MLG Winter Arena to be PPV - Page 122

On February 15 2012 00:02 Tarotis wrote:

Its a lot for people out of poor families being students or pupils

On February 15 2012 00:09 Xcobidoo wrote:

Why would everyone switch? If everyone switched that would mean that the community had stopped growing and it's time to sit down and start cashing in. This is not the case and the current amount of people are NOT enough to support something like this just yet. Making every tournament PPV (at these prices) would stop growth and mean less money in the long run, which I think most organizers understand. If ESL wanted they could probably have invite-only tournaments and make people pay more but they don't because they understand that they'll get more viewers in the long run if lots of different players with growing fanbases enter their tournaments.

On February 15 2012 00:11 LoNeLyTrOoPeR wrote:


That's life. You don't always get what you want. Live with the vods, you're not going to die.

On February 15 2012 00:11 ceaRshaf wrote:


If I had a tournament this huge and seen that MLG had succes with ppv I wouldn't want to be late to the party and would switch to try and get as fast as possible a slice of cheese (money from the community). Why would I bother otherwise?

In this switch many tournaments will die, but a few may grow. Who knows?

On February 15 2012 00:14 Xcobidoo wrote:

But that would mean that most tournament organizers do not see a particularly bright future for SC2 as an esport if the thought amongst them were "let's get the money while there's still interest". But maybe it is like that, maybe it won't grow any more, who knows? What I do know though is that it's the nail in the coffin if everyone stops to try and promote growth and promote a quick buck instead.

On February 15 2012 00:02 Youtakenocandle wrote:


So you skip those others things because you can't afford them. Do you whine to the bar for asking money for their drinks? Nope you don't.

Then why do people do it for things on the internet. It's a really strange trend. If you can't afford it, then too bad. Better luck next time.

On February 15 2012 00:11 LoNeLyTrOoPeR wrote:


That's life. You don't always get what you want. Live with the vods, you're not going to die.

On February 15 2012 00:16 Crownlol wrote:
Wow look at you people. I'd probably have paid up to $35 for upping the quality of the entertainment and legitimizing the industry. Until you're willing to part with a *tiny* sum of money, progaming will still be relegated to jokes and basements.

The ONLY way to mainstream eSports is with money. Our money. This is the first step. Soon there's an eESPN, barcrafts everywhere, and gaming is actually cool in the mainstream community.

Frankly, the negative reaction to this is only indicative to the internet community's desire to expect something for nothing at every turn.

On February 15 2012 00:11 ceaRshaf wrote:


If I had a tournament this huge and seen that MLG had succes with ppv I wouldn't want to be late to the party and would switch to try and get as fast as possible a slice of cheese (money from the community). Why would I bother otherwise?

In this switch many tournaments will die, but a few may grow. Who knows?

On February 15 2012 00:16 Crownlol wrote:
Wow look at you people. I'd probably have paid up to $35 for upping the quality of the entertainment and legitimizing the industry. Until you're willing to part with a *tiny* sum of money, progaming will still be relegated to jokes and basements.

The ONLY way to mainstream eSports is with money. Our money. This is the first step. Soon there's an eESPN, barcrafts everywhere, and gaming is actually cool in the mainstream community.

Frankly, the negative reaction to this is only indicative to the internet community's desire to expect something for nothing at every turn.

On February 15 2012 00:02 Youtakenocandle wrote:


So you skip those others things because you can't afford them. Do you whine to the bar for asking money for their drinks? Nope you don't.

Then why do people do it for things on the internet. It's a really strange trend. If you can't afford it, then too bad. Better luck next time.

On February 15 2012 00:16 Crownlol wrote:
Wow look at you people. I'd probably have paid up to $35 for upping the quality of the entertainment and legitimizing the industry. Until you're willing to part with a *tiny* sum of money, progaming will still be relegated to jokes and basements.

The ONLY way to mainstream eSports is with money. Our money. This is the first step. Soon there's an eESPN, barcrafts everywhere, and gaming is actually cool in the mainstream community.

Frankly, the negative reaction to this is only indicative to the internet community's desire to expect something for nothing at every turn.

On February 15 2012 00:22 I_am_that_bad wrote:
Taking the situation in a different angle, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in these business meetings to determine how to go forward with their offerings. I love reading business case studies and situations that lead to big decisions for companies and to hear about the circumstances that surrounded making this particular decision.

Anyway, getting back to the response surrounding the decision, I have a bad feeling that this is going to leave MLG with a lot of harm done to the brand and reputation. I understand why Sundance is trying to do when he says he wants to create a league for gaming just like the other professional leagues out there (which I'm assuming would mean like football, baseball, basketball, etc.)

The problem I feel is that if professional gaming were to ever get to a realm where it's on the same level as these other leagues, it's going to have to be in a different way than what the other leagues have done. I just don't think you can compare apples to apples here, gaming and those athletic leagues. Unfortunately, gaming requires people to think in order to truly understand what is happening and appreciate the action that is going on screen. The vast majority of people (at least in the U.S.) are unwilling to put forth that much thought in something that they are planning on enjoying in their free time. Not to self-bash the U.S., but we are a really lazy and out of shape people, no one wants to put forth effort into anything anymore.

So, instead of <b>thinking</b> why this one guy made units that can fly and this other guy is using tanks, people are going to be much more willing to <b>just watch</b> a guy hit another guy in the face, or some other guy throw a ball because it's much easier to understand in a shorter amount of time.

Not to mention you have to really look at the target audience and see what the current status of that group of people is. Just venturing some guesses here, but I would say that the main age group is within the 15-24 age range, possibly a larger population than what you would think in the older brackets. Trying to gauge the disposable income for that range, $20 could be considered a good amount of money especially for the older side when you're dealing with other much higher expenses related to schooling, cost of living, etc. And give up entirely on the older side of the age spectrum, they're not going to want to watch video games.

Unfortunately, my thinking leads me to believe that the "asking for money for content I am producing" argument would only work in like another 5 or 7 years when the target population in this "growth of e-sports phase" has the ability to make an income and choose to support e-sports with it.

TL;DR - MLG has become the "premium" brand in a market that has no desire for one, where other brands provide the same kind of content for free, and the majority of patrons are unwilling or unable to pay the new price of admission.