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When it comes to Broodwar and Starcraft 2, I have always seen TeamLiquid as one of the few key places which will give trends about the game activity and popularity.
I am not quite sure which % of the SC2 fanbase actually reads TeamLiquid, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a large part, large enough to statistically represent the whole foreign SC2 community when it comes to trends and behaviors.
I know TL will not communicate on numbers such as pageviews, and unique visitor counts because it's extremely related to TeamLiquid's value on the market, and it's a negociation asset when it comes to banners deal.
However, I wish TL could provide non specific charts regarding the evolution of trends for the past 2 years since SC2 was launched, the arrival of Dota2... LoL.
Am I crazy to think that we would see a huge drop in the SC2 live streams global audience ? A shift towards Dota 2 and LoL and less and less page views on the SC2 Tourneys and SC2 General forums.
I also think that the pageviews and visitor counts that TL achieved when SC2 came out are far from being reached nowadays, even during a major event.
If TL is the barometer for SC2 outside of Korea, how warm was it at its peak, and "colder" is it now ?
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Judging by the number of viewers streamers get these days you could probably see a trend away from sc2...but I think looking at twitch.tv's front page will show an even clearer picture of who is watching what (right now, HOTS will surely bump things). Not exactly a surprise though and I'm not sure you need statistics to make this trend more obvious
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Bisutopia19300 Posts
I always look at the total number of viewers watching streams in the top right corner. It's clear that a lot of people (35,000) even at 10 am are watching SC2. At the time SC2 came out there was a huge influx of TL members but now I know most consistent SC2 TL members by ID. I think that most forum veterans here are very knowledgeable of the game and that is a big reason for why trends start here. Because people are always checking in on this website and treat everything we say like it's gold. If anything, that demands more out of each post we make and which is why crappy posting is unacceptable unless your a drunk mod.
But SC2 views rise and fall based on tournaments and drama factor. I think even things like the Flash Meme helped spread popularity to people who didn't really know much about SC2 beforehand. HoTS will put Starcraft in competition for the top eSports game again but the amount of viewers don't matter in the end. It's loyalty and community that make the game most fun in the end.
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That stream aggregate at the top right would be the streams that are featured/registered on TL though right? Off to ask a member of TL staff for that one.
I personally expect a similar influx to TL for HOTS as there was for WoL. Either by way of finding the Starcraft Reddit or simply doing some searches about the game. If I were to approximate the peak viewership, I would say it was moving into January 2012 but that is just based on memory and inference.
As you compare it to MOBA, TL is making an entrance into that scene with the DOTA team. I am not sure that the idea that stream/tournament views are a zero sum gain really has that much traction. With the Dota team around I expect TL will gain some extra diversity in terms of its user base.
In fact I would say more "MOBA only," players are apt to turn to a Starcraft stream during downtime than people who identify as SC2 exclusive players. This would partially be due to migration from SC as a main game to MOBA is by my estimation higher than the other way around.
HOTS will give TL a huge bump all around in terms of users, and just general activity. Look for a huge upswing in the next few months both from returning players (if only for the campaign) and completely new blood. To me regardless of other games, the bottom line is Starcraft endures.
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EPT
