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Two players Levi and Kiaya of GAM Esports. Image: LOL Esports. |
According to data from eSports Charts, at its peak, there were more than 2 million concurrent viewers of the match between the Vietnamese representative and the number 3 seed of the European region at the 2024 League of Legends World Finals (Worlds). This is the highest achievement a domestic e-sports team has ever achieved in terms of concurrent followers.
On the Internet platform, eSports is the second most popular sport in Vietnam, only after football.
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Statistics show that there were more than 2 million people watching the match between GAM and MDK at the same time. Image: eSports Charts. |
eSports Charts recorded more than 660,000 concurrent viewers on the game's Vietnamese broadcast channels. High figures also appear in English and Spanish accounts. Meanwhile, a large number of views on Chinese domestic platforms have not been counted.
In Vietnam, League of Legends is the oldest eSports still operating a professional tournament. The amount of interest for this game is no longer the same as during the peak period of 2017-2020, surpassed by other mobile games. However, the professional tournament network, global coverage and high competitiveness of the regions help League of Legends maintain attraction.
Vietnamese representatives still regularly appear at the game's global events. However, the most significant achievement of GAM eSports or Saigon Buffalos is still just the group stage of the World Finals. With the new format applied from 2023, the chances of domestic teams to advance deeply are fewer and fewer.
This year, GAM Esports is the number one representative of Vietnam, with the runner-up team Vikings Esports. GAM won two warm-up round matches to soon advance to the main event. However, they lost quickly to the number one representative from North America FlyQuest and the number 2 seed from Europe Fnatic. Before "death's door", Levi and his teammates won 2-1 against MAD Lions and kept themselves in the tournament for another week.
The above match received great attention because it was broadcast live at 7:00 p.m. (Hanoi time), very suitable for Vietnamese viewers. On the other hand, the improving performance of domestic representatives and attractive developments help attract more interest.
The lucky draws brought GAM to Team Liquid (North America) in the next match. This is considered the lightest opponent that the Vietnamese representative has to fight. Last year, Levi and Kiaya sent the number two seed from North America home early. However, even if they win against Team Liquid, GAM's chance of moving on is not much, when the next opponents are all very strong, including the number one seed from China, Europe or the reigning world champion T1.
After Worlds 2024, the Vietnam region will be downgraded to level 2, the best domestic representatives will attend the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to get international tickets. This is considered a step backward for eSports League of Legends domestic.
