VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo, VALORANT’s second international event of the 2023 season, saw fewer viewers than previous Masters tournaments, recording 830,000 peak viewers.
According to Esports Charts, the Tokyo tournament also saw around 338,000 average viewers. The event is the sixth-most-watched VALORANT tournament ever, and the second-most-watched VALORANT event in 2023 after the LOCK//IN Sao Paulo.
The VCT Masters Tokyo was the first major VALORANT tournament to take place in Japan. The event took place over two weeks and was sold out for the finals, which occurred at Makuhari Messe. The final saw European organisation Fnatic claim back-to-back international titles after beating North American team Evil Geniuses, the final clash was the most-watched match of the tournament.
Looking at the total number of viewers, the event is the second-most watched VALORANT event of the year. The final international of the 2023 season will be VCT Champions in Los Angeles this August.
The VCT Masters Tokyo is the first tournament of its kind in a new, revamped VCT format. Instead of the previous Stage 1 and Stage 2 Masters tournaments, there is only one major Masters tournament this year.
Considering the fact that the tournament was played in Japan, critics expected the viewership to be low, partly due to time zone differences making it difficult for European or North American viewers to tune in.
The average number of viewers and hours watched (28m) were all solid, but much less than the previous Masters events. For example, the Stage 2 Masters Reykjavik saw 1.1m peak viewers in 2021, and the Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik in 2022 saw similar numbers.
The most popular VALORANT event ever, VALORANT Champions 2022, saw around double the viewership than VCT Masters Tokyo, with around 1.5m peak viewers.
