193: Chapter 193 Hidden Dangers of Dota 2 Tournaments

"The dota 2 Global Finals open today!"

Under the orchestration of Tencent and Valve.

This search term appeared on the trending lists of almost every social media platform globally, and it held a very prominent position on all of them.

For this dota 2 Global Finals, the Tencent Esports Alliance had shown the utmost sincerity.

After a period of frenzied promotion, the slogan that esports doesn't just belong to gamers had indeed attracted quite a few ordinary internet users.

For a time.

Even before the official start of the match, a massive number of viewers had already flooded into the official dota 2 streaming channels across the entire internet.

Not to mention.

The event rewards that Tencent put forward this time could be described as the most substantial currently on the internet.

Not only were there various collaborations with other game developers that had joined the Esports Alliance, but there were also cash prizes and supermarket shopping vouchers from various countries being given away.

Tencent wanted to, in one go.

Swallow up this entire global esports industry!

Unsurprisingly, even though there were still a few hours until the start of the match, the entire internet was already buzzing with discussions about the dota 2 Opening Match.

"It's finally here; this time I have to really fleece them."

"The viewing event rewards are basically just Q Coins domestically, but in some overseas countries, it's direct cash and shopping card rewards, which are worth so much more than Q Coins."

"Is there no one else like me watching the match for the Steam gift cards?"

"There are viewing rewards for the first three days of the match; it's rare for Tencent to be this generous."

"But with the dota 2 Opening Match being this popular, the league of legends tournament is indeed in danger. Sigh, I still think they should have joined the Tencent Esports Alliance; wouldn't that be a win-win?"

...A few hours later.

Shanghai, Langchao Group.

Qin Mo's office, which had the best view and occupied the entire floor.

At this moment.

Zhao Lei, Lin Xiao, and others were all sitting on the sofa, their eyes fixed on a large screen in the distance, which displayed the countdown for the dota 2 Opening Match.

There were only a few minutes left on the clock.

Today was not a high-level meeting. Although someone had indeed suggested whether they should have everyone pay attention to the dota 2 Opening Match, Qin Mo had refused.

Today was just for the few people in the group he trusted most to get together and see how the dota 2 tournament next door was doing.

IceFrog was also here; after all, although he had been kicked out before the development of dota 2, he still knew quite a few of dota 2's internal secrets.

"It's about to start."

Standing by the window, Qin Mo heard Zhao Lei's voice from the sofa and slowly turned back to join the others.

And at this moment.

The countdown on the screen finally ended.

What appeared in the next second.

Was a large-scale venue that could hold ten thousand people. The camera cut directly to the countless audience members at the scene before finally panning to the stage.

However, because there wasn't enough time, the stage didn't have much of a design; it was simply set up with ten computers.

But the audience below the stage was quite excited.

However, they weren't excited because of the match, but rather because of the offline viewing event. To build hype, Tencent hadn't just made the tickets free; audience members who went to the venue could directly receive cash rewards.

"There are so many people. Pony really has attracted quite a few non-gamers. dota 2's daily active users are probably only four million, but the number of viewers is already over ten times that."

On the side of the large screen, there was an analysis of the viewer numbers across various platforms.

Looking at the numbers, Zhao Lei's voice sounded somewhat surprised.

At this moment.

The stream had just begun, yet the number of global viewers tuning in had already exceeded forty million, far surpassing the number of dota 2 players.

"With so many viewing events, plus the collaborations with major game developers, forty million is just the beginning."

"And."

"Attracting a large number of non-gamers to pay attention to esports events—this is also something we need to do."

"For the third round of tournaments, our progress in this direction has been very slow. Once we enter the fourth round, the Global Finals, we must also spare no effort in attracting non-gamers globally to watch the matches."

"However."

Seeming to have thought of something, Qin Mo smiled as he said this.

"Perhaps to achieve this, we don't need to put in so much effort. We can leverage dota 2's promotional methods and intensity. Getting a non-gaming user to pay attention to esports—that first step is the hardest."

"And as long as they pay attention to one match, regardless of whether they get hooked, getting them to watch another match becomes much easier. All things are difficult at the beginning, and Pony has already helped us complete the first step."

Listening to Qin Mo's words, Zhao Lei couldn't help but feel his lips go dry.

Looking at the ten-thousand-person venue in the video stream, he couldn't help but ask with concern.

"What if the dota 2 match is truly exciting enough and manages to capture their attention first?"

Qin Mo shook his head and smiled.

He didn't directly respond to Zhao Lei's words, but instead asked a rhetorical question.

"How long has it been since you last played dota 2?"

When they were originally developing league of legends, to know themselves and the enemy, Zhao Lei had played dota 2 for a while. Since he had some natural gaming talent, his ranked score back then wasn't low.

"Half a year, I guess. I heard earlier that dota 2's daily active users had increased due to the explosion in popularity of league of legends, so I logged back in and played a few games."

"Half a year."

Muttering to himself, Qin Mo walked to his desk, picked up his laptop, tapped on it a few times, and then handed it to Zhao Lei. There was an image on it.

It was a screenshot from the latest version of dota 2.

Looking at this screenshot, Zhao Lei was stunned.

Because many of the items and changes shown were quite different from the dota 2 in his memory; he couldn't even really understand them.

Seeing Zhao Lei's expression, Qin Mo continued.

"This was just a mid-season update, not a season update. If even you can't understand it, let alone the audience, and dota 2's watchability is also a huge step behind league of legends."

"You absolutely don't need to worry about the dota 2 match being able to attract the attention of non-gamers."

"The only one that can achieve that is league of legends."

"Speaking of dota 2's season updates."

Listening to the conversation between the two, IceFrog, who hadn't said much until now, spoke up.

In the distance, the streaming screen had cut to a few dota 2 commentators who were currently introducing the two opposing teams.

"If Tencent hasn't made deep changes to the dota 2 department, perhaps their tournament still has a hidden danger," IceFrog continued.

"What is it?" Qin Mo also became somewhat interested.

"Although I didn't participate in the production of dota 2, before I was fired, I had already completed the internal pipeline setup. I also still have some friends in the dota 2 department. We chatted before, and the core structure of the dota 2 department is no different from before I left."

He paused.

IceFrog seemed to be recalling something.

"The most core development department within dota 2 has the most authority. Those people are all paranoid and stubborn; once they decide on something, it can't be changed. Even the current dota 2 producer, Braden, can't move them."

"And this group of people controls the update timing for every dota 2 season, but this timing is not fixed; it's entirely up to their whim. Furthermore, they won't change their original new season release schedule because of any external influence."

"They only have eyes for the game. Although it hasn't been long since the dota 2 mid-season update, this group of people might release a full season update at any time."

After IceFrog finished speaking.

Perhaps it was a bit complicated, so Zhao Lei didn't quite understand and asked after scratching his head.

"What exactly are you trying to say? I don't understand."

But Lin Xiao, who was standing to the side, his eyes lit up.

"You mean that even if dota 2 has joined the Tencent Esports Alliance, and even if a tournament is currently underway, it won't stop this group of people from pushing forward with the dota 2 season update?"

"It's possible that a major version update could happen right in the middle of the match!"

IceFrog nodded.

"If the dota 2 department structure hasn't changed, it is indeed possible. Within Tencent, dota 2 is already a fairly independent department; Pony is probably unaware of this information."

"But even so, this kind of thing might not necessarily happen; otherwise, it would really be..."

IceFrog thought for a long time, trying to find the word he wanted to say.

"Too amateurish."

Hearing IceFrog's words, Qin Mo couldn't help but smile, mocking to himself, "Isn't this world just one big amateur show?"

In his previous life, the situation IceFrog described had actually happened.

And Zhao Lei, who had finally understood after hearing Lin Xiao's words, attracted everyone's attention with one sentence.

"Stop chatting."

"The dota 2 match is about to start."

In the stream, the camera cut back from the commentators to the scene.

And the number of viewers across the major streaming channels had already exceeded fifty million.