Any fans hoping Valve Corporation’s problems with the Shanghai Major would be isolated to the group stage were wrong.

Very wrong.

By all accounts, the Dota 2 major has been a disaster. It started last week, when Valve fired one of the hosts for the event, James “2GD” Harding, with head Gabe Newell calling him an “ass” on Reddit.

Valve then fired the event’s production company after a slew of technical issues.

The playoff stage, which began Tuesday night, has been worse. Somehow.

The event was supposed to begin with an opening ceremony last night at close to 9 p.m. EST but was reportedly delayed (and here was some thought it had been cancelled).

When the ceremony finally started, the broadcast was marred by a choppy stream:

The start of games was then delayed, potentially because of an unstable internet connection, with varying reports of how long it lasted. But it appeared to be hours.

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 (@LDeeep) 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 (@melonzzdota) March 2, 2016

At least one delay was caused by a member of the staff losing the keyboard of a Team Spirit player.

By the way, the current delay is because the admins lost one of Team Spirit's keyboards. They are going to hotel to get one. #ShanghaiMajor — Kyle Bautista (@coL_Beef) March 2, 2016

Game is delayed.

The Shanghai Major's staff has lost Ramzes666's keyboard… — Team Spirit (@Team__Spirit) March 2, 2016

There are even two organized Reddit threads logging complaint that have been levied during the event.

Perhaps the worst part of the entire event (and that’s saying something) is the cost of the delays to the spectators in attendance. The host venue, the Mercedes Benz Arena, apparently has a curfew. For this event, it was 10 p.m. local time. (9 a.m. EST).

So everybody had to leave, even though there were more matches to be played. Some took place in an empty arena, with others to be finished online.

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

This is the official note to the crowd, with 3 Chinese teams to play elimination matches today 🙁 @DOTA2 #Major pic.twitter.com/F5CtJEPgbr — Toby Dawson (@TobiWanDOTA) March 2, 2016

Kyle “swindlezz” Freedman, captain for compLexity Gaming, let out his frustrations in a lengthy Twitter rant.

Words can't express how disappointed I am. Still waiting on an apology from SOMEONE for this disaster. Oh yeah and fuck James!!! — Kyle Freedman (@melonzzdota) March 2, 2016

Our Chinese assistants were not allowed in the venue. There are no bathrooms outside. — Kyle Freedman (@melonzzdota) March 2, 2016

The booths are not soundproof. They smell like glue. — Kyle Freedman (@melonzzdota) March 2, 2016

The casters and production are not allowed in the player viewer area. They have only ground floor access. — Kyle Freedman (@melonzzdota) 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 (@melonzzdota) March 2, 2016

The LPL is one of the best run series in gaming. You can throw good events in China. — Kyle Freedman (@melonzzdota) 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 (@melonzzdota) 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 (@melonzzdota) 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 (@melonzzdota) 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 (@melonzzdota) 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 (@melonzzdota) March 2, 2016

alive for another day. keyboards all accounted for as well, life's good. — Kyle Freedman (@melonzzdota) 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 (@melonzzdota) March 2, 2016

Other casters and workers have posted on social media showing some of the myriad other problems involved in the event. Here’s a running log of their posts, as well as some from prominent people in Dota 2 and esports:

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

I know stream is having lags and freezes, even disconnects at times. My OBS PCs are running and I think it's a connection/server issue — Bonnie (@BonnieElvira) March 2, 2016

Still harassing people to fix Dota tv audio. Hopefully it can be sorted before next match. There have been many attempts already. — Anthony Hodgson (@scantzor) March 2, 2016

Сказ о том, как игры комментируются) pic.twitter.com/GduvlZezpb — Rustam Mavliutov (@AdekvatTV) March 2, 2016

Thats how we cast doto atm:) Hope casters desk will be fixed soonish https://t.co/JqPDO3qEqH — Vitalii Volochai (@v1lat) March 2, 2016

Panel: when you are live, can you please close down your laptops like Ben did? 2/3rds of the screen is the back of a monitor otherwise. — Jacob Toft-Andersen (@TheMaelk) March 2, 2016

And maybe all the Russians in our pubs would learn to speak English when playing with non-Russians. — Jacob Toft-Andersen (@TheMaelk) 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 (@CharlieYang) March 2, 2016

This should be a lesson for the west as well. Put out a better product before you worry about your market share. — Charlie Yang (@CharlieYang) 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. — Marty Lazerdude (@Lazerchickenzzz) 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

There is no big deal labeling one monitor a different name, in the end they labeled this event a major — Team Empire (@team_empire) March 2, 2016

Production crew forgetting there's a delay on the stream and turn off the connection immediately? Ka Le — Jacob Toft-Andersen (@TheMaelk) March 2, 2016

Kyle Bautista, general manager for compLexity Gaming, made a good point about the production company (which were echoed by swindlezz):

In the middle of this keep in mind the hard working people that have limited control. Most talented and staff have been working 18hrs today. — Kyle Bautista (@coL_Beef) March 2, 2016

I'm just as disappointed as anyone in this event, but let's remember the people that are giving everything they have to save this. — Kyle Bautista (@coL_Beef) March 2, 2016

one last thing before bed, there are some staff who are still at the venue that have been working there since 7AM. no event without them. — Kyle Freedman (@melonzzdota) March 2, 2016

It takes talent for a company to be able to have its head publicly call somebody an “ass” and somehow have that buried in a shitstorm of more bad PR.

Well done, Valve.