EPTI have interviewed MLG's Sundance DiGiovanni on the MLG-KeSPA partnership, including details on the exclusivity portion. I hope to be able to provide any details that weren't included in the Adam/Lee interview. Details include Sundance wanting to work with DreamHack and IEM on KeSPA players, words on the former partnership with GomTV, and the possibility of seeing Flash vs NesTea in Raleigh.
Additionally, the interview was so long, that nearly half of it had to be cut for release. Tomorrow, I will be releasing the full un-edited version of the interview here only on TL, which is about twice as long as what's presented.
GS: So one of the biggest questions here regarding the new partnership is the announced exclusivity between yourselves and KeSPA and what this means going forward. What actions are we to see from this?
SD: What this means is that outside of Korea, we're the official partner for KeSPA. We're the tournament KeSPA players are allowed to play at the moment, by letter of the agreement. Our plan is to work with some of the partners that we have to bring those players there as well. I'm going to try my best to arrange something with DreamHack as we have a strong relationship with them. We're going to talk to the [Electronic Sports League's] Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) about working with them. Those are the two groups that I've been in contact with and have been thinking about. It could go deeper, but the point of this is that KeSPA takes this very seriously and they want to align with like-minded people.
In terms of the exclusivity part of it, I don't say this to come off as disrespectful but in their eyes they are the only ones over there. It's Korea and it's KeSPA. That's it. I'm not gonna lie and tell you I was running in there hoping I was going to do a non-exclusive deal because what sense does that make? You saw what that got me last time. It got me Naniwa not getting what he had earned, and I'm not going to do that again. From an operator standpoint, you could grab anyone from the other organizations and they all would have said they'd sign an exclusive deal too.
GS: You mentioned over-saturation as something to look out for. Do you believe there's too much eSports or StarCraft content right now?
SD: There are some things we can learn from KeSPA and there are some things we learned from GSL. There's a structure and system for this that can work really well. The problem right now is that we've got all these different events, no tie-in with each other, no continuation, different rosters of players for each. There are challenges we have to get through. It's no secret for a long time we've been trying to figure out the fixed location thing and we're doing it here in New York City for now. The plan is to have a global organization that runs a unified league with meaningful matches happening in multiple locations. So if I could have matches that are happening in South Korea, matches that are happening North America, Europe, South America, that at the end of the day, week, month, they relate somehow, that's going to be great for everyone. Some people now go, "Oh, this event's player pool isn't as great as the last one, I'm just going to tune in on Sunday." You kind of have to borrow from traditional sports a little more I think to get to the right place, in terms of a scale and growth perspective.
SD: What this means is that outside of Korea, we're the official partner for KeSPA. We're the tournament KeSPA players are allowed to play at the moment, by letter of the agreement. Our plan is to work with some of the partners that we have to bring those players there as well. I'm going to try my best to arrange something with DreamHack as we have a strong relationship with them. We're going to talk to the [Electronic Sports League's] Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) about working with them. Those are the two groups that I've been in contact with and have been thinking about. It could go deeper, but the point of this is that KeSPA takes this very seriously and they want to align with like-minded people.
In terms of the exclusivity part of it, I don't say this to come off as disrespectful but in their eyes they are the only ones over there. It's Korea and it's KeSPA. That's it. I'm not gonna lie and tell you I was running in there hoping I was going to do a non-exclusive deal because what sense does that make? You saw what that got me last time. It got me Naniwa not getting what he had earned, and I'm not going to do that again. From an operator standpoint, you could grab anyone from the other organizations and they all would have said they'd sign an exclusive deal too.
GS: You mentioned over-saturation as something to look out for. Do you believe there's too much eSports or StarCraft content right now?
SD: There are some things we can learn from KeSPA and there are some things we learned from GSL. There's a structure and system for this that can work really well. The problem right now is that we've got all these different events, no tie-in with each other, no continuation, different rosters of players for each. There are challenges we have to get through. It's no secret for a long time we've been trying to figure out the fixed location thing and we're doing it here in New York City for now. The plan is to have a global organization that runs a unified league with meaningful matches happening in multiple locations. So if I could have matches that are happening in South Korea, matches that are happening North America, Europe, South America, that at the end of the day, week, month, they relate somehow, that's going to be great for everyone. Some people now go, "Oh, this event's player pool isn't as great as the last one, I'm just going to tune in on Sunday." You kind of have to borrow from traditional sports a little more I think to get to the right place, in terms of a scale and growth perspective.
For the full interview, read it here: http://www.gamespot.com/features/mlg-ceo-on-korean-crossover-deal-6376981/
