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[D] GSL Stream/Vod Pricing - Will you buy? - Page 6

Forum Index > SC2 General
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t00ey
Profile Joined January 2010
Canada57 Posts
September 01 2010 16:16 GMT
#101
Wow way to ruin a good thing... I was really looking forward to this but I can't afford those prices.
Clipped
Profile Joined August 2010
France122 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-01 16:21:52
September 01 2010 16:18 GMT
#102
On September 02 2010 01:12 smileyyy wrote:Well if they can sell some shity ponny for 25 or some stupid mappack for 15$.
You can download starcraft 2 for free on BNET. That's 7GB per download (and I downloaded it twice). Not everything that is related to Blizzard in some way is their responsibility.
piegasm
Profile Joined August 2010
United States266 Posts
September 01 2010 16:18 GMT
#103
On September 02 2010 00:55 vyyye wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 02 2010 00:51 piegasm wrote:
On September 02 2010 00:47 ltortoise wrote:
On September 02 2010 00:44 drgoats wrote:
I watch football for free

I want you to take a second and step outside your house and go up to your mailbox. Inside you may find some mail and possibly find some bills. One of those bills may be from your cable tv provider. Open it up and let me know if they are charging you anything for using their services.



What? This argument doesn't make sense at all. I pay a bill for my internet connection as well, you realize.

Football broadcasters make the VAST MAJORITY of their money through advertising. Not subscription fees.


It means you don't watch football for free, yo. You watch it for the cost of your hardware + cable bill + whatever portion of your electricity bill goes to powering your TV.

Clothes aren't free to have, even if you get them for free from a mate. You have to wash them, which uses water/electricity..
Yeah, I can make ridiculous comparisons too. If I watch the world cup in football I don't pay a subscription, that was the initial argument.

I don't think you can compare SC2 to football though, they're just.. in different leagues. On the other hand we're not paying to watch any other tournament in the west (unless you pay for the HQ version), why do we have to pay for GOM?


It's not a ridiculous comparison. If whatever thing you want to watch is not televised on a channel that's part of your normal plan, you do indeed have to pay an extra subscription for it. At least that's the way cable TV works everywhere I've lived in the US. I'm a huge tennis fan but tennis isn't very popular in the US. If I want to watch anything but the major tournaments I have to pay an extra $3-ish dollars a month to get The Tennis Channel.

Live Starcraft 2 coverage is not provided in the cost of your internet just as pay-per-view movies or premium channels aren't provided in a basic cable TV plan.

BeMannerDuPenner
Profile Blog Joined April 2004
Germany5638 Posts
September 01 2010 16:22 GMT
#104
On September 02 2010 01:15 Pezo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 02 2010 01:06 Chill wrote:
For whatever reason, I feel way more likely to buy an HQ stream if there is a free LQ stream. It feels moreso like an upgrade and in a sense a donation to support something you like.

Having to straight up pay for a stream is a sure way to make sure I (and evidently about 600 other people right now) won't pay.


I wish there was a Weapon of Choice this week.. There's a lot of drama etc atm, it would of be interesting to discuss. I completely agree with what your said and i feel that they would make more money by doing what MLG and ESL does atm


yeah it creates a totally different mindset.


been watching lotsa esl and currently considering to get a premium acc. not because im unhappy with the freestream quality (i really dont care much) but because i like what they are doing and want to support them.


but in this situation i happily show gom the finger and watch the games for free on youtube,restreams,torrents or the free korean version. or just read up the matchreports im sure someone will do. and ill feel good about it.


life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
drgoats
Profile Joined March 2010
United States310 Posts
September 01 2010 16:22 GMT
#105
On September 02 2010 00:57 illmanic wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 02 2010 00:44 drgoats wrote:
I watch football for free

I want you to take a second and step outside your house and go up to your mailbox. Inside you may find some mail and possibly find some bills. One of those bills may be from your cable tv provider. Open it up and let me know if they are charging you anything for using their services.

On the issue at hand. Considering the demographics of the people playing this game, especially the ones who may be interested in watching VODs and livestreams, I believe that the price point that they set may be a little high. I can afford either option, or both, but I do get a lot of coverage on streams watching other tournaments that will probably be sufficient for me. I don't know, I may change my mind, but I will have a hard time justifying paying that much.




While you think you have a point I can and do watch many sports and television shows free of charge in 720p and 1080i from an over the air HD signal. Paying is not necessary good sponsors are. It just doesn't make any sense what so ever to not have a free stream. Way less people will watch and it won't be sustainable because they will be hard pressed to grow their audience.


I agree with you... somewhat. You are right, there are some ways to obtain tv for free, although I suspect that the vast majority of people pay for theirs.
I do think that some form of payment will be necessary. Their costs for running this event, from prize money to the staff members, will be pretty high. I am not too sure on whether the advertising will cover those costs. Remember, its a video game tournament. Yes, there are a lot of us excited about getting into esports, but as right now there are still a lot of questions on whether this will be successful or not and that it will draw enough viewers so that advertisers will throw out enough money.

Zlasher
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States9129 Posts
September 01 2010 16:23 GMT
#106
Someone will restream it, and vods are ALWAYS going to get out. That price is pretty ridiculuous for a low quality stream.
Follow me: www.twitter.com/zlasher
Mastermind
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Canada7096 Posts
September 01 2010 16:23 GMT
#107
Why would I pay for this tournamnet when there are so many free tournaments. None of the NA or Euro tournies cost money so I will just watch them
GGTeMpLaR
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United States7226 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-01 16:24:37
September 01 2010 16:23 GMT
#108
I might buy the finals vods for 2$ lol

that's it though

wonder how long the free-streaming for the first couple of games they mentioned will last, and how much viewers it will drop to once they add the premium lock to it every day
Holgerius
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Sweden16951 Posts
September 01 2010 16:24 GMT
#109
Ruining the professional BW scene and now this? I'm totally boycotting Blizzard now. I'm not going to buy SC2, and I'm definitely not going to pay for this.
I believe in the almighty Grötslev! -- I am never serious and you should never believe a thing I say. Including the previous sentence.
hypercube
Profile Joined April 2010
Hungary2735 Posts
September 01 2010 16:27 GMT
#110
This is disappointing on so many levels. I appreciate that GOM is trying to come up with a business model that justifies having English commentary. But there are just so many problems:

First the price is just too high. You might say that it's not too bad for 50 hours+ entertainment, but realistically I can watch high quality streams, or community tournaments etc. for free. I just can't justify paying $50 for the difference between the two.

Second, and I think this is the most important point, even if I did pay for the stream most people on TL wouldn't. Discussing games with others (or just reading what they think about it) is part of the experience.

Finally, although this is a small point, GOMTV really needs to clear up their ToS. I'm just not going to give $50 (and more importantly my CC number) to a company that claims they can change the terms at any moment. Like what does that even mean? Can they stop streaming and say, sorry we ran out of bandwidth, no refunds? Can they change the quality? Add insane amounts of commercials without letting me jump around in the VOD? I'm sorry but if you're asking for my money you'll have to show a little more respect than that.

In the end it's GOM's decision but I would have really preferred a model where they serve paying customers first and allow others to watch if there's free bandwidth left. They could have also specifically allowed restreaming with the condition that you need to show the commercials too. Well, maybe next season.
"Sending people in rockets to other planets is a waste of money better spent on sending rockets into people on this planet."
floor exercise
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Canada5847 Posts
September 01 2010 16:28 GMT
#111
I'm not paying to watch GSL. I bought Starcraft 2 because it was being marketed as an esport, part of that, to me, means I can watch the highest level of competitive play.

Gom is partnered with Blizzard, this is Blizzard supporting the esports scene?
Alphaes
Profile Joined April 2010
United States651 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-01 16:33:29
September 01 2010 16:30 GMT
#112
On September 02 2010 01:06 Chill wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 01 2010 23:27 GogoKodo wrote:
I can sort of see where some business guy came up with the pricing. MLG priced $10USD for a single weekend. So someone that deals with money and doesn't deal with Starcraft sees that and figures $20 for a whole season of GSL is a great price. However that $10 for MLG included streams for Halo, Tekken, Smash Bros., SC2 and WoW. It also added a feature for rewinding the live stream which some people enjoyed.

That $20 price would be OK with me if they had a free alternative so I could at least check out the stream first like MLG had. I could see if the amount of content and the stability of the stream could justify the price.

I have no idea how they came up with the VOD pricing though, seems like a number someone just thought up out of nowhere.

For whatever reason, I feel way more likely to buy an HQ stream if there is a free LQ stream. It feels moreso like an upgrade and in a sense a donation to support something you like.

Having to straight up pay for a stream is a sure way to make sure I (and evidently about 600 other people right now) won't pay.


Yeah, I feel the same way. I felt more open to paying for the HQ "upgrade" given the option to do so, but the lack of any free streaming at all, the lack of having this choice - on top of separate for pay VODs, first company I've heard doing such a thing - just makes me feel that they don't care about nor understand the community at all and are just going at it with $-marks in their eyes.

It also doesn't help that the pricepoint is quite high, and GOM isn't exactly know for their reputation of having high-quality/easily accessible streams.
What this
Toxiferous
Profile Joined June 2009
United States388 Posts
September 01 2010 16:30 GMT
#113
First GOM tourney afaik and charging admission? MAYBE I'd consider paying <10$ if they impressed me with a free to view one in the first place, and with Artosis/Tasteless casting I'm sure it wouldn't let down

Not paying 5x the price for a gamble, though
Goodluck to them :\
FortuneSyn
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
1826 Posts
September 01 2010 16:31 GMT
#114
SC2 esporst grows through streams spreading into teenager and young adult households. If hardcore TL nerds won't pay to watch, who the fuck will? It's a real real short term decision GSL has made here. A long term decision would be low stream free, high stream pay. Bring the masses in. This is such a 90s business model.
Malgrif
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Canada1095 Posts
September 01 2010 16:33 GMT
#115
so this was what the GSL was all about, to get people to pay absurd prices to watch the tournament. granted a 85k first prize isn't something blizzard is willing to just "lose". guess they have to make it back somehow. hope there are some bootleg streams ^.^ i'm too poor to afford these prices
for there to be pro there has to be noob.
Molkovien
Profile Joined May 2010
Denmark59 Posts
September 01 2010 16:34 GMT
#116
It is not that i wouldn't be willing to pay 20 bucks for a nice stream, but without any quality insurance... just no way.

Funny thing is if their had been a free stream i could watch, I would prolly have upgraded to support them, I usually do.
Woony
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Germany6657 Posts
September 01 2010 16:37 GMT
#117
On September 02 2010 01:33 Malgrif wrote:
so this was what the GSL was all about, to get people to pay absurd prices to watch the tournament. granted a 85k first prize isn't something blizzard is willing to just "lose". guess they have to make it back somehow. hope there are some bootleg streams ^.^ i'm too poor to afford these prices


Blizzard/Activision is multi billion dollar company, they spend 30 million on advertising sc2 in Korea alone I think, that prizemoney is nothing to them.

There's nothing wrong with paying for a good stream either. But there is something wrong in paying crazy prices for a stream out of korea that probably wont even be real high quality.
Go0g3n
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Russian Federation410 Posts
September 01 2010 16:38 GMT
#118
Let's see, 64 players, bo3/bo5 matches, - at least 50 hours of live HQ television(if you can call 500k HQ) and access to at least 130 VODs, realistically 60+ hours and ~200 vods for 50$, - not a bad deal.
Myles
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States5162 Posts
September 01 2010 16:39 GMT
#119
On September 02 2010 01:38 Go0g3n wrote:
Let's see, 64 players, bo3/bo5 matches, - at least 50 hours of live HQ television(if you can call 500k HQ) and access to at least 130 VODs, realistically 60+ hours and ~200 vods for 50$, - not a bad deal.


Considering I've seen hundreds of hours of high quality streams for free, I think it's a horrible deal.
Moderator
Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25997 Posts
September 01 2010 16:40 GMT
#120
On September 02 2010 01:34 Molkovien wrote:
It is not that i wouldn't be willing to pay 20 bucks for a nice stream, but without any quality insurance... just no way.

Funny thing is if their had been a free stream i could watch, I would prolly have upgraded to support them, I usually do.

I feel the same. The money is next to meaningless at this point for me, but the real problem is two-fold:
- I have no assurance that the stream isn't going to be a disaster with T&A sitting in a closet and having tons of buffering issues.
- I feel so spiteful that GOM thinks this is acceptable that I wouldn't even pay $1.00 at this point.
Moderator
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