Here is an article in our local paper (Sydney Morning Herald) in which the reporter interviews Australian pro 'Moonglade' and (at the end) a quick few words with Dustin Browder and Morhaime.
Subject - mostly an overview of what SC2 and eSports are - and Browder comments on how viewership has grown.
"I never quite thought it would be this big, you know what I mean?" StarCraft II game director Dustin Browder tells me shortly before the finals commenced. "This is a big surprise already. We're already off the map as far as I'm concerned. I don't know where we are. There was a time when we first launched StarCraft II – MLG was happening but it wasn't as big as it is now – and we'd hear stories:
"'Dude, they showed StarCraft II at MLG!'
"'Oh they did? How did it go?'
"'Well, they had seats for 50, and they ran out of seats!'
"To which we'd be like, 'OK, that's actually pretty cool,' and we'd be imagining maybe 65 guys. Then next weekend, we'd hear they had seats for 100, and they'd all be full.
"Then we went to BlizzCon in late 2010, and it was standing room only – a big fire hazard.
"Finally, at BlizzCon 2011, we have six, maybe 7000 people there at midnight, and the floor is just disgusting! It's covered in Cheetos and beer, and everyone is standing up and just screaming at the top of their lungs!
"It was at that point that I knew we were off the grid. We were hoping for the MLG story of the hundred. That was the win. That was our 'we did it!' moment.
"Who would've thought two and a half years later we'd be here in Shanghai, in a building holding thousands of fans, and all of them watching our game?"
Browder's tale of an unprecedented hit is engaging, but perhaps it's served with a healthy dollop of false humility. After all, Blizzard is a very savvy company, and no stranger to spectacular success. The developer is also responsible for World of Warcraft – the most profitable game ever made – and Diablo III – according to sales tracker NPD Group, Australia's best-selling game of 2012 so far.
Morhaime offers a different take: "2013 is going to be a very important year for eSports."
On December 04 2012 11:04 Shock710 wrote: wait....did browder seriously think they wouldnt get 50 seats for SC2 around when it just came out? wtf??? am i misreading it?
On December 04 2012 11:04 Shock710 wrote: wait....did browder seriously think they wouldnt get 50 seats for SC2 around when it just came out? wtf??? am i misreading it?
Maybe he doesn't remember brood war
Or maybe he actually remembers Brood War outside of Korea.
E-Sports in North America and Europe absolutely exploded after the first year of SC2, largely because of SC2 and the development of streaming services.
On December 04 2012 11:04 Shock710 wrote: wait....did browder seriously think they wouldnt get 50 seats for SC2 around when it just came out? wtf??? am i misreading it?
Maybe he doesn't remember brood war
Or maybe he actually remembers Brood War outside of Korea.
E-Sports in North America and Europe absolutely exploded after the first year of SC2, largely because of SC2 and the development of streaming services.
I think it's really interesting to hear what Browder thought of SC2 esports before it blew up into what we have today. Perhaps this caused a shift in their mentalities for designing and balancing the game.
Good catch by the writer in terms of the false humility. Browder makes it sound like Blizzard started off as just two guys designing games in their basement and look how far they've come. I'm am looking forward to see what 2013 brings for Esports.
On December 04 2012 11:04 Shock710 wrote: wait....did browder seriously think they wouldnt get 50 seats for SC2 around when it just came out? wtf??? am i misreading it?
That was at MLG, so Browder wasnt to blame I'd say ... honestly he is fishing for compliments giving such low numbers as 65 ...
EPT
