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First things first.
Kespa got themselves into this situation and when all is said and done. It's all about the money. I think we can all agree on that. I don't think that's a bad thing either. Money makes the world go round, as I assure you the farmer growing your meals ain't doing it because he thinks you are a nice guy.
If you throw enough money at something things tend to work, and quite frankly Blizzard can afford to throw around a lot of cash and that alone will get many other companies and teams interested. If it's a choice of who's going to offer more profit I am pretty sure we all know that the winner is Blizzard. They can start the ball rolling and leave kespa high and dry and all it takes is one or two teams decided to say "screw it, Blizzards offering us more cash" and it'll all go down hill for Kespa. Let's face it, Sudden Attack can't carry them.
Next thing, what the hell is with so many "esports only works in korea, esports can't get big in other nations" type posts. This is bloody Team Liquid.net I was under the assumption everyone here wants to foster esports around the globe, not label it as a "niche" thing only good for internet casting and Korea. Take the sport seriously and it'll get treated seriously.
Also stop worrying about who's more evil or more good. If you want to have that kind of morality debate try to do it with something that makes sense. I seriously doubt either the head of Blizzard or Kespa is busy laughing madly while stroking a cat sitting in a underground lair plotting how to rule the world. Like any company they just want to make money.
In the end, Blizzard will come out on top of this simply because South Korea is only one area, and more importantly Kespa's nationalistic pride can't trump the $ sign that blizzard can and seems willing to hand out to get in on the scene.
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On April 25 2010 18:52 haster27 wrote:
Another thing I want to point out- some of you talk as if Blizzard utterly had no contribution to the development of pro scene. Although I have no personal experience about Starcraft's earlier days, to my knowledge it was the constant patch by Blizzard that turned SC1 into such competitve-wise game. Think about how Blizzard would just release current beta version and stay negligent in fixing notable balance problems, and how much that would damage the pro-scene itself.
They did contribute to Brood Wars success. However, their goal back then had always been to make the game fair and balanced which in turn gave them more sales because the popularity of the game stayed strong. Their goal now seems to be to make more money without any effort on their part.
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On April 25 2010 14:52 Milkis wrote:Show nested quote +Blizzard isn't stopping them. They just want fair compensation since Kespa makes huge profit off their work. Kespa is stingy so they refuse. Blizzard has their fair compensation -- the Korean Starcraft scene made starcraft extremely popular and more people are buying the games (or would have bought the games, if it wasn't for iccup). In addition, Starcraft created huge interests for Starcraft 2, which Blizzard is already planning on milking it out as much as possible. Blizzard deserves no compensation, for Starcraft OR Starcraft 2 -- it has already gotten them through all the free advertisement KeSPA did for their games. Even better -- KeSPA's success with E-Sports did a pretty damn good job boosting Blizzard's reputation in game making, something that isn't going to die anytime soon. They are getting everything already through KeSPA through advertisements. They simply need to deal with logistics better -- imagine if instead of battle.net they actually did something like iccup with antihack launchers. It would be even more successful. But nope. Now that they have gotten the free advertisement and the reputation as the "good guys who make good games", now they're going to bite the hand that feeds them. "Hey guys, I'm the creator of Basketball. Now that my game is popular I want you to pay me for broadcasting Basketball on TV. Oh, I'm also going to make the NCAA and NBA pay me for taking my game and making it a success and organizing nationwide tournaments and making it competitive" Anyone who says Blizzard "deserves" anything from KeSPA is horribly mistaken. KeSPA deserves every cent they get.
Great post sir i agree on every point you made.
SC can never been threatened by Blizzard in Korea. Only way SC can die if ppl lose interest in it. The real problem is SC2 and Blizzard ask too much from Kespa by eliminating LAN and demanding too much and kespa is just saying that they wont support SC2. The big loser in this is Blizzard because Korea is the only place where there is e-sports right now.
Other than those problems SC2 can never replace SC because SC2 is not exciting for the casual tv viewer ... yes its a new game bla bla but i cant see SC2 going even close to the lvl that SC is. Mostly because of the game engine and hard counter system that just makes the game plain boring. Every battle is blob to blob attack move action and the delicate micro of SC is gone. There is no room for big comebacks so the game is not suitable for e-sports. This is my opinion and i might be wrong so dont bash me pls 
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Okay- so to my understanding one of the crux of the debate is "is developing a great balanced game that fits the basic standard for successful development of pro-scene enough to guarantee influence over entire formal pro-scene itself?". Right? There is all property debate and all that but those purely concerns the law I have no idea about, and my paraphrase clearly addresses the "moral" aspect of this conflict anyway.
Edit: Either way I am excited because we are observing the significant event that will probably determine the fate of e-gaming itself, for better or worse.
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On April 25 2010 18:30 Kwanroller wrote:
eSports will always be a niche sport due to its image.
And america will always be a colony of great britain. Disco will never die. Man will never walk on the moon. Classical and quantum physics will never be united.
People saying stuff like this with confidence is always so laughable. Read about the history of... anything.... please.
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Finally, some actual information about the contents of the negotiation. I think I may reserve my judgment before I see more sources stating the same thing, but from the way it's expressed now, it does seem like Blizzard is the one being too greedy.
Particularly, I didn't know Blizzard wasn't supporting LAN use for SC2. That seems like a decision they made essentially solely for the purpose of gaining more leverage on this issue. (I can't think of any other possible reason they would have done that.)
If indeed everything said in that article is true, it does seem unlikely that any organization will back Blizzard in establishing an SC2 e-sports scene in Korea. But again, I'll reserve judgment before I see more sources.
P.S. Milkis is an awesome drink. The only Korean soda I enjoy drinking.
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On April 25 2010 18:57 Parnage wrote:
Next thing, what the hell is with so many "esports only works in korea, esports can't get big in other nations" type posts. This is bloody Team Liquid.net I was under the assumption everyone here wants to foster esports around the globe, not label it as a "niche" thing only good for internet casting and Korea. Take the sport seriously and it'll get treated seriously.
In the end, Blizzard will come out on top of this simply because South Korea is only one area, and more importantly Kespa's nationalistic pride can't trump the $ sign that blizzard can and seems willing to hand out to get in on the scene.
Frankly, its just being realistic. Can you honestly see it being more than a niche in any other country (besides MAYBE China)?
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On April 25 2010 19:08 Three wrote:Show nested quote +On April 25 2010 18:30 Kwanroller wrote:
eSports will always be a niche sport due to its image. And america will always be a colony of great britain. Disco will never die. Man will never walk on the moon. Classical and quantum physics will never be united. People saying stuff like this with confidence is always so laughable. Read about the history of... anything.... please.
disco will never die 
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Iam glad blizz is cutting Kespa losse
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On April 25 2010 19:08 Three wrote:
Classical and quantum physics will never be united.
God damn it. I hate Mathematics and Physics. What happened that I don't know (learned)?
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On April 25 2010 19:17 haster27 wrote:Show nested quote +On April 25 2010 19:08 Three wrote:
Classical and quantum physics will never be united. God damn it. I hate Mathematics and Physics. What happened that I don't know (learned)?
No one has done it.. yet.
But specifically in the sciences, people throughout history have spoken without any doubt about the impossibility of every single important breakthrough that has ever occured. When electricity was first discovered, critics even said it woud be "of no practical use". Derp.
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On April 25 2010 19:08 Three wrote:Show nested quote +On April 25 2010 18:30 Kwanroller wrote:
eSports will always be a niche sport due to its image. And america will always be a colony of great britain. Disco will never die. Man will never walk on the moon. Classical and quantum physics will never be united. People saying stuff like this with confidence is always so laughable. Read about the history of... anything.... please.
Let's be realistic here. If stuff like Orienteering and Ultimate Frisbee (I know its fairly popular) still get people laughing at it, what chance does eSports have?
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E-sports existed before KeSPA and they have been nothing but dickheads since they took charge. I'm glad Blizzard are deciding to pull the plug. Sc2 is on the way anyhow.
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On April 25 2010 19:25 Kwanroller wrote:Show nested quote +On April 25 2010 19:08 Three wrote:On April 25 2010 18:30 Kwanroller wrote:
eSports will always be a niche sport due to its image. And america will always be a colony of great britain. Disco will never die. Man will never walk on the moon. Classical and quantum physics will never be united. People saying stuff like this with confidence is always so laughable. Read about the history of... anything.... please. Let's be realistic here. If stuff like Orienteering and Ultimate Frisbee (I know its fairly popular) still get people laughing at it, what chance does eSports have?
Who are you to decide the reality of the future? seriously..
If you want to actively work to prevent esports from becoming popular thats your prerogative. Otherwise, what is the point of that pessimism?
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On April 25 2010 13:47 cgrinker wrote:
Mike Morihame doesn't know how to make the ESPORTS Dollars.
Oh im pretty sure he does  It isnt just some random conclusion or action that just took place, these are businessman, this is a strategic opening
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Who cares about kespa in sc2? We watched progamers from korea in sc1 because we didn't have any here, but now they are not better. Skill level is everywhere the same and why should we even watch koreans :/
sc2 will be global thing and they won't have monopoly. I don't even care if koreans will play the game or not, there are already a lot of euro/usa tournaments which are great.
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On April 25 2010 19:37 Three wrote:Show nested quote +On April 25 2010 19:25 Kwanroller wrote:On April 25 2010 19:08 Three wrote:On April 25 2010 18:30 Kwanroller wrote:
eSports will always be a niche sport due to its image. And america will always be a colony of great britain. Disco will never die. Man will never walk on the moon. Classical and quantum physics will never be united. People saying stuff like this with confidence is always so laughable. Read about the history of... anything.... please. Let's be realistic here. If stuff like Orienteering and Ultimate Frisbee (I know its fairly popular) still get people laughing at it, what chance does eSports have? Who are you to decide the reality of the future? seriously.. If you want to actively work to prevent esports from becoming popular thats your prerogative. Otherwise, what is the point of that pessimism?
he's just stating his opinion, he's not actively working to prevent esports from becoming popular.
and there's always going to be naysayers for everything. if it really is going to become big in the future then it can deal with some skepticism without dying. and it is a valid point, image is a serious obstacle in gaining acceptance
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KeSPA are stupid, they keep acting like little kids throwing a tantrum cause they don't get everything their way. They are fighting a losing battle and should just give in to Blizzard.
Blizzard sounds more reasonable, the part of promising alot of their profits on the growth of eSports sounded very nice
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Mike Morhaime is one of my childhood heroes. I actually met him not long ago and made a complete ass out of myself. After reading this, fuck yeah Mike Morhaime. Go Mike Morhaime. Show KeSPA who's got the pants.
Seriously, any power drawn away from KeSPA is a win in my book.
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On April 25 2010 19:12 Jaester88 wrote:Finally, some actual information about the contents of the negotiation. I think I may reserve my judgment before I see more sources stating the same thing, but from the way it's expressed now, it does seem like Blizzard is the one being too greedy. Particularly, I didn't know Blizzard wasn't supporting LAN use for SC2. That seems like a decision they made essentially solely for the purpose of gaining more leverage on this issue. (I can't think of any other possible reason they would have done that.) If indeed everything said in that article is true, it does seem unlikely that any organization will back Blizzard in establishing an SC2 e-sports scene in Korea. But again, I'll reserve judgment before I see more sources. P.S. Milkis is an awesome drink. The only Korean soda I enjoy drinking.
How is Blizzard being too greedy? The terms say you need Blizzard's permission if you want to run a SC2 broadcast/tourney, and you should pay Blizzard some dough if you want to make money off their product. Depending on the amount of money that might be greedy, but those terms are hardly unreasonable on their own. SC2 tourney's already need Blizzard's permission even in the Beta (think the ZOTAC cup ran into that problem in the first days of beta?). So far Blizzard has proven to be pretty reasonable on allowing people to use their game, admittedly because it's great advertisement for them.
But when there's a multimillion dollar industry built on basically the equivalent of broadcasting b.net games on TV then I think Blizzard has every right to say "wait a minute, what exactly are you adding here that makes it so you get all the money off of our product?".
Kespa wasn't formed to make starcraft big, Kespa was formed because starcraft became big. Sure they're part of the reason why SC1 is THAT big in Korea, but they're not contributing anything special. If ESPN starts broadcasting SC2 and it's a huge hit would you say "wow ESPN made SC2 big, they deserve all the money"? No, ESPN only broadcasted SC2 in the first place BECAUSE it would make them money. And Blizzard has every right to ask them for a cut seeing as to how they provided them with the means to make said money.
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EPT
