Competitive Dota 2 is struggling to engage fans the way the game once did as an esport, and with the blame for that trend being readily passed around, are pro Dota 2 players ultimately the ones at fault?
Fans of Dota 2 have seen their game go through several distinct competitive eras and the general consensus seems to be that things are worse for the game now than ever before. The prize pools are generally smaller, the game’s overall player counts are down, and the relevance of Dota 2 in the overall esports scene seems to be in decline. While this isn’t necessarily uncommon for aging games, fans can just look to Counter-Strike or League of Legends, to find games that have been around for many years and can still enjoy success and even growth periods. Or at the very least, those games suggest Dota 2 doesn’t have to be falling off as quickly as many perceive it to be.
So what’s the cause of this slide for Dota 2 esports? Some fans theorize that publisher Valve is at fault, while others say pro players are to blame, but what’s the real source of struggles for Dota 2 esports?
Dota 2 esports have seen a marked year-over-year decline in viewership through 2025 despite a high volume of events, leading some fans to worry that the game could slowly be dying at the pro level.
More than any other esport, Dota 2’s Twitch viewership can be used to approximate fan interest in the game’s competitive scene. And right now, the results aren’t looking good.
I streamed until I beat League. It was a mistake.
Many of the top streamers on Twitch today originally got their start in, or at least around, League of Legends. Big names like Thomas “Sodapoppin” Morris and Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp have long been linked to League of Legends and today maintain close ties to the game. There are also other prominent figures that make occasional forays into the game, including Ludwig “Ludwig” Ahgren. Dota 2 just doesn’t so often attract that kind of participation and resulting audience with streamers who have such widespread appeal.
With that in mind, here’s a month-by-month breakdown of the average Twitch viewership for Dota 2 over the last three years, which is largely owed to its many esports events:
| Month | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58,019 | 58,556 | 53,135 |
| February | 56,002 | 64,525 | 68,944 |
| March | 66,475 | 63,503 | 60,169 |
| April | 72,351 | 64,920 | 55,214 |
| May | 67,733 | 67,228 | 53,965 |
| June | 60,734 | 55,618 | 56,289 |
| July | 76,348 | 64,636 | 50,843 |
| August | 49,592 | 50,383 | – |
| September | 54,926 | 92,369 | – |
| October | 98,542 | 60,602 | – |
| November | 47,014 | 58,497 | – |
| December | 47,509 | 43,004 | – |
While Dota 2 had a strong February in 2025, the game’s numbers have been flagging elsewhere. This is especially true when considering the average viewership across the first seven months of the year, which stood at 65,380 in 2023, 62,712 in 2024, and 56,908 in 2025. The year-over-year drop from 2024 to 2025 stands at roughly 9.3%, with a larger 13% decline when compared to 2023.
This is despite a relative uptick in the number of prominent figures within the game’s community who are consistently streaming the game. While the game hasn’t often played host to streamers with the popularity of a Tyler1, there are prominent staples of the scene like Janne “Gorgc” Stefanovski who consistently draw in viewers, alongside some beloved pro players who have started streaming more regularly. Most notable among that group may be Artour “Arteezy” Babaev making the pivot to full-time streaming. Yet neither that, nor the regular rotation of prominent tournaments, has been able to buoy numbers.
Considering that interest in Dota 2 esports is measurably declining, the question then turns to why?
Dota 2 esports declining in popularity can be chalked up to a number of different factors, though Valve’s disinterest in marketing the game likely isn’t chief among them.
Valve has never actively looked to aggressively market Dota 2 esports beyond organizing The International and an occasional YouTube ad campaign. While the game likely would have benefited from a more active effort by its publisher, that lack of promotion is consistent throughout both the highs of the past and today’s lows. Valve dropping The International Battle Pass, declining to produce new editions of the beloved True Sight documentary series, and generally divorcing itself from the pro scene certainly hasn’t helped, but it isn’t that radical of a change, either.
However, the lack of personality or recognizable figures in high-level Dota 2 is indeed a key issue.
Dota 2 long had a problem with scouting and developing talent, which extended the careers of many veteran players. The pro scene has finally gotten younger in recent years, and older talents have been pushed aside with a few exceptions like Sebastian “Ceb” Debs. The real trouble is that this new crop of talent just hasn’t resonated with fans.
There are many possible explanations for this, but most of them boil down to the pro players who most benefit from Dota 2 as an esport actively avoiding any sort of spotlight.
Part of what has kept League of Legends esports not only afloat, but wildly popular, is the presence of the game’s personalities. Longtime LoL pro Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is arguably the most identifiable figure in all of competitive gaming and esports. Yet his popularity isn’t necessarily due to his outgoing personality or charm. Rather, the competitive ecosystem in League of Legends is one that is built to support and prop up individual star players such as Faker.
One could even argue that Faker’s best days as a pro are now well behind him. But that hasn’t stopped the hype machine at Riot Games, the publisher behind League and the company that controls nearly all of the game’s esports infrastructure.
Faker’s Aura is unmatched
While Dota 2 doesn’t have that sort of controlling entity willing and able to persistently push individual players as stars, it’s also worth noting that Faker is very much a willing participant in his stardom. He seems to understand the role he has to play in the success of his game as an esport.
Dota 2 seems to lack players who are equally willing to fill that space. Many of today’s top pros are notoriously difficult to pull into media and content opportunities. There seems to be less of an understanding of what makes a game work at the highest level and why. Either that, or the player’s just don’t care.
And Valve really can’t be solely blamed for this deficit. One needs look no further than Counter-Strike 2, another Valve game, to find plenty of pro players who are more than willing to show off their personalities. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire is the captain for Team Vitality, a CS2 squad that in 2025 went on one of the most dominant runs in the game’s long and storied history. And yet despite the great focus that went into maintaining that level of success, apEX still finds time for interviews, playing to the crowd, and generally putting on a show for the game’s audience.
When apEX is Trashtalking – ESL Pro League S21
In fairness, there are some Dota 2 pro players and teams who are actively making community-focused content. It just isn’t much, and of what is being done, much of it is specific to a Russian-language audience. That’s still helpful for the game and its future, but in order for Dota 2 esports to remain relevant globally and stave off further decline, more needs to be done.
There are many factors that must be considering when evaluating why Dota 2 esports are struggling today compared to in years prior. There isn’t any one easy answer. But one thing does seem clear: Unless pro Dota 2 players are willing to do more to prop the game up an esport, it’s likely that its decline will continue.
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