For the sport we love, the switch of Kespa to SC2 is the most significant event since the launch of GSL. With the entry of Kespa, SC2 receives immediate legitimacy as a spectator sport in the eyes of Korean corporations, and, probably, Korean viewers. It also implies a massive infusion of corporate cash into the Korean scene, which can mean nothing but good things for the game there.
Kespa's entry might also mean the death of the foreign scene, or at least its eventual irrelevance. Here's why.
To understand my argument, you must understand the culture of Kespa and the way it functioned in the Brood War days. Back before SC2 came out, Kespa maintained two policies that allowed it to keep complete control of the BW scene: high barriers of entry onto SC:BW proteams, and anti-competitive practices that smashed any kind of outside challenge to its sanctioned leagues and events.
To join a proteam in Korea, a prospective player had to fulfill two extremely difficult tasks. First, the player would have to win a "Courage" tournament in order to obtain a semi-pro license, a grueling affair that even players such as Flash and Jaedong couldn't overcome on their first try. Then a newly minted semi-pro would have to catch the eye of a proteam and be added onto the team individually, or drafted in yearly events. There were exceptions to this restrictive system (such as IdrA, who was granted a pro license by his team, eSTRO), but for the most part, anyone who wanted to compete in the Brood War scene needed to spend a significant time in Korea.
Regarding anti-competitive practices: GOM TV started a SC:BW league in 2008. It was casted in English by Tasteless and various co-casters (lilsusie, Daniel Lee). It featured Korean progamers; the finals of the first season was Flash vs Jaedong. But slowly and steadily, Kespa pressured the teams to pull their players from the league. By the third season, only eight out of the twelve proteams were participating in the league. There was no fourth season. Kespa had control over both the bulk of the talent and the bulk of the sponsorship money; there was no overcoming that. So ended the experiment of English coverage of Korean BW.
a snippet of Tasteless's commentating
You all know what happened at the launch of SC2 between Blizzard and Kespa. Kespa was not seriously interested in negotiating with either Blizzard or GOM to secure rights to BW or SC2. They preferred to allow the issue to proceed to court. No deal was reached, and neither Blizzard nor GOM ended up pursuing legal action. If I remember correctly, the MSL and OSL reached individual deals with Blizzard.
The danger to the international SC2 scene is this: if Kespa-approved leagues destroy GOM with superior production quality and superior talent (and there is no reason to assume that this will not happen), the dichotomy between the Korean and Foreign scenes may regress to what it was in BW.
Currently, foreigners enjoy a wide variety of benefits regarding SC2 that they did not enjoy in BW. The most prominent SC2 tournament in Korea has a dedicated foreigner stream with English casting. Top-level foreigners can fly to Korea and, in many cases, have a Code A spot waiting for them. Indeed, this exact situation will take place when IdrA and DeMusliM take up residence in Korea. There are no restrictions on proteams from adding a foreign player to their ranks, permanently or temporarily.
If GOM dies due to all of the talent and sponsorship money being on Kespa's side, all of those benefits for foreigners will disappear. If Kespa does things the way they used to, it will be impossible, for example, for an EG player to participate in Korean SC2. It is also unlikely that OGN or MBC (if MBC still exists by then, which is doubtful) will provide an English stream.
In that case, SC2 will be split into two scenes, foreign and Korean, with the bulk of the talent in one tiny country. It'll be Brood War all over again.
This prophecy of doom relies on two things: one, that Kespa is utterly inflexible in its dealings with GOM and Blizzard; and two, that Kespa keeps the high barriers of entry into its tournaments that it has had in the past.
The entry of the Kespa-sanctioned teams into SC2 cannot be interpreted as anything but a very good thing for spectators of SC2. Within a year, players like Flash, Jaedong, and Bisu will bring the sport of Starcraft 2 to new heights. This isn't a possibility. It is a sure thing.
However, the future might hold very bad things indeed for foreigners. With Kespa's history of stubbornness and unilateralism, there's no reason to think that things will turn out for the best. The fact that Blizzard invited 4 BW pros to Blizzcon might be a sign of the ice thawing between Blizz and Kespa. But until an official announcement to that effect is made, I won't feel optimistic about the Korean situation in the least.
Thanks for writing what I'm thinking. I know some people are happy that the overall quality of games will go up, but most people don't really understand how much of a stranglehold KeSPA and Korea had on the BW scene.
Athough doesn't GomTV have an exclusive liscence to broadcast SC2 in South Korea? If KeSPA becomes too anti-foriegner and anti-competitive, Blizzard can do something about it right?
Although you make a great point motbob, and although I didn't follow the SCBW scene (I got into SC2 post beta), the foreign community and scene is partially what makes SC2 so great. That its an international movment, and not just a "korean thing." It scares me, to say the least.
Although on the flipside, KeSPA might see how international SC2 is and relent their old stubborn ways. I mean, a vast majority of SC2 occurs on the other side of the world from Korea. What progamer wouldn;t want to partcipate in foreign events after seeing how loudly we chear for the Koreans at tournaments? (e.g GSL October Finals at Blizzcon.)
I totally agree, but since the BW pros were at blizzcon, kespa saw the money and fan base in the foreign scene. Oh and did I say the money? So looking at this optimistically maybe they will want more foreign players and what not. I am nervous and excited to see what is to come!
Call me selfish, but as long as the players are happy (eg, not treated like slaves), and I get to watch pro games through TL streams, then I'm good. Foreigners, koreans, I don't really care. I just want the highest level of play.
Nonetheless, as someone said earlier, KeSPA may very well have plans on an international scale. I wish we had some inside informations from KeSPA.
KeSPA had to realise with the fact two to three teams nearly folded or did fold this year and two folded last year, that they will need to appeal to a global audience to ensure this does not happen again. KeSPA will hopefully be more friendly towards foreign fans and offer their games with an English cast. (I would watch it in Korean if that was the only option and still enjoy it).
As for the progamer side of things, KeSPA doesn't have any reason not to make it as tough to get into their events as it was in Brood War. Keep the talent pool high and the matches should be as high level as possible. Sucks for the lesser skilled players, but if SC2 is truely the e-sports game of the west, we wil have our own scene that can keep progamers competing for nice prize pools.
Only time will tell if KeSPA has changed their outlook on the world stage or if they will just turtle and stick to the Korean fans needs, which would make more sense since they are the Korean eSPorts Association.
I hope this wont happen. But gom still have the rights for sc2 in Korea for another year. And hopefully they'll renew the rights for the next 2 years after that, but I wouldnt be surprised if blizz would choose kespa/ogn/mbc (?) over gom, just because it'll be on tv.
I really hope it wont be like this. I dont want sc2 to be like bw, where bw was Isolated to Korea .
KeSPA is a wall for larger companies to handle the talent and organization of the sc1 scene.
KeSPA has to deal with a company that has a retardedly ironclad contract for rights and an even larger company behind it with favorable korean standing to strong arm it.
No - KeSPA is just going where the money is, and large companies with players wanting to travel to tournaments for fame and fortune is all the pressure KeSPA really needs to hear about.
Edit: I'm sorry but the majority of this is just fear hype and gross over evaluation of the power and motivation of KeSPA.
KeSPA went to blizzcon and got to see and feel a forgein scene at its peak. I hope they realized how big the global market of pro sc2 is and how much they can do to add professionalism and solidiaty to an enormous market.
I don't understand how the history will repeat itself regarding Kespa taking over again since Blizzard now more or less dictates what Kespa can and cannot do with Starcraft2.
I think it all comes to Blizzard in SC2, not KeSPA.
When Brood War became a national sport in Korea, Blizzard's approach to Brood War was not the same as now, to SC2.
Now Blizzard, literally "brought it" by pursuing lawsuits and negotiations, showing that "Starcraft II is Blizzard's, if you want to do something with SC2, you need to pass Blizzard"
Blizzard is SO aggressive and protecting about SC2, I don't think the "Dominant KeSPA Problem" will occur. If KeSPA, even tries a little, to isolate Korean scene and IF this causes the interest to decrease, Blizzard will immediately react.
With SC2's current popularity in Korea I have a hard time believing any switch by KeSPA to SC2 is because of the Korean audience. No matter KeSPA's past involvement with the rest of the world I have a hard time believing they would just completely ignore us like before when there is an actual audience to make money off of this time around.
The one thing that may be different this time around though is where the support for SC2 currently lies. If KeSPA chooses to remain very niche and only worry about Korea then yes, this could easily happen.
However, given that the international market is where the enormous scene is exploding right now it would be pretty surprising to me if KeSPA chose to ignore that. Tapping into that interest means that we will probably have things like English casts and there probably will be pressure for foreigners to have ways into Korean events. Isolate the non-korean scene for SC2 and you lose massive, massive revenue potential.
I definitely agree with the fact that KeSPA has a a way of doing things that might not appeal to most foreigners. As things unfold, what we can do is only speculate. So for the meanwhile, we can only assume that SC2 as a sport will grow to new heights, but at what expense.
EPT
IdrA, who was granted a pro license by his team, eSTRO), but for the most part, anyone who wanted to compete in the Brood War scene needed to spend a significant time in Korea.
Jaedong. But slowly and steadily, Kespa pressured the teams to pull their players from the league. By the third season, only eight out of the twelve proteams were participating in the league. There was no fourth season. Kespa had control over both the bulk of the talent and the bulk of the sponsorship money; there was no overcoming that. So ended the experiment of English coverage of Korean BW.
.
