It’s been a rough few days for Valve and Perfect World. Since the group stages, there’s been a lot of flame coming their way for messing up the Shanghai Major so badly. The tournament has been going downhill with no bright end of the tunnel in vision. Ranging from technical difficulties, issues with production and much more, this isn’t what fans were looking forward to.
The Shanghai Major is being called ‘The Shanghai Shitshow’ by quite a few now. It all started a week ago when James ‘2GD’ Harding was fired for his inappropriate (but hilarious!) comments as he was hosting, and called an ‘ass’ publicly by Gabe Newell. At the same time, the production team for the Major, KeyTV was also fired.
You would imagine all problems with production would be sorted as the new team rolled in, but that’s far from what happened. Somehow, after the group stages the situation got worse. Starting from day 1, the opening ceremony streaming on Twitch itself was choppy and unwatchable. After that, the first game was delayed due to technical difficulties.
Once the ball started rolling, it all continued to go downhill. Players, casters, viewers and even production members started to vent on Twitter about how things were a mess not only on the frontlines but also backstage. These problems varied, including panelists not having an internet connection, VIP lounge looking like a tiny classroom, the player booths smelling of glue and not being sound-proof, and more.
Here are some of the tweets that clearly highlight how bad things got;
We were told we “couldn’t have internet” at the analyst desk. There is an ethernet jack 30 feet away from the desk. We now have internet.
— David Gorman (@LDdota) March 2, 2016
lol @PimpmuckL you can CLEARLY hear the chinese casters in the booths. Luckily we don’t play any chinese teams though 😉
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
Game is delayed.
The Shanghai Major’s staff has lost Ramzes666’s keyboard…— Team Spirit (@Team__Spirit) March 2, 2016
Our Chinese assistants were not allowed in the venue. There are no bathrooms outside.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
The booths are not soundproof. They smell like glue.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
The casters and production are not allowed in the player viewer area. They have only ground floor access.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
The caster and player viewing area is broadcast in Chinese with five minute delay. At least that’s the plan, the tvs have no power cords atm
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
The LPL is one of the best run series in gaming. You can throw good events in China.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
There is no private wifi for the players/production etc. There’s a public wifi though, so its all good you see.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
i just cant comprehend how this happened. this event cost a fortune. my laundry thus far has cost whoever’s paying $500 (x 16 teams x 7)
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
for the opening i got directed to an elevator, and then the guy working it didnt want to let me out on our floor. he tried to stop me lmfao.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
The thing is this really isn’t supposed to be funny. It’s sad. Hundreds of people worked their fucking asses off to get here.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
this is really just the tip of the iceberg, there’s some really egregious shit that noone feels safe to talk about.maybe when we’re all home
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
alive for another day. keyboards all accounted for as well, life’s good.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
on a positive note, the booths are now having white noise pumped in so you can’t really hear anything. they still have internet, but eh.
— Kyle Freedman (@swindlezz) March 2, 2016
Directing the entire English broadcast and I don’t even have a pass. Initially had no food & water too. I will die here
— Bonnie (@BonnieElvira) March 2, 2016
This is the player/casters relaxation lounge at the @DOTA2#Majorpic.twitter.com/xNhJgUHPj4
— Toby Dawson (@TobiWanDOTA) March 2, 2016
When the establishments in your scene don’t operate like a business motivated by legitimate commercial success, the scene gets left behind.
— Charlie Yang (@CharlieCYang) March 2, 2016
The #ShanghaiMajor has filled my feed with such a sad, embarrassing tale for Valve and esports. This is 2016 – we must do better.
— Lazer (@SPY_Lazerchickn) March 2, 2016
This Major is like a good B-rated movie. Its is so bad and low budget it turns out pure gold in the end #showerthoughts
— Team Empire (@team_empire) March 2, 2016
The delays became an even bigger problem because of the curfew set in place at the Mercedes-Benz Arena where the Major is being held. At 10:00 PM you have to leave the stadium. This rule was set in place to prevent another huge stampede from taking place. For the live spectators, it is quite unfortunate as they paid money to buy tickets and travel to Shanghai, and they aren’t getting the full experience they deserve.
Being told that the arena will close in 90 minutes (2130 local). Games will continue with no live audience. #ShanghaiMajor
— Kyle Bautista (@coL_Beef) March 2, 2016
It’s been two days since most of this took place, and from what we know currently the production crew behind the scenes is staying up all night and working hard to get these problems fixed. We can already note that the booths are filled with white noise, meaning players can’t hear the casters anymore. Twitch staff is working closely with production to provide a smooth live-stream for the tournament and other minor details are being managed.
Even though the Shanghai Major is starting to get back onto its feet, it’s still far from perfect and how the event started rolling has left a salty taste in the mouths of most people. The Shanghai Major was quite unlike the almost perfect Frankfurt Major which was hosted by ESL in Frankfurt. A thing that has been disliked by the whole community alike is the fact that Valve is not communicating with the fans at all. Most of the ‘communication’ we saw in the past few days was Gabe Newell calling James an ‘ass’.
There’s nothing but a lesson for Valve from this, and hopefully once this is over, they can make the Spring Major a huge success to fade out the flaws from this one.
