Dota 2 commentator and analyst Vladimir Kuzminov, known as Maelstorm, stated that Paragon studio is extremely supportive of community casters. He emphasized that Paragon provides them with high-quality resources for rebroadcasting tournaments. In a series of Telegram posts, he also compared the viewership of official streams with community-run broadcasts.
In his initial post, Kuzminov pointed out that during the grand final of DreamLeague Season 25 on March 2nd, Paragon’s stream attracted over 100,000 viewers. According to the caster, no other independent content creator has achieved such viewership numbers.
Maelstorm also believes that many Dota 2 fans are mistaken about supposed issues between community casters and Paragon studio.
He elaborated that Paragon does everything possible to support community casters. Maelstorm mentioned being part of a communication channel where Paragon shares all available broadcast feeds for community casters. Furthermore, besides the basic feeds from tournament organizers, Paragon provides enhanced feeds of very high quality from various global locations. This ensures smooth streaming without lags for anyone, and any lag issues are promptly addressed upon request in the communication channel.
Addressing potential criticisms, Maelstorm anticipates comments from those who might not verify facts. He expects arguments about delay issues or problems from past tournaments. However, he hopes that fact-based understanding prevails. For those seeking clarity, Maelstorm offers to explain specific misunderstandings, often stemming from combining unrelated facts or attaching false information to a basis of truth. He expressed his intention to dispel common misconceptions, driven by what he perceives as streamers and influencers making deliberately false statements, making it difficult for even informed individuals to distinguish truth from falsehood without verifying sources.
Last year, Alexander Levin, known as Nix, publicly criticized Paragon studio. In May, Nix received a ban during the grand final of PGL Wallachia 2024: Season 1. Nix explained that the ban was due to “non-compliance with casting rules,” suggesting that the 15-minute delay in DotaTV was insufficient for Paragon.
In September, Yaroslav Kuznetsov, known as NS, also spoke about pressure on community casters during The International 2024. NS described it as a “security guard syndrome.” At that time, there were rumors that Paragon studio was responsible for the official Russian-language broadcasts of TI13.
