Just recently, Blizzard, the most famous game company who made such classics a Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo, announced that they are partnering up with GomTV and sponsoring their current league, TG Sambo - Intel Classic Season 3, as well as a WoW and Warcraft 3 league.
Blizzard is giving 50 million won toward the TG Sambo - Intel Classic Season 3 Starcraft league, and the winner will also be awarded a spot in this years BlizzCon event.
On June 10th, the WoW tournament sponsored by Microsoft and its new product the Sidewinder, will be having a league, also sponsored by Blizzard with 50 million won.
There’s currently a Warcraft 3 event going on at GomTV that you might know about already, it’s being commentated by former Warcraft 3 stars ToD and Rotterdam. Blizzard is sponsoring 10 million won toward this event.
Super Daniel Man either said outright, or was hinting at the fact that Blizzard and GOM TV were now working together, so I guess it's official now.
GOM TV has been doing an amazing job so far, I've yet to pick up their premium service only on the basis that SC graphics really don't require a 600k stream, if SC2 is picked up and broadcasted it's something I will definitely look into.
On June 18 2009 00:44 FortuneSyn wrote: 40k dollars? its a small step at least.
It is a sponsor, being they give you 40k dollars for putting their logo on everything. They aren't buying the other company. It is quite a step, in my opinion.
This is amazing news. It shows Blizzard isnt interested in 'taking over' the E-Sports scene, rather, they want to support the company they see best fit to bring Starcraft to much of the world, and that is easily GOM.
No other SC company has the dedication GOM does to making SC popular around the world. Hell, look at all the fan sites, they all mostly talk about GOM.
I cant wait to see what they do in the future, this is something to be very excited about
On June 18 2009 01:02 broz0rs wrote: no wonder KESPA refuses to work with GOM. They get a premier sponsor, and a direct ticket to the U.S/European audience.
Definiately a smart business move for both Blizzard and GOMtv. Kespa needs to stop being a baby and back up gom 100%. They don't realize that Gom is bringing e-sports to a much bigger audience.
On June 18 2009 00:29 Trozz wrote: Blizzard is giving 50 million won toward the TG Sambo - Intel Classic Season 3 Starcraft league, and the winner will also be awarded a spot in this years BlizzCon event.
fukkk ya!! Flash mother fucking better win. i guess either bisu/jd/flash will do. Effort or Violet is alright also but i dont see them winning.
I think this is further proof that Blizzard is looking to get a jump start on e-sports. I really dont think they would invest this much money into a tournament without plans of much grander things...
On June 18 2009 02:11 HuskyTheHusky wrote: I think this is further proof that Blizzard is looking to get a jump start on e-sports. I really dont think they would invest this much money into a tournament without plans of much grander things...
This is exactly what I was thinking, Blizzards first step into total domination, probably fees/licenses if you want to broadcast or hold televised leagues for SC2 (but I guess why wouldn't they? They are a business afterall)
On June 18 2009 02:11 HuskyTheHusky wrote: I think this is further proof that Blizzard is looking to get a jump start on e-sports. I really dont think they would invest this much money into a tournament without plans of much grander things...
Likely very correct with this, I think Blizzard is going to top the season WC3 tournaments with something like this for SC2, I'm quite excited to see what they do
i think what should be taken into consideration is that this partnership makes sense because GOM has existing infrastructure to accessible e-sports for western speaking countries. For less than six figures, Blizzard gets an exclusive partnership with an exciting company that not only has a great esports program, but has an excellent English broadcast. If Blizzard were to develop their own esports broadcast, it would take millions in startup costs. I've also thought of the possibility that they partner with Youtube, but then again, it would also take a lot of money to get it off the ground. This is a clear signal that Blizzard is going to establish esports in the U.S and Europe.
As for GOM, I really felt they were established with the premise that they would provide esports with English language coverage. The Blizzard exclusivity is huge for this company. I'm almost positive GOM is going to provide additional content now. This is a total win-win for both companies. A huge blow for KESPA.
On June 18 2009 00:49 Kennigit wrote: wowow! i have no underlying meaning when i say this is really good for esports!
Actually... is it? My understanding is that broadcasting starleagues the way OGN and MBC had been doing is actualy slightly illegal, and they just got away with it because Blizzard ignores them. If Blizzard decides that e-sports is profitable, they could theoretically make the starleagues shut down.
On June 18 2009 00:49 Kennigit wrote: wowow! i have no underlying meaning when i say this is really good for esports!
Actually... is it? My understanding is that broadcasting starleagues the way OGN and MBC had been doing is actualy slightly illegal, and they just got away with it because Blizzard ignores them. If Blizzard decides that e-sports is profitable, they could theoretically make the starleagues shut down.
you nuts? of course blizzard won't shut them down. its SC (they are a huge reason why sc is still around). blizzard might put stops on them broadcasting sc2... but i doubt that.
more likely blizzard will try to partnerup/buy them out to increase their advantage.
Keep in mind Blizzard has a very strong reputation in every single one of their games. They really have never done any 'dick moves' against anyone trying to broadcast their games. Its essentially free marketing. I mean, MLG does a ton of WoW tournaments without Blizzard breathing down their throat with tons of fees and stuff like that...
I trust in Blizzard, they have never let me down and I dont think they will when they start pumping massive (I HOPE) amounts of money into E-Sports.
edit: They also allow iccup to run... which directly takes users off of Battle.net. I would trust in Blizzard :D
On June 18 2009 00:49 Kennigit wrote: wowow! i have no underlying meaning when i say this is really good for esports!
Actually... is it? My understanding is that broadcasting starleagues the way OGN and MBC had been doing is actualy slightly illegal, and they just got away with it because Blizzard ignores them. If Blizzard decides that e-sports is profitable, they could theoretically make the starleagues shut down.
you nuts? of course blizzard won't shut them down. its SC (they are a huge reason why sc is still around). blizzard might put stops on them broadcasting sc2... but i doubt that.
more likely blizzard will try to partnerup/buy them out to increase their advantage.
Companies usually don't like it when another company is making money off their product and not giving them anything. Especially now that they're officially sponsoring GOM, which makes OGN, MBC, etc the "unofficial" companies. My guess is that Blizzard will start charging them royalties.
On June 18 2009 04:02 HuskyTheHusky wrote: Keep in mind Blizzard has a very strong reputation in every single one of their games. They really have never done any 'dick moves' against anyone trying to broadcast their games. Its essentially free marketing. I mean, MLG does a ton of WoW tournaments without Blizzard breathing down their throat with tons of fees and stuff like that...
I trust in Blizzard, they have never let me down and I dont think they will when they start pumping massive (I HOPE) amounts of money into E-Sports.
edit: They also allow iccup to run... which directly takes users off of Battle.net. I would trust in Blizzard :D
Um, didn't they shut down BnetX and the other ladders?
On June 18 2009 00:49 Kennigit wrote: wowow! i have no underlying meaning when i say this is really good for esports!
Actually... is it? My understanding is that broadcasting starleagues the way OGN and MBC had been doing is actualy slightly illegal, and they just got away with it because Blizzard ignores them. If Blizzard decides that e-sports is profitable, they could theoretically make the starleagues shut down.
you nuts? of course blizzard won't shut them down. its SC (they are a huge reason why sc is still around). blizzard might put stops on them broadcasting sc2... but i doubt that.
more likely blizzard will try to partnerup/buy them out to increase their advantage.
Companies usually don't like it when another company is making money off their product and not giving them anything. Especially now that they're officially sponsoring GOM, which makes OGN, MBC, etc the "unofficial" companies. My guess is that Blizzard will start charging them royalties.
Blizzard hasn't been getting anything out of MBC/OGN this whole time?
This is actually very good sign for upcoming SC2 transition. I can imagine GOM being the first TV with SC2 starleague (I'm pretty sure it's in Blizzard hands) then it would gain a lot of prestige.
On June 18 2009 04:36 ondik wrote: This is actually very good sign for upcoming SC2 transition. I can imagine GOM being the first TV with SC2 starleague (I'm pretty sure it's in Blizzard hands) then it would gain a lot of prestige.
I don't know, if GOM really gets the first TV broadcasted SC2 tournament I'm afraid kespa will start cockblocking GOM even harder. Can you imagine it, bisu/fantasy/best/whoever wanting to try out SC2 but being unable to do so because kespa won't let SKT play in GOM? Scary thought man.
On June 18 2009 04:36 ondik wrote: This is actually very good sign for upcoming SC2 transition. I can imagine GOM being the first TV with SC2 starleague (I'm pretty sure it's in Blizzard hands) then it would gain a lot of prestige.
I don't know, if GOM really gets the first TV broadcasted SC2 tournament I'm afraid kespa will start cockblocking GOM even harder. Can you imagine it, bisu/fantasy/best/whoever wanting to try out SC2 but being unable to do so because kespa won't let SKT play in GOM? Scary thought man.
That would be the end of Kespa if they tried something like that. Though, iirc Kespa didn't "forbid" SKT from playing in GOM. It was SKT's decision right?
And besides, I doubt lauching an SC2 tournament a month before the competition would have that much of an impact. The whole tournament system is in place in Korea, but SC2 isn't. That means there will still be inbalances and perhaps even new rules to implement because of possible bugs. If they all jump in at the exact same time they'll all make the same mistakes.
Also, why is everyone comparing Blizzard to Kespa? Kespa is an association which is called upon as an official to organize/sanction tournaments and stuff right? (btw I can't believe there isn't a wiki page for kespa^^, otherwise I wouldn't be asking this dumb question). And in regards to GOM, blizzard is only a sponsor. They won't have any control over organization and stuff. And they don't own the rights to broadcast either. GOM handles that...
Correct me if I'm mistaken, Kespa's exact job and limitations have always been a been vague to me.
On June 18 2009 00:49 Kennigit wrote: wowow! i have no underlying meaning when i say this is really good for esports!
Actually... is it? My understanding is that broadcasting starleagues the way OGN and MBC had been doing is actualy slightly illegal, and they just got away with it because Blizzard ignores them. If Blizzard decides that e-sports is profitable, they could theoretically make the starleagues shut down.
you nuts? of course blizzard won't shut them down. its SC (they are a huge reason why sc is still around). blizzard might put stops on them broadcasting sc2... but i doubt that.
more likely blizzard will try to partnerup/buy them out to increase their advantage.
Companies usually don't like it when another company is making money off their product and not giving them anything. Especially now that they're officially sponsoring GOM, which makes OGN, MBC, etc the "unofficial" companies. My guess is that Blizzard will start charging them royalties.
Blizzard has known about these Starleagues for years. Pretty sure as long as upper management doesn't change, aka Pardo, they're not going to start charging royalties. If anything they'd just ask for their logo here and there.
Only thing that would happen if Blizzard asked for royalties is OGN/MBC studios would start charging admission - I guess the real question is, are people ready to start paying for seats to watch SC.
On June 18 2009 04:36 ondik wrote: This is actually very good sign for upcoming SC2 transition. I can imagine GOM being the first TV with SC2 starleague (I'm pretty sure it's in Blizzard hands) then it would gain a lot of prestige.
I don't know, if GOM really gets the first TV broadcasted SC2 tournament I'm afraid kespa will start cockblocking GOM even harder. Can you imagine it, bisu/fantasy/best/whoever wanting to try out SC2 but being unable to do so because kespa won't let SKT play in GOM? Scary thought man.
That would be the end of Kespa if they tried something like that. Though, iirc Kespa didn't "forbid" SKT from playing in GOM. It was SKT's decision right?
The CEO of Kespa and the President of SKT are the same guy according to SDM in his talk in Mumbo Jumbo.
This is an awesome move by Blizzard. Looking forward and setting up their esports scene even better. Thumbs up blizzard and thumbs down kespa
WTF with these talks about shutting down leagues lol. Of course that they ARE profitable to Blizzard - what makes SC so popular? Ask random non-sc-gamer about SC and you get answer like "Oh is it this game which has like cult of followers in Korea with games being shown on TV?". It makes SC popular => brings more profits to Blizzard by making more people buying SC.
Plus i'm quite certain that this move was supposed to get more hype for SC2.
This is really great news. I think SC2 is the first major game that has specifically included the aspect of professional gaming into the development of the game. Consequently they are now tapping into this e-sport market with a partner - Gretech - to facilitate the a smooth transition from SC:BW to SC2. I mean, the strength of BW could potentially be a barrier to the acceptance of SC2. So, I am glad that Blizzard takes the initiative and does not simply wait on what will happen in the lead country of professional gaming.
On June 18 2009 00:49 Kennigit wrote: wowow! i have no underlying meaning when i say this is really good for esports!
Actually... is it? My understanding is that broadcasting starleagues the way OGN and MBC had been doing is actualy slightly illegal, and they just got away with it because Blizzard ignores them. If Blizzard decides that e-sports is profitable, they could theoretically make the starleagues shut down.
you nuts? of course blizzard won't shut them down. its SC (they are a huge reason why sc is still around). blizzard might put stops on them broadcasting sc2... but i doubt that.
more likely blizzard will try to partnerup/buy them out to increase their advantage.
Companies usually don't like it when another company is making money off their product and not giving them anything. Especially now that they're officially sponsoring GOM, which makes OGN, MBC, etc the "unofficial" companies. My guess is that Blizzard will start charging them royalties.
Blizzard has known about these Starleagues for years. Pretty sure as long as upper management doesn't change, aka Pardo, they're not going to start charging royalties. If anything they'd just ask for their logo here and there.
Only thing that would happen if Blizzard asked for royalties is OGN/MBC studios would start charging admission - I guess the real question is, are people ready to start paying for seats to watch SC.
Not true! There was one final, I think the very first, where they charged admission and basically no one showed up. They realized their mistake and now its free foreva~!
On June 18 2009 00:49 Kennigit wrote: wowow! i have no underlying meaning when i say this is really good for esports!
Actually... is it? My understanding is that broadcasting starleagues the way OGN and MBC had been doing is actualy slightly illegal, and they just got away with it because Blizzard ignores them. If Blizzard decides that e-sports is profitable, they could theoretically make the starleagues shut down.
you nuts? of course blizzard won't shut them down. its SC (they are a huge reason why sc is still around). blizzard might put stops on them broadcasting sc2... but i doubt that.
more likely blizzard will try to partnerup/buy them out to increase their advantage.
Companies usually don't like it when another company is making money off their product and not giving them anything. Especially now that they're officially sponsoring GOM, which makes OGN, MBC, etc the "unofficial" companies. My guess is that Blizzard will start charging them royalties.
Blizzard hasn't been getting anything out of MBC/OGN this whole time?
Well starcraft sold about a billion copies in korea, thats already something.
I'm still a bit skeptical about this, cause I do think its quite possible that they are gonna try to charge mbc/ogn for Starcraft 2 broadcasts. I don't want them to take over everything, and I mean OSL >> Averatec-Intel GOM imho
But as long as they remember that they're already filthy rich anyways and not only think about themselves but also about the esports fans this could be a pretty good thing
On June 18 2009 09:48 Ronald_McD wrote: This is going to piss KESPA off, wouldn't you think? If I were them I'd be jealous of Gom getting sponsored by Blizz
On June 18 2009 09:48 Ronald_McD wrote: This is going to piss KESPA off, wouldn't you think? If I were them I'd be jealous of Gom getting sponsored by Blizz
This is like the new kid on the block suddenly getting befriended by the coolest kid in school, and making all the other popular kids jealous. I likes.
But really, what exactly are they gonna do with this? Have there been any official info yet? Are they gonna increase the prize pool? New features? Remove premium? Are are they simply gonna do like that British bank did and just pay a bonus for the major share holders? (or whatever you call those in english >< )
Anyway, what matters the most is that Blizzard is getting involved in the right thing...
On June 18 2009 10:11 EvilTeletubby wrote: This is like the new kid on the block suddenly getting befriended by the coolest kid in school, and making all the other popular kids jealous. I likes.
Rofl so true..
As usual I looked at the SC2 forum section first but this news is better than anything I could have read there, including beta tomorrow.
On June 18 2009 11:51 ReS wrote: What a GREAT move by the Blizzard player. This sponsorship is inflicting TERRIBLE TERRIBLE damage on the Kespa player.
On June 18 2009 09:48 Ronald_McD wrote: This is going to piss KESPA off, wouldn't you think? If I were them I'd be jealous of Gom getting sponsored by Blizz
Yeah but what is Kespa going to do about it, lol.
Make more dumb rules about player conduct.
As long as GOM isn't sanctioned by Kespa or whatever they should relax the rules. Allow in game chat or something fun. Ceremonies for sure.
They should establish a Blizzard team to compete in ProLeague! With Blizzard exclusive uniforms and training advice from Blizzard engineers (game designers or balance maker).
On June 18 2009 06:52 Kaniol wrote: WTF with these talks about shutting down leagues lol. Of course that they ARE profitable to Blizzard - what makes SC so popular?
The leagues really aren't profitable for Blizzard. They're good marketing- but not profitable. They're leaving a lot of money on the table there actually, which was rather good of them.
Although maybe they get a cut of the Starcraft-branded merchandising? Would be weird if they didn't.
On June 18 2009 06:52 Kaniol wrote: WTF with these talks about shutting down leagues lol. Of course that they ARE profitable to Blizzard - what makes SC so popular?
The leagues really aren't profitable for Blizzard. They're good marketing- but not profitable. They're leaving a lot of money on the table there actually, which was rather good of them.
They are profitable becouse it leads to more sells for blizzard products. If they would take money from progaming then they would make it smaller, and they reputation would be worse.
On June 18 2009 06:52 Kaniol wrote: WTF with these talks about shutting down leagues lol. Of course that they ARE profitable to Blizzard - what makes SC so popular?
The leagues really aren't profitable for Blizzard. They're good marketing- but not profitable. They're leaving a lot of money on the table there actually, which was rather good of them.
They are profitable becouse it leads to more sells for blizzard products.
How does it lead to more sales for Blizzard products? Also, it would be way more profitable if they charged a fee and allowed the leagues to exist then.
As it stands the leagues have some indirect benefits for Blizzard. But no direct profitability.
On June 18 2009 18:42 Polis wrote: If they would take money from progaming then they would make it smaller, and they reputation would be worse.
Gom is actually much better than the OSL/MSL. If you don't look at things like *prestige* and Kespa sponsored teams being a bitch (SKT1 and so on, a reason more to not like them):
Gom has so much stuff running for it:
Pure BO3 from the beginning, not some strange preliminaries and over 2 days stretched BO3's. HUGE player field , not some preliminaries that never air. For Europeans nice time to watch live (Sunday Morning ~10.30 or something like that). Video database, 3 days later but who cares? These are 4 BO3's every weak (8 BO3's in the beginning)... That’s better than Proleague. English site navigation, ok livestreamquality even whiteout premium. English commentary.
The whole Gom-Toruney is like the endstages of the MSL/OSL when it comes to the format.
On June 18 2009 19:09 Velr wrote: Gom is actually much better than the OSL/MSL. If you don't look at things like *prestige* and Kespa sponsored teams being a bitch (SKT1 and so on, a reason more to not like them):
Gom has so much stuff running for it:
Pure BO3 from the beginning, not some strange preliminaries and over 2 days stretched BO3's. HUGE player field , not some preliminaries that never air. For Europeans nice time to watch live (Sunday Morning ~10.30 or something like that). Video database, 3 days later but who cares? These are 4 BO3's every weak (8 BO3's in the beginning)... That’s better than Proleague. English site navigation, ok livestreamquality even whiteout premium. English commentary.
The whole Gom-Toruney is like the endstages of the MSL/OSL when it comes to the format.
GOM > rest.
This man speaks the truth. This is how tournaments should be ran (Imagine if they had a losers bracket... that would be so ballsy epic... though it would take FOREVER.)
This is actually a smart move by Blizzard. Out of all the Korean broadcasting companies, GOM TV has shown the most interest in the audiences outside Korea. As such, they make for an excellent strategic partner in expanding the e-Sports scenes of Blizzard games.
Having said that, I hope GOM and KeSPA can come to terms.
On June 18 2009 04:02 HuskyTheHusky wrote: Keep in mind Blizzard has a very strong reputation in every single one of their games. They really have never done any 'dick moves' against anyone trying to broadcast their games. Its essentially free marketing. I mean, MLG does a ton of WoW tournaments without Blizzard breathing down their throat with tons of fees and stuff like that...
I trust in Blizzard, they have never let me down and I dont think they will when they start pumping massive (I HOPE) amounts of money into E-Sports.
edit: They also allow iccup to run... which directly takes users off of Battle.net. I would trust in Blizzard :D
Um, didn't they shut down BnetX and the other ladders?
I think they only closed servers who charged something to play or tried to get money from it.
On June 20 2009 00:36 Tom Phoenix wrote: Having said that, I hope GOM and KeSPA can come to terms.
Only if KeSPA stop being prudes and dogmatic morons, just let the gamers play while keeping crazy stuff away, apparently that's too much to ask of them at the current time.
As someone fairly new to GOM and pro starcraft, but a veteran blizzard fan, I'm really excited about the opportunities for blizz and GOM to partner in bringing high quality E-sports to a lot of blizzard fans in english speaking countries. And I'm not saying this from the standpoint of GOM, I think it's an excellent move for the layman gamer who has not gotten a chance to see really good pro gaming matches before.
Random Thoughts: Artosis, Tasteless, and Chill are all good.
And: Kespa serves no purpose that couldn't be served by a better run organization that actually had the players best interests in mind instead of the interests of their corporate sponsers only. Sure there is a lot of overlap, both want an esport that demonstrates a lot of interest. But other than that it seems that Kespa does virtually nothing for the players.
Then again I have no real "inside" information on this or anything. Maybe someone in the know could shed some light.
If DJWheat takes up the time to learn some of the basics of Starcraft, I think he would be the best play-by-play caster, period. The guy is SO GOOD, but his strengths are in FPS like CS and Quake, and his weakness is RTS games.
wow how did I miss this? And I gotta agree with GTR. I do find it strange many people don't enjoy DJWheat, the guy is a very good shoutcaster he just doesn't know too much about Starcraft thats all.
Yay for blizzard gomtv! One step further into the esport scene is always great!
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.fomos.kr/board/issue/1245117572_1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img.badassbuddy.com/buddies/96x96/badassbuddy_com-koolaid.gif)
Blizzard did create an eSports team to support the competitive community and engage current leagues and media companies.
![[image loading]](http://mob201.photobucket.com/albums/aa52/lolercoptor/fuuu.png)
