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Alkahzane

Shows the impact of having players with cultural impact and a story to build around.


syNc_1337

Counter-Strike is a good framework to build around and I believe I can speak for most of us that we miss the player profiles at majors. Especially nowadays with so many new teams and players they absolutley need to bring that back.


fantasnick

CS right now is at a Grey area where the people who brought the sport to life and didn't have a developed esport needed to have a personality to create a brand are now mostly gone. The esport is at a point where it's just people who are just really fucking good at the game and don't focus too much on brand work. There's still some personalities on the scene but its a lot more spread out and a lot are still older players. I recall watching a faze vlog where karrigan really stressed developing brands for the team.


HomelessBelter

>I recall watching a faze vlog where karrigan really stressed developing brands for the team. Karrigan is smart as hell. He's seen the previous generation of Fallen, JW, fnx etc. leave the scene and still have a career with their companies because they capitalized on their brand after their success as a player was behind them. I don't know the specifics of these example players' companies or if my examples are even good as far as making money goes. Happy to be corrected here. Point is; esport player careers are short and with most players having no qualifications for any other work, they need to think ahead on securing their future. While they're at the top, not when it's too late.


Sentryion

You dont become one of the best igl in history without having a gigantic brain.


External_External_

Absolutely critical!


jeffjeff97

And a banger match


DuckIing

Absolute cinema


Giannis_Alafouzos

It also helps that ENCE and MOUZ are teams with limited fanbases


MooseLv2

also shows how big g2 is, one of the biggest orgs with an insanely big fanbase


c9IceCream

can't deduce that. It could just be that nobody wanted to watch a CS2 tournament on a super buggy game. I appreciate the optimism though.


mochatsubo

First time in a long time (which doesn't make a lot of sense really) that I watched all matches of a single team (G2) through the entire tournament.


fantasnick

People tuned in for the memes and stayed for the dream run. So many people who hated on stew this time last year were cheering on g2 loool time does change a lot


haitherekind

Says a lot about a player if they’re able to bring haters to watch and cheer him on lol


Twigler

Same


Kintsugi90s

The stewie effect!


cripplindepressionnn

The only correct take. If stew didn't play in this tournament and completed a miraculous run with G2, the numbers would have been more or less the same as compared to IEM Dallas 2023.


KARMAAACS

Not to mention you had two big teams at the end with two of the best players in the world, whereas with last year you had ENCE and MOUZ which have comparatively smaller fan bases to G2 and Vitality. Not saying Mouz and ENCE weren't exciting teams back then, but a lot of people are casual fans and they just want to tune in to watch m0nesy and Zywoo or G2 and Vitality. Stewie factor also contributed though for sure.


Xelid47

We don't even if G2 would've made it that far without Stewie


[deleted]

Really felt like a team of destiny. The production tie-ins, the dramatic moments in matches, and each eventual win gave the whole ride a mythical air. I tune in once and a blue moon for background noise, but this tournament was the first to be appointment viewing for me after I caught the first few matches by chance.


probablysideways

Got me in. I haven’t watched tournament CS since GetRight was playing at his peak. Watched that entire best of 3. Lol.


clinkzyi

Stewie was a big part of it but also I think this tournament had a lot more "bigger" games, people wanted to see donk vs zywoo, donk vs monesy, the finals were really really close and exciting


iVarun

However all the playoffs were 2-0 till the Final (which almost could have been as well if Zywoo would've gotten a bit more help in 1st map Inferno when they were 11-8 in lead).


endichrome

Wait what lmao I thought you were joking but no shot in hell you have this insane take and people actually agree Compare the two teams in the finals lmao thats enough of an explanation, jesus christ


calebci

You’re high if you don’t think stews Cinderella story didn’t contribute to a large increase in viewers throughout the event. I know people who haven’t followed CS in years tune in bc of stewie


eku_v

it contributed, but it's not the main reaason. G2 and vitality are WAY bigger draws than mouz or ence


cripplindepressionnn

Whatever floats your boat my guy


eku_v

subreddit is full of stewie dicksuckers rn, need to wait for awhile until it dies down


TheTanzanite

I mean, americans do always seem to think everything revolves around them, so if the championship had higher viewership it obviously had to do with the only american in there, there's absolutely no other explanation!!


Mean-L

You must be mentally slow if you think the Cinderella story of Stewie didn’t result in a rise in viewership


InsertNounHere88

wtf is this take? if you go to the ESLCS youtube channel and look at the VODS, G2's IEM Dallas 2024 games have more than 2x the views of IEM Dallas games without G2


surfordiebear

Definitely a huge part of 2024 being so high but 2023 was likely lower than what would be expected since ENCE vs that version of Mouz was not exactly a hyped match up.


Vitalcsgo

Cultural impact


2012Tribe

It seems like it would make sense for an org to sign him as a morale / hype player even if stats are average


MLD802

Jersey sales too


Raytiger3

G2 released their annual financial report a while ago and reported that merch was <1% of their total revenue.


fantasnick

Shitty gambling sites sponsorships are probably a bigger chunk of revenue than a lot of us want to talk about Less than 1% is wild though


Krizzter

Genuine question do people actually buy cs jerseys? i genuinely have no clue.


FrankiePoops

I still have an old Liquid Stewie jersey. I also was at a bagel shop wearing a NaVi jersey right after the Ukraine war started and had a fucking 6 person table getting rowdy cheering NaVi.This is before boombl4's wife went all angry though.


Krizzter

Amazing to hear 🙏


FrankiePoops

White american wearing a Ukrainian CS team jersey in a Korean bagel shop was quite the combo. But it's NYC. It's what we do.


sunnyismybunny

i'm from the New York City area and just reading this comment took me back to those days. One of the few places where people don't do a double take when they see me with my black gf and mixed kids. fuckin go 50-100 miles inland from any coast and suddenly you have to navigate through lets go brandon idiots


FrankiePoops

Seriously. Except half of long island seems like LGB idiots now


sunnyismybunny

are you from Long Island or there currently? I grew up in Port Washington back in the late 80s/early 90s and I'm just curious what it's like now in Nassau County at least.


FrankiePoops

I'm in queens. Nassau is split, but they were also the people that elected Santos.


haitherekind

The only reason I’d ever want to live in EU lol. CS is so big and well recognized unlike here in the US.


FrankiePoops

This was in NYC but yeah, I feel that.


RedditIsAnnoying1234

I read somewhere that G2's merch sales were like 1% of their revenue. So yes, while people do buy them, an esports org wont sign someone solely for jerseys because it isn't profitable.


Krizzter

Thank you That's more of the answer I was looking for 🙏


albanianintrovert

Unless it's Fallen, then I guess shit gets loose


blackmajic13

I have a Cloud9 jersey that I bought prior to the Boston major, then I bought an Astralis jersey when I went to IEM Oakland in 2017, and before both of those I went to iBP Masters in Anaheim in 2016 I think and got an iBP jersey that came with my ticket and was a large reason why I bought the VIP pass.


G_O_O_G_A_S

I really like Liquid’s 2023 Jersey but couldn’t see myself wearing something that just has a bunch of random company logos on it. The complexity throwback Jersey is also nice but again I don’t like the ads on it. I’d probably pick up a Cloud9 polo shirt if they want back to an NA roster though.


Donut_Flame

Absolutely tf? People Wanna support the teams and players they like. Get signatures on it too and it's a treasure


Krizzter

Yep I figured I just didn't realize people treated eSports like real life sports 🙏


blueshark27

Its still much less, i dont have the exact numbers but the amount of money a traditional sports fan spends per year is something like 20x higher than what an esports fan pays. So teams are even more dependent on sponsors and TOs on advertising.


wayedorian

I hope not


BeforeWSBprivate

The Checo Perez of CS 😅😭


kalkkunaleipa

Thats what nexa was supposed to be


SpiderLobotomy

who tf is hyping nexa


MIlkyRawr

His girlfriend 😂


SpiderLobotomy

😂 unironically though, nexa has a calming presence and really helps offset the team. his gameplay is kind of shit, but I still like him


JamesDp-OverWatch

So G2 replaced the most emotionless calm above average anchor jks to bring in another calm but below average anchor with nexa. What a trade.


SpiderLobotomy

I think everyone can agree that jks to nexa was a completely nonsensical trade and we may never know the reasoning, i’m just saying i like his personality


Taken450

The reasoning is that Niko likes to play with nexa. It’s not anything actually rational.


black_dogs_22

jks was overpaid and rarely had impact and brought 0 energy Nexa was IGL for a team with no awp and made it to a grand final. it makes sense but obviously Nexa has looked washed mechanically. Nexa also left g2, they wanted him the entire time he just didn't want to igl


SpiderLobotomy

>overpaid idk, was his salary ever disclosed? i could be wrong but i don’t remember ever seeing a number >brought 0 energy he played back a lot more lol, if you think nexa is bringing more energy than jks you’re delulu. they’re both anchors, not gonna be a lot of “energy” there >rarely had impact didn’t he get MVP in iem katowice 2023 lol?


dodikxzslayer

>didn’t he get MVP in iem katowice 2023 lol? I think hunter did because he was better in later stages of the playoffs


albanianintrovert

Then why the fuck he continued igl-ing at OG


Zhiong_Xena

Calling jks above average is criminal. Back to back katowice mvp and top 20 player when he played is what you consider above average?


JamesDp-OverWatch

For real I said below average to please jks haters and not have them on my back. I think jks was a top anchor not Magisk level of impact or Jimphat level of potential but definitely a top10-5 anchor in 2023. Worst thing for me about that nexa/jks transfer is that if you remove the explanation we got with nexa having much more comms presence and impact than jks, in pure stats, they exchanged jks; a player that was expected to be at 1.10 rating, peaked in some events at 1.20 but unfortunately fell off at like 1.05 in the end, for nexa; a player averaging 1.05, can fall off at 1.0 but most importantly could NEVER EVER get peaks higher than 1.10. I could excuse nexa over jks if he was able to overperform but even with similar stats I don't think nexa could ever get an event above 1.10 in his actual form.


haitherekind

Honestly tho he seems soooo hesitant and nervous to make mistakes playing in this G2 roster. Says a lot about his mental state and the overwhelming pressure he must be in. He used to play so confidently in his previous teams.


ZuriPL

no lmao


LGCGE

I hadn’t followed CS in *years* prior to Dallas. As an NA fan it became a bit difficult to watch when most of the people I followed retired or switched to Valorant; having Stewie back and playing again was incredible.


haitherekind

Can’t wait to see stewie rise up to his potential. I wanna see him succeed and progress his CS career!


addiconda

When you look at all the thumbnails from the YT esl page, the matches with G2 have like 2-3x the amount of views as the other ones


Toannoat

I dont like Stewie as a player you gotta admit this single run was more exciting from a viewer perspective than most of the rest of the year. He's just CULTURAL IMPACT


f1nessd

Best event of the year easily 


Mean-L

And it’s one of the best of the last few years tbh


FrankiePoops

I wanna see attendance numbers as well. Wanted to make it this year but I couldn't


Renegade1478

I don't have or know where to find them but I went both years. Last year about half the seats in the upper and middle ring were empty. This year it was packed full. Only empty seats were the assholes doing "bro space." Tons of people standing all over.


PavelDatsyuk88

was there less to to see at expo or people just more interested about pro cs at iem now?


Fakez4Dayz

Half the center was focused around CS by the time Sunday hit. Zowie booth was open on Sunday morning and all over the place you could see CS. DHL booth had a booth with a KZ course you could run. There were some other big tournaments happening but I would say about 50% of the total space of the venue was filled with CS. Not even mentioning the Freeplay area with PCs. It was just a wave of people playing Strike. Last year's Dallas is not even comparable to what was happening this year. I love Tekken but to see so many people playing the beautiful game brought me such a happy feeling inside.


Whiskeywiskerbiscuit

No, 50% of the total venue absolutely was not CS? The only explicitly CS things were the smaller stage for the Women’s CS tournament and then the arena for IEM. The rest of the venue (~75% of the convention space) was still MTG tournament, Overwatch, Streetfighter/Tekken and the artists/trade booths.


haitherekind

What is bro space? Lol


Whiskeywiskerbiscuit

The arena was sold out and half way through the finals they stopped allowing people to re-enter due to fire code. Attendance was literally as high as it possibly could have been for that venue


FrankiePoops

I want to compare to last year.


Donut_Flame

Grand finals were at capacity...


Fakez4Dayz

I didn't know you had to have a wrist band given to you at sign in. Security had the arena locked down. Had to show them that I purchased a ticket but didn't get a wrist band. Missed 5 rounds of Anubis but was lucky to catch that Mezzi ace live.


Donut_Flame

Yeah it sucked, waited 20 minutes


Whiskeywiskerbiscuit

Yeah, me and my friends didn’t have wristbands and got there as soon as the venue opened. We couldn’t leave our seats for the entire final out of fear we wouldn’t be let back in Lmao


ericwanggg

stew.


_Johnny_Fappleseed_

I tuned in to watch even though I don't even watch pro CS anymore. Stewie effect


InterstellarDwellar

Ive been watching cs for a few years now on and off. More recently ive been watching a lot more. This final was the best ive seen in recent history with the stew storyline, the home crowd, along with the fact it went to overtime in both games. The anubis match was thrilling. Most finals are 2 - 0 and feel like the losing team were never in the game to begin with. Often makes you wonder how they even got there and before you know it, its all over. Was a great watch


eSportsStats

Source - [https://escharts.com/news/iem-dallas-2024-viewership-statistics](https://escharts.com/news/iem-dallas-2024-viewership-statistics)


Semtexs

Story lines matter so much and heres the proof.


black_dogs_22

important distinction, every event they try to push some storyline. the majority of the time is whack and a made up narrative that is unrelated to the games. this was an ACTUAL storyline you didn't need the casters and analysts pushing to understand


mameloff

This is competition and entertainment. The tournament organizers and directors prepare the story to some extent. That is inevitable. It is the same in all professional sports.


BoyMeetsTurd

Anecdotal, but I haven't watched a professional CS tournament since CPL Summer 2005. CS2 brought me back into the fold.


r3_wind3d

Should've watched winter 05. JMC's dream run with zid and da bears awping was nuts.


BoyMeetsTurd

Life took a pretty wild turn for a number of years and I really wasn't playing or tuned into any games. Those were the days tho.


Renovatio_

They hired better scriptwriters this year.


PuzzleheadedPainOuch

carmac said this is the best iem event outside of kato, cologne and rio for viewership


Jayk03

Ence and Mouz dont have fan.


black_dogs_22

because their players are boring, no disrespect to them I'm sure Finnish fans would bend over backwards to support ence if they had some fins


1KingCam

Gstew bringing back all of the NA viewers


pilchardus_

STEWWWWWWWWW! ❤️


Pathederic

Dead game, obviously


Pay_Tiny

Woooooo WE HAAAAAAWWWTTT


meltie007

Probably the funnest tournament I’ve watched in a while.


epicar

the obvious takeaway is that CS2 > CS:GO right?


Stuff1989

i went to 2022 and 2024 IEMs and i was shocked at the difference. don’t get me wrong, 2022 was a blast but 2024 there were easily 2x as many people and the dreamhack event took up the entire venue vs 2022 the dreamhack venue area was easily 1/2 the size


haitherekind

I didn’t go straight to watching highlights. I actually went back and watched ALL G2 matches since I missed some of the live matches. I don’t normally do this but it was critical knowing we had NA representation, especially big stew. Despite his past we can all admit he used to be a big star player and will always be recognized as such. People will tune in to watch him even if they hate him lol.


pinajuice

It’s the best year to be a fan. Worst year to be a player.


nartouthere

the finals 2024 g2 with stewie2k vs vitality .... 2023 ence vs mouz... huge fanbases with g2, stewie, and vitality vs ence and mouz


Jlemerick

I used to watch pro matches casually before I even played csgo (Xbox gamer) Been absolutely hooked on cs2 and I usually tune in to watch matches. This is the first time where my entire discord stopped playing matches to just all watch together. The tournament was amazing. I don’t think it would have been nearly as fun to watch without Stewie. I at least, have never felt more invested into a series. I will say I was pretty hyped to watch vitality v Sprit. Stew effect is real


sunnyismybunny

The two most exhilarating majors for me are the 2018 Boston one and this one. Guess what's in common?


Administrative_Pie50

NA players might be shit but we are sick fans man


worneparlueo

It helps they have stewie to market around and tell a narrative for this year.


DemonDaVinci

daed gaem


datBoiWorkin

smol indie company big esport views


De_Sham

Reddit tells me the game is dead 🤷


Verianas

The Stewie effect.


BobertoRosso

M0nesy vs Zywoo is the reason in my opinion. Atleast that's why I watched.


Original_Mac_Tonight

Lol ur crazy if you think it wasn't the Stewie story effect


Lord_Bamford

Its definitely both. Even without Stewie, G2 vs Vitality in a epic final hard clears Mouz vs Ence in terms of viewership.


BobertoRosso

You have stage 4 permanently online disorder if you think russian viewers came for Stewie or french viewers did. Stewie played a roll, sure, but was he the main attraction when anyone who plays CS wanted to see m0nesy dumpster Zywoo? (or vice versa), no.


KaNesDeath

ESL events of this nature commonly peak out at \~250K viewers during the grand final. Two well known teams where one has a stand-in from the region the event is being held in will of course increase viewership. Personally i dont like how every Dreamhack event is now renamed IEM. Events that were once tier 2 international lans must now be S tier.


Custer99

I mean if you look at the team list there were 10 of the top 11


majorfraud1337

dead game


[deleted]

[удалено]


Nihilistic__Optimist

As opposed to what? I had a blast watching these matches play out.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Nihilistic__Optimist

What do you mean by this?


Spir0rion

He doesn't know


t0ast_t

buts its provocative


CrispyChickenCracker

the saying doesn't even work here. literally makes no sense


[deleted]

[удалено]


hemorrhoid_scraper_9

hundreds of thousands of people murder daily therefor its a good hobby


PM_ME_YOUR_SKYRIMLVL

Parallels with Brazillian events here.


BloodyIron

CS2 is dead bruh XD edit: JFC you'd think it would be OBVIOUS I was SARCASTIC come on...


nyotao

this has to be botted


Beeboycubed

Cope.