WCS
Everyone who is gonna repost this on their website, at least credit Yonhap as the original source for the love of god.
Here's my indirect translation of the relevant points from the two articles (April 25th) :
During the recent Blizzard HQ visit, Yonhap News sat down with Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime and COO Paul Sams for an interview. During this interview, it was revealed that Blizzard will no longer be negotiating with KeSPA (Korea E-Sports Association) regarding the intellectual property rights of their games.
Morhaime said "We've been negotiating with the association about intellectual property rights for the last three years, and we've made no progress at all... ...We're going to stop negotiating with them and look for a new partner." He also mentioned "Blizzard obviously has the IP rights to the Starcraft series, but those rights aren't being respected, and we can't keep having these fruitless negotiations with the release of Starcraft II at hand."
In a worst case scenario, all Korean Starcraft tournaments that run through KeSPA may be forced to stop.
+ Interviews
Yonhap: What's the scale of the your company and the projects you have going?
Mike Morhaime: We have over four thousand employees worldwide, with about 1,200 of them working in our Irvine HQ. We have branches in Europe, China, Seoul, Taiwan, and Singapore.
We have projects including World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, Diablo III, and one unannounced MMORPG. The other projects I cannot reveal.
Yonhap: How is progress on Diablo III?
MM: It's going well, satisfactory. We added some new guys to the original diablo team, so we have a great team now. It's playable internally right now. We can't predict when it will be released, but it won't be this year in any case.
Yonhap: There are high expectations for Starcraft II
MM: Very high for us. Not just the multiplayer, but the single player experience is the best we've ever made. The original did so incredibly well in Korea that it will be hard to surpass that, but we are going to break the original's sales records worldwide.
Yonhap: What's Blizzard's vision for E-sports?
MM: Our understanding of E-sports is as a community project that increases the enjoyment of the game for the players. It's going to be popular not only in Korea, but worldwide.
Of course it could be profitable as well, but we're focusing on the community aspect of E-sports more than the financial aspects. If we turn a profit, we plan to reinvest a large portion of it to development e-sports even further, in the form of sponsorships, prize money, etc.
Yonhap: How are your negotiations involving intellectual property with KeSPA going?
MM: We've tried to talk to KeSPA for three years, but we can't get them to recognize our IP rights. Of course we think our IP rights should be respected. Starcraft II will be released soon, so we will have to look for a new partner.
Yonhap: Starcraft II received a 18 years + rating in South Korea?
MM: I was surprised. We designed it from the start as a game teenagers could enjoy. We've filed an objection, so I hope the rating is reconsidered.
Have you heard about the match-fixing scandal in Korea?
MM: I was shocked and very disappointed. I've heard the police are investigating, and am interested in the results.
What kind of business model and future do you have envisioned for Battle.net?
Paul Sams: Battle.net will be a hub for all of Blizzard's games, and help develop the community and e-sports. The specifics of our business and service model can change from game to game, and region to region.
Our basic policy is to make the games on a global basis, but thoroughly localize the services.
Yonhap: What's the secret to your global success?
PS: The most important thing is to get a lot of feedback from the start. There are different opinions to be heard everywhere in the world. Listening to all these opinions and applying them lets you succeed in international market.
What kind of quality standards do you set for yourselves?
PS: We don't have any set standards of quality. We try to get as many opinions as possible during development, and improve the games from there.
Internally, we constantly show the games to others and get feedback so we can fix and improve the game. After we repeat that process countless times, we finally get something we can reveal.
Yonhap: What's your strategy for the mobile games market?
PS: We think of mobile phones as a way to support our existing franchises. I can't really say anything about our plans for games on smart phones.
Yonhap: So what are your plans for games outside the PC?
PS: Making good games is the first thing. We have an open mind on all platforms, and we don't make games with a particular platform in mind. The best way to is to make the game, then decide what the best platform for it would be.
Yonhap: Do you see an opportunity in the emerging social gaming market?
PS: If you look at its recent popularity, social gaming can definitely be a part of a game. But we don't think they require a lot of skill to make, or are particularly competitive in the market. They still have a long way to go.
Yonhap: What do you think of the social responsibility of a game company?
PS: World of Warcraft willingly introduced the world's first fatigue system to prevent people getting too deeply involved. Besides this, we're protecting our users through a variety of methods, and we'll continue that policy. Soon, we are going to unveil a program for giving back to the community in Korea.
Yonhap: What are your plans for investing in Korea?
PS: We don't have any acquisition or investment plans yet. When you develop a game, there has to be a lot of communication and cooperation. It's very hard to do that with a foreign branch. That's why we have the entire development team at our HQ.
Yonhap: What do you think is in the future for online gaming, and the gaming market as a whole?
PS: Online games will continue to grow. PC Games and social games will continue to grow as well. But I don't think the console game market is in any trouble. It's in a slight haze right now, but it will recover.
sad times.
