MLG Winter Arena to be PPV - Page 75
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Robonord
United States311 Posts
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whatthefat
United States918 Posts
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Charger
United States2405 Posts
I just don't feel like the price is right for the content provided. Think I'll hold off and see how it goes, maybe they deliver an amazing experience worth $20 but for now, I don't see it. | ||
shadymmj
1906 Posts
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puzzl
United States263 Posts
On February 14 2012 10:03 _PI wrote: Part of what I like about esports in general is the open, free approach that is utilized. This is an important point. eSports still needs to grow—a lot—and high entrance fees like this are not going to help that growth. By getting rid of all free options, MLG has essentially said that the amount of people that watched SC2 last year was enough, and from now on they are simply going to work on monetizing that crowd rather than continuing to grow. Any business 101 class will teach you that that is a terrible idea, and the primary focus of every business always needs to be growth, growth, growth, especially in the age of the internet and global media. A total market of 500,000 (a good guess as to what we have now) is a miserably tiny fraction of the 200+ million worldwide that could be appealed to. Capture those crowds, continue to take investment, and the money will come with time, and it will be a hell of a lot more money than the pocket change this event could generate. More likely, they'll break even, and breaking even on a no-growth prospect is a fast road towards bankrupcy. | ||
ImHuko
United States996 Posts
If you like this PPV model where you'll be charged for watching events, buy MLG and tune in. If you don't like it, watch Assembly and stay far away from MLG. If Assembly gets mind-blowing numbers while MLG is getting nothing, it'll show a lot. With some of the biggest sponsors in E-Sports, I don't see why MLG needs a PPV. While Scoots is correct with the whole its needed to sustain, its not for MLG. I am pretty sure Dr. Pepper, BIC, Hot Pockets, Old Spice etc as one can cover expenses for a tournament. We shouldn't have to pay 20$ for it. | ||
eviltomahawk
United States11133 Posts
I had a lot of fun abusing the free Hot Pockets MLG Silver membership exploit to get quadruple HD streams during the last 2 MLGs, but I always envied the social experience of Barcrafts as I sat alone in my dorm room with a bag of nachos and salsa watching the games by myself. I personally cannot pay for the new PPV system, but perhaps I will invest in travelling to the local Barcraft as an alternative. | ||
lottopk
Korea (North)33 Posts
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Bippzy
United States1466 Posts
The contrast must be made that GOM just has great production quality and player quality. MLG has payed for trips from all around the world, plus open bracket. Their production quality has proved to not suck as bad as that philipines tournament and is probably around the level of a dreamhack. The casters, are everywhere and very good. The games and storylines give more andrenaline rush then GOM can at most points. If you can afford it, it's worth it. If you can't afford it, hitch a ride to a barcraft, or scavenger off a friend. If you can do neither, my condolescenses. Or however you spell that. | ||
Keyboard Warrior
United States1178 Posts
On February 14 2012 11:50 Jibba wrote: This is simply not true. 5-10 years is a short term outlook. All of the recent housing bubbles happened within that timeframe. Fatal Error. Did you just compare Esports to housing? Aside from the all the banking, lending, subprimeship, legal, and quasi-legal complications, the very nature of the two could not be more far apart. Esports is a digital commodity, while housing is basic. Besides, the US bubble burst was specific to its own fundamental greedy design, and not to housing in general. Other countries don't have US housing-based economic meltdown. Simple context, which other game from the 90s is still alive and well today? 10 years is an eternity for a computer game played by kids to survive. The fact that it developed an architecture - prime corporate sponsors, team, professional players, events, and even at its waning days is still getting the support of the core corpotions, businesses, players and community, is BEYOND CONCRETE proof that it is not a bubble, and it may have far outlived its shelflife. It may not last long, it may even end today, but surely it went farther that it was supposed to. Sorry but I think you got this bit wrong. | ||
fighter2_40
United States420 Posts
Basically you just ramped the price from free to more than any other form of ticketing currently. How is this a successful business model when right now the starcraft entertainment scene is clearly a free market. | ||
Whoranzone
Germany330 Posts
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Oiseaux
United States676 Posts
I wouldn't go so far to say this is a dumb move, but it's definitely a poor one. For myself at least, there are so many factors that just don't make it worth $20: -The huge amount of time you have to devote to SC2 on a weekend to make it feel like you're getting your "money's worth." -So devoting the time sucks, that's why there's immediate VOD access! For me personally, watching a VOD/Rebroadcast/Replay vs a live stream just doesn't have the same impact of suspense. Yea VODs are cool for when you absolutely can't be there, but for myself not worth $20. -Assembly, been argued enough -GSL now looks like a good deal. Also been argued enough, but I think this is a pretty big one (more so than Assembly). I think if anyone has been on the fence with spending money on watching SC2 tourneys (I'm in this boat, haven't done it, but the GSL sleep schedule for the west coast is killing me), they aren't going to look at this and decide that this is where they'll put their first buck into SC2 ESports. Going back to the VOD point, while I don't feel $20 cuts its for this tourney, with the GSL for $15 I get much more content and feel it's worth it for a west coaster who has to pull all nighters to watch it for free. For this tournament I can just watch Assembly and wait a week. -No live crowd. Part of what I love about watching these huge tournaments is the hype of the crowd. Blizzcon GSL championship, MLG Columbus etc. were amazing not just because of the games, but the energy of the crowd practically pulsing through my screen. Really cheapens the worth of the event (something I didn't care about when I first heard about Arena, but that's when I assumed I didn't need to put a price tag on it). -Not the championships. While I'm still glad to hear I'll be able to tune into the championships when I have the time that weekend, knowing that this is essentially a huge seeding tournament with money on the line doesn't make it the most appealing to start spending money on SC2 ESports. While you would get more people flat out angry if you made the championships PPV and this free, that would still seem to make more sense. With this model, I'm just simply confused. Putting a price tag on content that shouldn't be the pinnacle of content, but keeping free what should be that pinnacle, is simply just confusing. I haven't spent money on watching SC2 tourneys, but have considered it. This tournament is not going to be the one that finally gets me to do it, and I highly doubt I'm alone in those sentiments. While I have no logistics on whether this plan would increase revenue at all, it definitely is not going to increase viewership which in the end of the day is a sad thing. | ||
goswser
United States3519 Posts
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Joedaddy
United States1948 Posts
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bovineblitz
United States314 Posts
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Bippzy
United States1466 Posts
On February 14 2012 12:39 lottopk wrote: For what this feels now, organizers are trying to abuse the "pay or your killing e-sports" phrase. If they want money, up the quality. This is not 20 dollar product sorry. I think Sundance is smart enough to fix this if it doesn't work. It seems to be more of a "I'm bringing it hard I'm badass MLG guy" statement. If it promotes barcrafts then :D. The tournament is designed to get the best competition and if the money thing works then :D. If it doesn't work, recede, Rethink. Continue. Edit: Also, I think the real people who will buy this ticket are mostly also the people that buy GSL. | ||
magnaflow
Canada1521 Posts
On February 14 2012 12:30 gladsheim wrote: Not sure if people are cheap or are just poor, but spending $20 for a whole weekends worth of non-stop entertainment is pretty much a bargin. So i personally don't see what the problem here is. Do you want e-sports to grow at all? Sports don't grow unless viewers pay, whether it be attending or watching it from home on your tv with foxtel (or whatever American/European pay-tv is called). We don't know if it's going to be non-stop entertainment. MLG has always had loads of downtime between matches. Alot of people are saying $20 for 20hrs is a great deal, which it is. But I think it's gonna be more like 10hrs of entertainment and 10 hours of waiting for it. This is sink or swim. Either it's a huge success, or it's a huge failure. Tons of pressure on MLG here. If they don't provide top notch production they are gonna be in for a huge backlash. In order for this to succeed it has to be better then IPL, NASL, Dreamhack, Assembly, HSC, and all other previous MLG's. If it's not better then any of those tournaments mentioned above then this is already a failure. | ||
krisss
Luxembourg305 Posts
On February 14 2012 12:30 gladsheim wrote: Not sure if people are cheap or are just poor, but spending $20 for a whole weekends worth of non-stop entertainment is pretty much a bargin. So i personally don't see what the problem here is. Do you want e-sports to grow at all? Sports don't grow unless viewers pay, whether it be attending or watching it from home on your tv with foxtel (or whatever American/European pay-tv is called). How much of those 20 dollars go to the actual "athletes"? nothing? like 5%? maybe 10%? Its ridiculous how an organization charges the client to watch "superstars", then taking 95% of the incomes for themselves. If we pay 20 dollars, and still the pros can barely survive with their crappy income; how much do we need to pay that the actual players we are paying for can have a nice life? like 150 dollars per 3 day pass? Sorry this business model of MLG is screwed. This is NOT for the love of esports, this is for the love of SHORT-TERM profit. Im not okay with this. | ||
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Adebisi
Canada1637 Posts
On February 14 2012 12:44 bovineblitz wrote: $20 is a lot for a 20 hour tournament, no? Remember there will be more than 1 stream up during these 20 hours, its a LOT of content... | ||
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