Sonic's Proleague has been here before twice, and following the development of the Starleague, it should be coming back stronger than ever.
So far nothing is set in stone yet, but here is Sonic's plan:
8 teams total: 6 teams of ex-progamers, 2 teams of amateur players - no old ex-progaming teams, teams will have new sponsors - one amateur team picked based on a clanleague + SBENU's own team of amateurs
Semi-finals, play-offs and finals will be played offline
The channel that will broadcast the league will be announced when it is 100% confirmed
As if the Starleagues, Super Fights and a show dedicated to training amateur players, and now the upcoming Proleague weren't enough, Sonic has more announcements in store for us this month. In fact, there's an even a bigger one that we can look forward to as soon as everything is confirmed.
SKT1: Bisu, sSak, Larva (Best should be finishing army soon) STX: hero Last Shuttle Woongjin: ZerO free GuemChi PianO Oz: Killer HiyA (need more) CJ: EffOrt, Mong, Iris MBC + Mind? or Fox with Mind + Nada?
On August 08 2015 00:45 HyralGambit wrote: Hell, it's about time... again.
6 ex-pro teams... hm...
SKT1: Bisu, sSak, Larva (Best should be finishing army soon) STX: hero Last Shuttle Woongjin: ZerO free GuemChi PianO Oz: Killer HiyA (need more) CJ: EffOrt, Mong, Iris MBC + Mind? or Fox with Mind + Nada?
Kwanro can be anywhere :O
Some corrections: No Bisu and Best has nearly a year. Mind is on KT.
BeSt enlistment was in sept 2013, so he should more or less be back by next month
and bisu played in the last sonic proleague, so dont see why he wouldnt now unless military calls (which i doubt its soon considering the amount of activities he is doing for Kongdoo recently)
On August 08 2015 01:21 Probemicro wrote: BeSt enlistment was in sept 2013, so he should more or less be back by next month
and bisu played in the last sonic proleague, so dont see why he wouldnt now unless military calls (which i doubt its soon considering the amount of activities he is doing for Kongdoo recently)
Probably right about BeSt. Bisu should just go after SSL.
On August 08 2015 00:45 HyralGambit wrote: Hell, it's about time... again.
6 ex-pro teams... hm...
SKT1: Bisu, sSak, Larva (Best should be finishing army soon) STX: hero Last Shuttle Woongjin: ZerO free GuemChi PianO Oz: Killer HiyA (need more) CJ: EffOrt, Mong, Iris MBC + Mind? or Fox with Mind + Nada?
Kwanro can be anywhere :O
OP says no ex-progaming teams. I'm guessing none of the old teams mentioned above will be participating. The players can still participate though.
On August 08 2015 00:45 HyralGambit wrote: Hell, it's about time... again.
6 ex-pro teams... hm...
SKT1: Bisu, sSak, Larva (Best should be finishing army soon) STX: hero Last Shuttle Woongjin: ZerO free GuemChi PianO Oz: Killer HiyA (need more) CJ: EffOrt, Mong, Iris MBC + Mind? or Fox with Mind + Nada?
Kwanro can be anywhere :O
OP says no ex-progaming teams. I'm guessing none of the old teams mentioned above will be participating. The players can still participate though.
Yeah basically expect everyone to be on different teams with different sponsors, I swear to flash if bisu is playing in this and he gets a stacked as fuck team again.....
My guess is that the teams will be managed by Kongdoo/Sonic's team and these parties will help the teams find new sponsors. I can't imagine it would be wise for the players to try and manage the teams and everything by themselves (or put the burden on a single player). We don't know either way though.
On August 08 2015 18:21 Barneyk wrote: Is there a way I can financially support the current Brood War resurgence?
I feel a bit cheap watching restreams, I would gladly pay 10$ a month for this but there isn't a way is there?
OGN is streaming SSL (besides other content) on their Twitch channel but there's still no option to subscribe to the channel. I'm hopeful that will change soon. That would probably be the easiest way to go about it. Otherwise there's really no way that I'm aware of other than picking a specific player or organization, asking for their paypal and sending them some money. Sending balloons on afreeca as a foreigner unfortunately isn't possible.
The simplest way to help atm is to give some views to anything that gets uploaded to youtube and like the organizations and players on facebook and like anything BW related they post.
The most important thing is to get OGN onboard and to broadcast the games. In previous attempts to get this going it's all been online. Players kept having timing conflicts and droping out and genrally just not taking it too seriously. Having the games in the studio with a crowd and broadcast on TV will make all the difference in my opinion. The next step is to get the sponsors onborad and to get crowd and viewing figures that tell companies it's worth investing in Broodwar again. But that will come from the games been broadcast and popular. The studio atmosphere makes such a difference.
My understanding is that only the playoffs are offline and broadcast live. That is at least an improvemenet. OGN has so much rubish and repeats, please just make space for a simple format proleague, please.
On August 08 2015 00:45 HyralGambit wrote: Hell, it's about time... again.
6 ex-pro teams... hm...
SKT1: Bisu, sSak, Larva (Best should be finishing army soon) STX: hero Last Shuttle Woongjin: ZerO free GuemChi PianO Oz: Killer HiyA (need more) CJ: EffOrt, Mong, Iris MBC + Mind? or Fox with Mind + Nada?
Kwanro can be anywhere :O
OP says no ex-progaming teams. I'm guessing none of the old teams mentioned above will be participating. The players can still participate though.
This is the only bad bit of news. How can I support all the ex SKT players if they're not on the same team?
While its always great to hear about new leagues, I can't say I'm very optimistic about this. Not to start a BW - SC2 debate or anything here, but its the truth that the BW scene doesn't have a lot, if any new blood. Most of the people who spectated SSL are people in their 30s and 40s, with very few 20's actually having a avid interest. Its almost impossible to find kids and teens around the OGN booths as well. As we all know by now via Carmac, new players are the sign of a healthy esports. However, the spectators and the current players are all pretty much an extreme minority compared to e-sports in general. Ex-pro players really don't have that many years left in them, and there isn't a huge amateur player pool to make teams in general. This will undoubtedly strengthen the existing opinion that some KR fans have begun to say, which is the games themselves are for the most part not very good (apart from when ace level ex-pros play of course). I too think that the BW scene itself is a remnant of the past; something that is really nostalgic but not quite practical enough to jump back as a major esport. With all this in mind, while this is great to see nostalgically, its quite hard to enjoy for me because it just doesn't fit in the current era of esports in general.
On August 08 2015 23:02 Orlok wrote: While its always great to hear about new leagues, I can't say I'm very optimistic about this. Not to start a BW - SC2 debate or anything here, but its the truth that the BW scene doesn't have a lot, if any new blood. Most of the people who spectated SSL are people in their 30s and 40s, with very few 20's actually having a avid interest. Its almost impossible to find kids and teens around the OGN booths as well. As we all know by now via Carmac, new players are the sign of a healthy esports. However, the spectators and the current players are all pretty much an extreme minority compared to e-sports in general. Ex-pro players really don't have that many years left in them, and there isn't a huge amateur player pool to make teams in general. This will undoubtedly strengthen the existing opinion that some KR fans have begun to say, which is the games themselves are for the most part not very good (apart from when ace level ex-pros play of course). I too think that the BW scene itself is a remnant of the past; something that is really nostalgic but not quite practical enough to jump back as a major esport. With all this in mind, while this is great to see nostalgically, its quite hard to enjoy for me because it just doesn't fit in the current era of esports in general.
They know that already and that is why if you read the OP, they are thinking about two teams with amateurs, In Korea BW is so much popular than SC2, which brings your question to the other field, SC2 can survive without Blizzard influx of money? answer not at all. You dont see the influx of big numbers of new pro players in any game btw, for me the SC scene in three years will be, foreign tournaments with 20k viewers for LOTV,, and Starleague and Proleague in Korea for BW, not with the strenght of the old days, but with a stable smaller scene.
On August 08 2015 23:02 Orlok wrote: While its always great to hear about new leagues, I can't say I'm very optimistic about this. Not to start a BW - SC2 debate or anything here, but its the truth that the BW scene doesn't have a lot, if any new blood. Most of the people who spectated SSL are people in their 30s and 40s, with very few 20's actually having a avid interest. Its almost impossible to find kids and teens around the OGN booths as well. As we all know by now via Carmac, new players are the sign of a healthy esports. However, the spectators and the current players are all pretty much an extreme minority compared to e-sports in general. Ex-pro players really don't have that many years left in them, and there isn't a huge amateur player pool to make teams in general. This will undoubtedly strengthen the existing opinion that some KR fans have begun to say, which is the games themselves are for the most part not very good (apart from when ace level ex-pros play of course). I too think that the BW scene itself is a remnant of the past; something that is really nostalgic but not quite practical enough to jump back as a major esport. With all this in mind, while this is great to see nostalgically, its quite hard to enjoy for me because it just doesn't fit in the current era of esports in general.
yeah nobody should ever ever play chess/weiqi or create tournaments because they are old games and not mainstream, thats right? we should only play hype new games and ditch old ones forever.
nobody expect BW to be big again, as long as there is a stable following, demand and playerbase like chess/weiqi it can live for as long as desired.
few of the games in ssl has reached the level of the old days? are you forgetting people dont practice this game in regimented training houses anymore? now sonic is providing such an environment for the amateurs and we can only see better improvements in gameplay from then. small step but still a start.
and most of people in the ssl audience are 30s and 40s? lol either you didnt watch or you need to check your eyesight then.
On August 08 2015 23:59 palexhur wrote: They know that already and that is why if you read the OP, they are thinking about two teams with amateurs, In Korea BW is so much popular than SC2, which brings your question to the other field, SC2 can survive without Blizzard influx of money? answer not at all. You dont see the influx of big numbers of new pro players in any game btw, for me the SC scene in three years will be, foreign tournaments with 20k viewers for LOTV,, and Starleague and Proleague in Korea for BW, not with the strenght of the old days, but with a stable smaller scene.
yeah i thought by now its pretty well known that in korea both sc2 and bw are nothing in comparison with the big LoL. sc2 is only popular in the west, nobody in korea plays sc2 for fun. i would say theres no real influx of players for sc2 either, maybe a spike when lotv release but thats about it.
On August 08 2015 23:02 Orlok wrote: While its always great to hear about new leagues, I can't say I'm very optimistic about this. Not to start a BW - SC2 debate or anything here, but its the truth that the BW scene doesn't have a lot, if any new blood. Most of the people who spectated SSL are people in their 30s and 40s, with very few 20's actually having a avid interest. Its almost impossible to find kids and teens around the OGN booths as well. As we all know by now via Carmac, new players are the sign of a healthy esports. However, the spectators and the current players are all pretty much an extreme minority compared to e-sports in general. Ex-pro players really don't have that many years left in them, and there isn't a huge amateur player pool to make teams in general. This will undoubtedly strengthen the existing opinion that some KR fans have begun to say, which is the games themselves are for the most part not very good (apart from when ace level ex-pros play of course). I too think that the BW scene itself is a remnant of the past; something that is really nostalgic but not quite practical enough to jump back as a major esport. With all this in mind, while this is great to see nostalgically, its quite hard to enjoy for me because it just doesn't fit in the current era of esports in general.
Just watch this Video and you will see how young the audience is.
On August 08 2015 23:02 Orlok wrote: While its always great to hear about new leagues, I can't say I'm very optimistic about this. Not to start a BW - SC2 debate or anything here, but its the truth that the BW scene doesn't have a lot, if any new blood. Most of the people who spectated SSL are people in their 30s and 40s, with very few 20's actually having a avid interest. Its almost impossible to find kids and teens around the OGN booths as well. As we all know by now via Carmac, new players are the sign of a healthy esports. However, the spectators and the current players are all pretty much an extreme minority compared to e-sports in general. Ex-pro players really don't have that many years left in them, and there isn't a huge amateur player pool to make teams in general. This will undoubtedly strengthen the existing opinion that some KR fans have begun to say, which is the games themselves are for the most part not very good (apart from when ace level ex-pros play of course). I too think that the BW scene itself is a remnant of the past; something that is really nostalgic but not quite practical enough to jump back as a major esport. With all this in mind, while this is great to see nostalgically, its quite hard to enjoy for me because it just doesn't fit in the current era of esports in general.
The difference is that SC2 is so bad from both a gameplay and entertainment standpoint, that it doesn't really matter whether there is new blood or not - The pro scene should be finished relatively soon, because it is not very interesting to play or watch. This was already evident in Korea during OGN's transition from BW to SC2. The BW proleagues in their final seasons had high viewership ratings, and the live events were packed - once the transition to SC2 came around, the stadiums weren't even half full, and viewership plummeted.
Ultimately viewership ratings (>>> advertising >>> sponsors) are the primary determinant of a successful Esport (or any sport). SC2 failed in this respect from the outset - certainly in Korea, while BW had high viewership ratings in the years prior to the transition, and high ratings during the current SSLs and other similar events.
Very cool update from Sonic, the Proleague is slowly being organized and OGN will be broadcasting the offline matches/playoffs. OGN will be hosting the action at Yongsan e-Sports Stadium, site of the last two SSL's
Looks like he added a note that even more news is on the way...
On August 13 2015 12:08 prech wrote: Very cool update from Sonic, the Proleague is slowly being organized and OGN will be broadcasting the offline matches/playoffs. OGN will be hosting the action at Yongsan e-Sports Stadium, site of the last two SSL's
Looks like he added a note that even more news is on the way...
How are they going to populate 6 whole ex-progamer teams though? I assume it's going to be at least Bo5? Each team at least needs 6-8 players so that's almost the entire ex-progamer population. Not all of them is going to be available for such a commitment I would imagine.
Only the later stages (semifinals, playoffs, finals) will be offline. And I'm reading that as only these stages will be broadcasted by OGN. So regular matches will likely be online and broadcasted by Sonictv.
On August 13 2015 12:48 Caihead wrote: How are they going to populate 6 whole ex-progamer teams though? I assume it's going to be at least Bo5? Each team at least needs 6-8 players so that's almost the entire ex-progamer population. Not all of them is going to be available for such a commitment I would imagine.
6x5 = 30. If they do schedule like before (last minute based on whoever is available) and use the occasional stand-in it shouldn't be that bad. Especially now that sonic doesn't have to do it himself.
On August 13 2015 19:13 lestye wrote: This sounds great! Anything for less downtime in between SSLs is fantastic!
HiyA said HungryApp season 2 was right after SSL11, no worries, unless Kongdoo is not telling us some major problems.
Ok thats good. I just remember Kongdoo Starz League and SSL10 ending around the same period, and there was a huge drought until SSL11 came up. So I'm glad to hear they're staggering tournaments better.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://puu.sh/jtbJu/fc6ab94f71.jpg)
Yongsan e-Sports Stadium
