Blizzard vs. KeSPA - Page 8

On February 22 2010 06:34 Windblade wrote:
Rage, if Artosis is a good indication, then most pro's are pro-Blizzard

On February 18 2010 14:54 Go0g3n wrote:
You got it wrong. KeSPA is a ruling agency (body) it doesn't pay anything to anybody. It's run by representative of Pro Teams and one each from OGN and MBC channels. They are the ones who will have to pay royalties for every single commercial broadcast involving StarCraft II, let alone all the sub-media that goes with it.

In US Blizzard would be entitled to a huge amount of royalties payments, in Korea it's enough to own a legal copy of the game to broadcast. Blizzard already tried to deal with relevant Korean authorities, but they were sent to "deal with KeSPA". They also tried to deal with MBC/OGN separately, failed there as well. But, and it's a big but, they can't broadcast games played over the web, i.e. on Battle.net, as it requires a completely different international license, which they won't get. Since there's no Lan - no broadcasts for now.

KeSPA answered by killing GOM. Blizzard was heavily sponsoring it, as it was getting more and more popular, probably aiming to build a platform for future SC2 broadcasts, leagues etc, they were shut down by decision of the majority KeSPA teams to not participate in GOM.

As said by artosis in a recent interview - it's a dead end with a lot of money at stake.

I covered all this in three KeSPA/Blizzard articles on GG.net

Another thing that's important is that Blizzard did absolutely nothing for StarCraft in terms of it's promotion and huge Korean and e-Sports success. They've even stopped supporting it after WC3 came out. It was KeSPA (at the time KPGA) who built the billion dollar industry of Korean StarCraft gaming and broadcasting.

On the other hand you have to realize that StarCraft broadcast is immensely profitable in Korea, be it on OGN, MBC, GOM, whatever. It costs next to nothing to create a 2+ hour broadcast that beats everything in 18-34 ratings - the most valued by advertisers. The costs are so low they can be only compared with a cheap-ass 30min/week game show, rather than 15hr/week of StarCraft broadcasts.

On February 22 2010 06:25 HeartOfTofu wrote:
(...). KeSPA is the Koren eSports PLAYERS Association. If you believe that people who play games should pay Blizzard royalties for selling the rights to watch them play, then you've got other things you need to sort out in your head...

On February 22 2010 06:36 UdderChaos wrote:


Have you not read the last 2 pages, clearly stating that actually in most examples products are used without paying royalties? Like photoshop, the microphones the casters use, the cameras, the seats, the computers, the sports equipment in NFL?

On February 22 2010 06:47 ejac wrote:

blizzard can't sell sc2 to KeSPA for $100,000 and sell it to everyone else for 50.

On February 22 2010 06:48 Windblade wrote:
here's a another example

what kespa is doing and is, would be considered illegal in the US. Now what does that say?

On February 22 2010 06:48 Windblade wrote:
here's a another example

what kespa is doing and is, would be considered illegal in the US. Now what does that say?

On February 22 2010 06:32 RageOverdose wrote:
From what I've read earlier in this thread, it's already been revealed that Blizzard attempted to do a league they sponsored through GOM and have English broadcasts, but KeSPA killed it by barring all the teams from participating, despite the fact that it was actually garnering a decent number of viewers outside of South Korea, which could lead to more and more viewers, more leagues, and finally get rid of some of that stigma that sport-like gaming has in many countries. And no one is really blaming KeSPA entirely I don't think, but they are hindering the expansion. There are other, non-KeSPA factors involved in this.

On February 22 2010 06:48 Windblade wrote:
here's a another example

what kespa is doing and is, would be considered illegal in the US. Now what does that say?

On February 22 2010 06:36 UdderChaos wrote:


Have you not read the last 2 pages, clearly stating that actually in most examples products are used without paying royalties? Like photoshop, the microphones the casters use, the cameras, the seats, the computers, the sports equipment in NFL?

That US is a shit country favoring companies and limiting freedom of normal citizens among other things .
If I was crazy I would boycott the game and choose another and keep nothing.
Lets see how greedy blizzard likes that.. Starcraft would be better without them..

On February 22 2010 07:00 Windblade wrote:
my point is the US is more fair in its laws regarding companies

no its much more fair in laws regarding property and copyrights. That is the point.

"the us is a shit country"

ok shithole, the US is the dominant country in the world, and is the only thing keeping South Korea alive. I may not agree with everything the US does, but i sure as hell know that it has no equal when it comes to liberty.


this topic is going nowhere

On February 18 2010 15:10 meegrean wrote:
Blizzard shouldn't get a cut from Kespa. I mean, Blizzard is already going to make a lot of money from the guaranteed sales anyway. The progaming scene in Korea is seriously like a huge free advertisement for Blizzard. If Blizzard wants to make additional money, they should do it their own way by making their own tournaments or something.

On February 22 2010 07:10 ejac wrote:

You are a good example why I'm occasionally embarrassed to be an American.

On February 22 2010 07:08 StalkerSC wrote:
Your on crack..and fixed a few errors.