by in
It was a recording-breaking day in League of Legends esports as the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational recorded the fourth-highest viewership tally in LoL history. Compared to past MSI events, the 2022 edition set a new record for the most views.
Chinese Royal Never Give Up squared up against Korea’s T1 in what was a riveting final on Sunday. RNG came out the victors after a closely contested best-of-five series.
As both teams tackled each other, over 2 million people tuned in to watch the event which was taking place at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center. However, it is worth noting that RNG were participating remotely due to COVID-19 travel limitations.
According to Esports Charts, viewership of the final bout peaked at 2,194,104. The most views for an MSI event stood at 1.8 million, making this an all-time record for the event.
Viewers poured in from several broadcast languages available, also setting records in that regard. Streamers tuned in via Twitch, YouTube, Afreeca TV, and broadcast languages of the event including English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
The final lasted for over 140 minutes, as either team found it hard to get any separation. Both teams came into the tie with a sweep against their opponents.
RNG made light work of the big surprise of the tournament Evil Geniuses, winning the series 3-0. G2 Esports, who had an incredibly hot start, lost their form in the Rumble Stage and failed to win a map against T1 in the Knockout Stage.
RNG’s run in the tournament was nothing short of inspirational. Due to ping issues, their first three victories in the tournament were canceled, but they did not let their heads drop.
With six victories, they finished as the best team in Group B with an unbeaten run. They also had the best record in the Rumble Stage (8-2), with their losses coming at the hands of G2 and T1.
In the end, RNG came out as champions and set another record of their own. They are currently the only team in LoL history to have three MSI titles.
In the spirit of announcing new records, 2022 MSI is currently the fourth most popular LoL event in league history. Over the last 10 years, only the Worlds have garnered more views than the just-concluded event.
The 2021 World Championship had a peak view of over 4 million in the finals. The match was between LPL’s EDward Gaming and LCK’s DAMWON Gaming, which ended 3-2 in favor of EDG.
With 3.9 million peak views, the 2019 LoL Worlds is the second most-popular LoL event closely followed by the 2020 Worlds which peaked at 3.8 million.
The 2022 MSI commenced on May 10 and ran through to May 29, with 11 champions from the 11 individual Riot league spring splits. The offline event was held in Busan, Korea, and RNG walked away with $75,000 of the $250,000 prize fund for their efforts.
RNG will be looking to continue their dominance in the upcoming summer split. A top-place finish in that event will give them direct seeding to the 2022 LoL World Championship.
