With VCT Masters Copenhagen setting record-low viewership, is Valorant esports in trouble?

While there has been an incredible amount of hype around the most recent Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Masters event in Copenhagen, it did not translate into viewership numbers.

Despite it being the first ever international Valorant event in front of a live audience, Masters Copenhagen had severely dwarfed peak and average viewership compared to previous events.

According to Esports Charts, the tournament saw a spike in viewership during the grand finals between FunPlus Pheonix and Paper Rex, which was 786k. The peak viewership figure is reportedly the worst in the history of competitive Valorant when it comes to international events, and many in the community feel that the esports scene of Riot’s shooter might just be in trouble.

VCT Master Copenhagen also boasted the lowest average viewership out of all the Masters events that preceded it. Standing at 317, 748, it is significantly lower than what the masters in Reykjavik and Berlin brought in.

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Should fans be concerned about the future of Valorant esports?

Many in the community feel that the competitive scene of the shooter might be in trouble because the viewership of the international events has been steadily declining since VCT Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik 2021.

Copenhagen is the second international Valorant event in a row that has failed to hit the one million concurrent viewership mark, and many community members are concerned about the future of the shooter's professional scene.

While the live crowd at Forum Copenhagen marked a milestone in the shooter's history, the same amount of success did not translate to views. Stage 3 Berlin was another international event that failed to capitalize on the hype, and it only peaked at 811,370 viewers.

With two consecutive international Masters events not meeting the viewership mark, many have taken to social media to renew the Valorant vs CS: GO debate and talk about how the latter has a more robust esports scene in comparison.

However, many in the community have come up with a counterargument to this as well. They believe that the reason behind Masters Copenhagen having lower viewership is that some of the more popular regions got eliminated early in the competition.

With teams from Brazil, North America, and Japan taking an early exit from the tournament, many felt that it was only logical that VCT Masters Copenhagen did not enjoy the same viewership numbers as its predecessors.

Although it’s a viable explanation for the matter, it raises the ugly fact that Riot's shooter will only have adequate viewership numbers when major regions continue to remain in the competition.

Moreover, Riot Games is also meeting with organizations to implement a franchise system, which not many are happy about. Some players feel that this might ultimately end up negatively affecting the competitive scene of the game.