On March 23 2011 10:11 Layden wrote: The IGN network is the biggest conglomeration of video game websites. They have higher access to legitimate advertising and will 9hopefully) put this proleague in front of potentially hundreds of thousands of gamers, many of whom have never seen a pro caliber match before.
This might be the best thing for Starcraft as an e-Sport; better than TV coverage even. If you think about it pushing it on mainstream television consumers will result in low chance of success. But, by putting it in a bigger market of gamers (console, PC, handheld, etc.) there is a much bigger chance of success. Advertising can be niche specific. This is a win for the community. The only thing better that I could think of is putting matches on the Xbox Live Network.
What you say about TV is very, very true, and something that mindless "lets go mainstream" people seem to overlook. I still hold plenty of reservations about this whole thing though.
Well, as long as the BW scene doesn't get shut down, we'll always have that, even if this whole mainstream thing ends up being bad in the long run, right?
Don't get me wrong, I'm always up to watch some casted pro-level starcraft, but this is starting to get a little ridiculous. Two major north american leagues announced in such a short time period (plus mlg). Alot of people love basketball, but there is only one NBA. Hopefully neither league fails, but I can't foresee sustainable growth for both the NASL and IPL, while the GSL retains alot of the top talent.
To the point, if two major north american leagues attempt to exist simultaneously, one will most likely fail. Hopefully, the divided viewer base doesn't cause both to fail.
This is fantastic news! A tournament run by a mainstream gaming outlet like IGN is the next step towards getting it on western TV. If it's a success, there's an easy link to getting it broadcasted on TV by one of news corps channels.
On March 23 2011 10:25 iMeriX wrote: Don't get me wrong, I'm always up to watch some casted pro-level starcraft, but this is starting to get a little ridiculous. Two major north american leagues announced in such a short time period (plus mlg). Alot of people love basketball, but there is only one NBA. Hopefully neither league fails, but I can't foresee sustainable growth for both the NASL and IPL, while the GSL retains alot of the top talent.
To the point, if two major north american leagues attempt to exist simultaneously, one will most likely fail. Hopefully, the divided viewer base doesn't cause both to fail.
There are many major soccer leagues in Europe. I'm not saying we're at that level, just that it's possible!
Also, there is only one NBA in part because they've monopolized the industry, not simply because there's room for only one basketball league.
this is a great news! but i am not sure how proleague will work out... if its like GSTL or BW where teams all gather its going to be great but i have hard times seeing all the eu team moving in to america for number of months just to have a chance of winning and without eu teams its not going to be that competitive for western teams, but if its online i see it working however online means no drama and thats not really that exciting
just my piece of thought on all this i hope it will explode esports nevertheless
Hopefully all these north american tournaments will encourage more people to game more seriously, and the top talents will start coming from NA/Europe, and just around the world in general instead of just mainly Korea. This has be tempted to play a little more seriously
On March 23 2011 10:25 iMeriX wrote: Don't get me wrong, I'm always up to watch some casted pro-level starcraft, but this is starting to get a little ridiculous. Two major north american leagues announced in such a short time period (plus mlg). Alot of people love basketball, but there is only one NBA. Hopefully neither league fails, but I can't foresee sustainable growth for both the NASL and IPL, while the GSL retains alot of the top talent.
To the point, if two major north american leagues attempt to exist simultaneously, one will most likely fail. Hopefully, the divided viewer base doesn't cause both to fail.
There are many major soccer leagues in Europe. I'm not saying we're at that level, just that it's possible!
Also, there is only one NBA in part because they've monopolized the industry, not simply because there's room for only one basketball league.
There is only one main football league in each country. Remember, Europe = continent.
Too much money in the system is a good thing for everyone else for a few reasons:
1) It will be vastly more profitable (and less risky) for pro players to take shots since there is a lot more prize money to go after. Take TT1 for example, he is the highest earning NA pro who hasn't competed in Korea, and he has only about $9,500 in prize money in 9 months of competition. It's possible that the top 10 NA players (or top 10 players who compete in NA) can earn about $25k-$30k each. Outside of halo this type of money hasn't been seen since the CPL used to give the top team $100k once every quarter, and the CPL only had a few corporate patrons.
2) Pros will likely pass on low buy-in tournaments, leaving a niche for '2nd tier' players to make a mark and earn some coin.
3) Money begets more money. This is the beginning of the snowball. The IGN league will simultaneousness promote every other league by simply putting SC2 eSports in front of a bigger audience. IEM, MLG, and even GSL will experience growth in viewership, this I have no doubt.
On March 23 2011 10:27 TicketoHELL wrote: this is a great news! but i am not sure how proleague will work out... if its like GSTL or BW where teams all gather its going to be great but i have hard times seeing all the eu team moving in to america for number of months just to have a chance of winning and without eu teams its not going to be that competitive for western teams, but if its online i see it working however online means no drama and thats not really that exciting
just my piece of thought on all this i hope it will explode esports nevertheless
yea its like a catch 22 dilema, it would be great if it was offline, but you cant see players moving for that, so it will probably be online, wich takes all the drama out of teamleague. maybe thats not a catch 22 but w/e lol
Either way i know the production quality will be off the hook and if it is 150-200k per season (monthly or something) then thats huge and i could maybe see teams moving for it, ugh i totally understand why korea's pro scene is so succesful now, their logistics allow them to have offline tournaments that last a month, wich is 10x more exciting then offline tournaments its really annoying actually i want the same thing for the NA. If only it was as big as real sports and players could fly in and out to all the tournaments all over the world =(
Depending on the schedule I think you will see teams partition thier players into certain leagues, or leagues will start to have rules about players transacting with other leagues. This is good because it will create a larger pool of professional players.
On March 23 2011 10:25 iMeriX wrote: Don't get me wrong, I'm always up to watch some casted pro-level starcraft, but this is starting to get a little ridiculous. Two major north american leagues announced in such a short time period (plus mlg). Alot of people love basketball, but there is only one NBA. Hopefully neither league fails, but I can't foresee sustainable growth for both the NASL and IPL, while the GSL retains alot of the top talent.
To the point, if two major north american leagues attempt to exist simultaneously, one will most likely fail. Hopefully, the divided viewer base doesn't cause both to fail.
There are many major soccer leagues in Europe. I'm not saying we're at that level, just that it's possible!
Also, there is only one NBA in part because they've monopolized the industry, not simply because there's room for only one basketball league.
There is only one main football league in each country. Remember, Europe = continent.
Also a player can't play in two diff soccer leagues at the same time. The NA sc2 leagues will need to draw from the same pool of players.
Also you can have more than one basketball league in the US, but only 1 will have the best players. Basketball has the nba development league as their minor league, while the NHL has the AHL as their minor league and MLB has AAA as their minor league. So it's not really anything to do with the NBA having a monopoly, but the fact that you can only have 1 league with the best players because unlike sc2, a player can't play in 2 diff leagues at the same time.
Well this is good in many ways including more viewers and more opportunities for teams to sustain themselves from tournaments... but it is also bad that while so many tournaments are trying to take off and be successful, there are so many other competing tournaments.
I am by no means disappointed, but I personally have trouble watching the limitless amounts of tournaments as is... I hope this doesn't spread viewers too thin, even if they do introduce many new ones. Of course if enough avid viewers are introduced then it will only help the situation, but that may not be the case.
EPT
