I've written this before, but how "big" do you think is the english coverage in comparison to the korean one? this is what I don't get - I'm betting that they make about 99% their revenue from korean sources; so also providing a service for foreigners "shouldn't" be that big of a deal in the first place?

does anybody know if the korean audience has to pay the same amount for live-stream and VODs?

firalol

United States51 Posts

September 01 2010 13:11 GMT

#303

I guess this is how they plan to pay out those bigger prize pools. I don't really know how long these league things last, but it doesn't really seem worth it to me at 20$ when I can watch the American or European streams for free.

T0fuuu

Australia2275 Posts

September 01 2010 13:11 GMT

#304

well im not gonna pay for it .. the stream is laggy for me in australia and if i cant watch vods with the same fee then theres no point for me. and for all you ppl talking abt restreams and youtube. this is dan and nicks fucking jobs. have some respect.

Skvid

Lithuania751 Posts

September 01 2010 13:11 GMT

#305

Merikh

United States918 Posts

September 01 2010 13:12 GMT

#306

Poll: Will you purchase live ticket?

Definately Not (2004)

97%

Yes (70)

3%

2074 total votes

Your vote: Will you purchase live ticket?

(Vote): Yes
(Vote): Definately Not

Poll: Will you purchase vod ticket?

Definately Not (1516)

78%

If they decrease the price <$10 (376)

19%

Yes (59)

3%

1951 total votes

Your vote: Will you purchase vod ticket?

(Vote): Yes
(Vote): Definately Not
(Vote): If they decrease the price <$10

There's nothing better than voicing your opinion in a public user poll

Share your thoughts!

akomatic

156 Posts

September 01 2010 13:12 GMT

#307

I see no problem with GOMTV deciding to charge for customized, premium content. Trying to extract ad revenue from small pockets of English-speaking people around the world may have garnered approval in 2001, but since then businesses stopped relying on wishful (dumb) thinking.

That said, I'm surprised they're doing charging for the first season. Providing free English streams would explode the foreign interest in professional SC2. I wouldn't be surprised to see thousands of new viewers who have never watched an accessible, high-level gaming tournament. But since it isn't free, us few thousand regulars will just watch OGN with Korean commentators and have fun chatting about nonsensical Korean commercials.

Mikilatov

United States3897 Posts

September 01 2010 13:12 GMT

#308

What an absolute buzzkill.

I was so excited for watching these too... I'm not dropping $50 on this every season, especially when I'd only be using the VODs for the off chance I missed something live.

So much for SC2 becoming massively popular because of this, how am I supposed to introduce new people to SC2 progaming when they have to pay to watch the streams?

Whatever, I'm assuming we'll just pirate it to hell. -_-

Jukebox Joe

United Kingdom358 Posts

September 01 2010 13:12 GMT

#309

When they make 100 quid from the 5 people who actually paid to watch it they'll probably realise they've made a mistake.

I'm gutted, I was really looking forward to my first 'Tasteless' experience but that's gone down the shitter. I can understand paying £10-15 for a high quality stream, maybe even for a few quid for the standard def stream, but for the fucking VODs? Seriously? And they're only available for a month?

Who looked at this and though 'this is bulletproof'?

ziomek

Poland18 Posts

September 01 2010 13:12 GMT

#310

they are coock suckers:F

User was banned for this post.

JWD

United States12607 Posts

September 01 2010 13:13 GMT

#311

Here's my two cents: anyone whose reaction is outrage that GOM would charge us at all to watch their event is being hasty and irrational. Paying a nominal fee to watch a television event is commonplace (e.g. boxing, cable TV packages for sports), and if we are serious about SC2 becoming a major business venture with glamorous high-prize-pool tourneys then we also have to get serious about the possibility of paying to watch the action.

All that said, Gretech, I think your pricing and pricing scheme are not reasonable.

We the fans have no assurance that your premium stream or VOD service will be reliable (whether it will crap out like streams you have offered in the past).
You seem to be punishing those of us who happen not to be able to watch the live stream (for time zone reasons, whatever) by making VODs more expensive than the live stream. That seems cruel and unfair.
You have frustrated all of us eager fans and viewers by only announcing this pricing scheme three days before the start of the tournament. Now we feel cheated; a tournament that we expected to be able to enjoy only at the cost of watching ads (like the GOM Classic) is now unavailable unless we're willing to fork over. We followed GSL and drooled over the bracket in anticipation of a free stream.
Most importantly, your prices are high. Keep in mind that your premium service is unproven and has a fairly bad reputation after the GOM Classic series, and that we all suspect that even if we pay $50 to watch your league we will still have to contend with advertisements on your stream. You are not established like UFC. Your league is fledgling and it would really benefit from all of the viewership it can get! To that end you should strongly consider lowering your prices.

FlashIsHigh

United States474 Posts

September 01 2010 13:14 GMT

#312

This is crazy, I actually dont understand how they are having Artosis cast the tournament since he is playing in the RO64 lol. Im guessing they are not expecting him to go far, either way it seems ridiculous that a player is also casting the GSL....... I don't see why we have to pay to watch, I cant even afford to buy the game lol, but like others have said there are other tournaments and they are with people I actually know. Sad day in SC2 history

Nerd2k9

Germany16 Posts

September 01 2010 13:17 GMT

#313

GSL is dead

RainWhisper

United Arab Emirates333 Posts

September 01 2010 13:18 GMT

#314

Son, i am dissapoint.

TheDoK666

France179 Posts

September 01 2010 13:18 GMT

#315

guyz , just put back your broodwar ... SC2 will not go through with those atitudes ....

infinity2k9

United Kingdom2397 Posts

September 01 2010 13:19 GMT

#316

On September 01 2010 21:21 Terrakin wrote:
I don't see why 20$ is such a big deal..

Because the OSL/MSL/Proleague is free, you can even turn up and watch the games for free... and this is amateur players even.

Edit: It's clear eSports should be NON-PROFIT. This is the only way its sustainable.

Milkis

5003 Posts

September 01 2010 13:20 GMT

#317

On September 01 2010 22:18 TheDoK666 wrote:
guyz , just put back your broodwar ... SC2 will not go through with those atitudes ....

what broodwar, Gretech killed that too.

Alphaes

United States651 Posts

September 01 2010 13:22 GMT

#318

On September 01 2010 22:00 sleepingdog wrote:
I've studied economics and even from an economic point of view this makes no sense whatsoever - people intuitively have come to the correct conclusion already:

it is proven through research that a new brand has to be "established" somehow; newspapers for example are very often given out for free the first couple of weeks; then when there is an audience who is convinced that the quality is good, they charge; BUT also the advertisements get higher

with GOMTV and starcraft 2 it's exactly the same; nobody really knows how good the quality will be, if the stream will lag, if the matches will start on time, if there will be any problems; in order to gain a considerable audience it is nearly inevitable to provide a low-quality free-stream for the first event; I for instance didn't pay for IEM-HD but will definitely the next time; because the event was great and from the next time on I will gladly contribute;

if GOMTV had provided free streaming for the first season, then they would have had the possibility to attract bigger companies for advertising and furthermore could've calculated the price much more precisely; as it is right now there is not much that justifies this approach from an economic point of view....

Agreed. It's a very poor marketing choice for them to charge an emergent audience such a high amount for what is a mostly unproven service. They really should've focused on trying to entice and expand their audience for the first season or so before they decide to go the full-revenue option (like yourself, I wasn't too sure about the IEM event, but the getting a taste of the content from the free stream has made me want to purchase the HD stream next time).
It's quite sad to see GSL broadcasting trip-up so badly before it even got started... I only hope the poor results will show how wrong they were in their approach and that they'll adjust accordingly.