qualify for the Valorant Champions 2023, while the worst-placed EMEA team will book their slot at the VCT 2023: EMEA Last Chance Qualifier.