Moment of Clarity - KeSPA, Paul Sams, TL - Page 2

10 things I want to address after viewing Paul Sam's announcements, KeSPA's responses, TL's comments.

1. KeSPA = A non-profit association recognized by the Ministry of Culture in Korea. Questionable management practices.

2. Non-profit = They re-invest whatever money they make for their cause/goals, they still will make money. It's not like they won't ever see a single dollar (won for this matter). I'm sure a 3rd party organization, most likely the ministry, audits them.

MBC and OGN are for profit and you don't know how much the top dog are being paid at KeSPA.

3. Activision-Blizzard = A for-profit company that should & will try to maximize profits to make money for their investors, there is nothing wrong with a company that wants to squeeze every last penny out of consumers' pockets. That is what a for-profit corporation should be doing.
- Case in point: LAN, they figured they would lose a small chunk of consumers for not having LAN, and would do better in profit & sales once they centralize the game via Battlenet2.0 (hindering piracy)

Bla bla bla. Case in point : BW has lan and is being at the present time commercially exploited in total disrespect of the IP rights holder. If I was Blizzard (I'm not) I wouldn't take the risk with my new game.

4. Everybody bitched/moaned about no LAN but still most people bought the game, proving Blizzard that they made the smarter business decision from their corporate perspective.

5. Numbers regarding profit/revenue/growth/sales = totally meaningless in press conferences without actual data. It is too ambiguous and anybody with basic knowledge of statistics knows that dropping random %s is irrelevant.

Totally irrelevant. Paul Sam was responding to an article saying Blizzard was making 60% of their profits in S.Korea (although it's was likely about the number of Starcraft 1 sold)

6. Paul Sams stated, "Blizzard does not see e-sports as a source of profits. The reason why we are in negotiations with game TV channels for licensing is to get our IP rights acknowledged, not to get profits." = This one is actually pretty funny. There is always money to made in any untapped markets. I'm sure Blizzard want their IP rights acknowledged but not interested in profits?
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It's very likely Blizzard is paying Kim & Jang many times what they or Gretech (whoever) is asking from the TV channels. So no there is no profit to be made for Blizzard at least for the time being. I'm not saying they don't have plan to make e-sport profitable in the near future though.

7. Blizzard getting their IP rights acknowledged = Additional source of profit, which they did not have previously. Selling broadcasting rights yearly? With possibilities of huge potential growth in the near future. (Untapped market - upheld only by a non-profit organization)

Blizzard getting their IP rights acknowledged = Not setting a dangerous precedent. Any organization could exploit games as long as they are "non-profits" if they lose. That's why Blizzard will not "leave BW alone"

8. "In addition, the yearly broadcasting fee that KeSPA wants is still 5 times more than what GomTV is requesting KeSPA to pay." = Random figures once again, but even if it is that much, they are still non-profit, which means that money will be re-invested for expansion of e-sports. When GomTV sells broadcasting rights, GomTV/Blizzard gets paid, in return their investors get paid.

You don't know how much the top dog are being paid at KeSPA. What's the percentage being really reinvested into the pro-scene ? Korea is not one the cleanest country regarding corruption.

9. Demanding the audit KeSPA is pretty outrageous, bullying for the lack of a better word.
We made the game --> We will sell you broadcasting rights every year for a figure we call --> Oh yeah and we can check your numbers anytime.

Yearly contract are typical and I doubt Blizzard want to audit KeSPA to suck as much money as they can.

10. I believe the issue at hand will either spark a new life for e-sports or be the death of it. I say this because:

- This will set precedent and all game companies will basically be auto-given full control of pro-leagues/broadcasted tournaments due to IP rights of their respective games
- Other game companies besides Blizzard may choose to compete for a competitive "e-sports" game platform and produce higher quality games (knowing there is a lot of money to be made)
- Resulting in numerous dispersed pro-leagues which could lead to growth of e-sports

OR

- No other game company tries to make "e-sport" type games for broadcast because they don't see money to made in pro-leagues/high level tournaments featuring corporate sponsors/etc
- e-sports withers away

But all in all, I think the current issue shows that there is no room for non-profit organizations in e-sports because they simply didn't make the platform.

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