Shroud is legend of the FPS genre, a decent Valorant player but far from a pro player. It’s his on screen talent talent however, that made the VCT Masters Reykavik Shroud Valorant stream completely skyrocket in popularity. Valorant has quickly become pretty widely known, but it is still a relative newcomer to esports, not even a year old. In a way, Shroud is a considerably more established force in esports even if he is just a player. The official event brought in 23,000 viewers at the start, and Shroud opened with 183,000.
His recent Twitch streams managed to bring in seven times more viewership than the actual tournament broadcast. The Shroud VCT Valorant stream was clearly a lot more interesting to fans than the actual event. So, what was it that brought in so much of a crowd? Was it Shroud’s expertise, his overall celebrity, or do esports fans just find his personality a lot more interesting than Valorant?
The King of Reddit achieved considerably higher viewer numbers than the official stream, but in a way both audiences were engaged with the event. Those opening figures for viewership are dramatic, but Shroud’s stream continued to grow as the event went along. It peaked at 242,000 viewers with the official stream peaking at 56,000. Plenty of the viewers were not even hardcore Valorant esports fans, and still the tuned it to watch his show.
Clearly there is something attracting viewers to Shroud’s stream instead of the regular one. There has been plenty of commentary already about how this is Shroud dominating Valorant esports without playing.
when Shroud owns valorant more than Valorant itself 🤣 https://t.co/iJbstBtwtD
— ScamLord (@thescamlord) May 25, 2021
This type of co-stream isn’t new. Riot used them with League of Legends since 2018. Shroud not competing, but he’s collaborating with Valorant here, is probably doing more for the title than him actually picking up his mouse and keyboard and actually playing. What’s interesting is that regional Valorant events had viewership numbers similar to Shroud’s stream. So it seems fans opted to watch his, but were going to watch it anyway.
To think about why this stream was so successful, you really just have to think about what Shroud is bringing to the table. He was one of the most important and recognizable CSGO players for a very long time. Lets not forget he peaks player interest regardless if hes playing PUBG, Apex, Valorant or Tarkov. His skill and on-screen personality in any game makes him a popular figure, but it’s his knowledge and insider esports knowledge on competitive play that has made him a valuable streamer. Shroud definitely has the expertise to make a Valorant stream more exciting, and offer a bit more genuine insight than you often find with official commentators.
Shroud’ analysis of Valorant games clearly can only come from a place of both affection and knowledge about the game. He can get into a deeper level of analysis on a round by round basis. It probably doesn’t hurt that some of his former teammates now compete in Valorant either. On top of the analytical side, Shroud is just a popular streamer. He is the King of Reddit after all.
LOL
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