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The Shadow of WCS: Chinese SC2 scene interview - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
93 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next All
mikedebo
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada4341 Posts
December 12 2012 22:04 GMT
#41
I hope to god Archer's code name is Duchess.
I NEED A PHOTOSYNTHESIS! ||| 'airtoss' is an anagram of 'artosis' ||| SANGHOOOOOO ||| "No Korea? No problem. I have internet." -- Stardust
DaCruise
Profile Joined July 2010
Denmark2457 Posts
December 12 2012 22:14 GMT
#42
SC2 will never get as popular in China as WC3 because its simply not as good as WC3.
Its a good e-sport but in every other department it falls behind WC3 with a cheesy, un-imaginative political correct campaign, hardly any featured user made maps and b-net 2.0, which sucks compared to the b-net we had in WC3.

So howcome SC2 is popular in the western world? Because of BW and its history cause when the orginal SC launched back in 1998 a lot of homes had internet and pc´s but this wasnt the case in China. The Starcraft universe simply doesnt mean much in China.

The Blizzard era is over and unless, by some miracle, HoTS turns out to be fantastic in every way and not just as an e-sport, I dont see the sale numbers in China sky rocket.
Eee
Profile Joined August 2011
Sweden2712 Posts
December 12 2012 22:40 GMT
#43
Interesting interview!
Yorbon
Profile Joined December 2011
Netherlands4272 Posts
December 12 2012 22:51 GMT
#44
Very nice interview. It gives a great insight in current standings and difficulties in the chinese market.
I don't think the chinese market is a lost cause, when appropriate steps are taken, the scene should get a positive boost.
willyallthewei
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
United States265 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-12 23:00:01
December 12 2012 22:56 GMT
#45
Take it from someone who was born in and lived in China for years, the main reason beyond anything else for the success of WC3 is the fact that it is freely pirated and has such a strong mod base.

You cannot do the basic boxed retail business model in China, it doesn't work. PC bangs are huge over there, and non of the PC bangs use legitimate copies, they all pirate their games, so if you take out lan, you take out China, sorry.

Blizzard has 2 options: #1 give the game LAN and figure out a way to monetize tournament scene revenue that can recapture more than the money lost to piracy. #2 - make the game F2P with an entirely different business model and game features (such as an official arcade mode with extra units/skins/etc., that you purchase) to cater to this market.

I doubt the analysts in their finance department have explored option 1 and i doubt the developers at that hodgepodge of a huge ass company could ever work intimately enough with the guys from corporate to make #2 a reality either.

Big companies lack dynamism and creativity, these problems are most likely not getting solved anytime soon.
"never give up, never surrender"
UrsusRex
Profile Joined July 2012
United States85 Posts
December 12 2012 23:12 GMT
#46
And there lies the problem willy. all the media coverage and articles in the world won't help any SC2 scene. Only blizzard can make the necessary changes for SC2 to succeed as an esport. Translators and teaml liquid articles are nice feel good moments but they're an empty gesture so long as SC2 lacks LAN and balance and lower skill level.
"It is not sufficient that I succeed - all others must fail" - Genghis Khan
zEnVy
Profile Joined June 2011
United States446 Posts
December 12 2012 23:24 GMT
#47
The dumbing down of video games continues. Unfortunately it seems that this trend will spell the slow death of competitive RTS as people find using more than five buttons in their video game entirely too strenuous.
Rainman5419
Profile Joined January 2011
United States92 Posts
December 12 2012 23:32 GMT
#48
zEnVy, I don't expect a lovefest here, but I'm not sure how that really adds anything to the conversation.

From my reading of this interview Blizzard mismanaged the launch of SC2 in China a bit, and killed off their momentum from WC3. I'm not sure what they set the one-time purchase price at now that it's an option, but if it's cheap(like most software is in China, due to piracy) then hopefully they keep that going and get a good HotS launch. If Blizzard really wants E-sports and their Chinese market to grow then hopefully they using BWC and feedback like this to help boost the scene.

I look forward to seeing more Chinese pros rise up to the level of Sen.
Member of UNT CSL, Season 5 CSL Champs! "The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching." -John Wooden
ArchDC
Profile Joined May 2011
Malaysia1996 Posts
December 12 2012 23:34 GMT
#49
Good interview!
eviltomahawk
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States11135 Posts
December 12 2012 23:41 GMT
#50
SCII is, in its root, a competitive traditional RTS with a deep learning curve and high skill ceiling. Even with easier mechanics and better UI than BW and WC3, SCII is still way harder compared to other competitive games in the market. And the Chinese players, in my opinion, are more against these hard games They don't just play for fun, but for easy fun.

I think this is a really good point. Although 1v1 is the flagship mode in SC2, no amount of casualization will make it attractive enough for casuals. It will always be hardcore and competitive. Addressing the issues in team games and custom games should be the main way to capture and retain casual audiences, not making the 1v1 game more casual.
ㅇㅅㅌㅅ
DayaL
Profile Joined January 2011
United States30 Posts
December 12 2012 23:53 GMT
#51
I met Archer in person at IPL5 and he's been working really hard for the SC2 scene in China. I think the biggest problems are the lack of tournaments in China and the lag that prevents Chinese player to participate in tournaments held in other countries. I hope that everything will become better with the release of HOTS :D
Lightswarm
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Canada967 Posts
December 13 2012 00:03 GMT
#52
On December 13 2012 07:04 mikedebo wrote:
I hope to god Archer's code name is Duchess.

I see what you did there ^^
Team[AoV]
monk
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States8476 Posts
December 13 2012 00:08 GMT
#53
On December 13 2012 04:19 JustPassingBy wrote:
Thanks for the interview, but there are some inconsistancies:

Show nested quote +
On December 13 2012 03:56 monk. wrote:
monk: What's the current state of the SCII scene in China?

Archer: In general, SCII in China is way better than people might think. We have thousands of new players entering the game. We have major tournaments going on and broadcasting everyday, with a lot of news, videos, interviews etc. But the problems is huge as well. A lot of players leave after trying SCII as they think it's hard. The remaining core players are mostly old BW fans coming along, having established a career or family. SCII for them is mostly watching tournaments and video.

The pro scene is even more lackluster. We have no more than 20 full-time progamers, and most are veteran players dated back to even BW days. We rarely see new blood coming in. Only iG and Spider have team houses now, and the rest few teams are only training online. Our players are actually pretty good, with 7-10 always being in Korean GM, but the lack of tournaments results in a lack of experience, which leads to the biggest bottle neck for Chinese players.

I think he means there's lots of small online tournaments and foreign rebroadcasts, but no big LANs.

On December 13 2012 04:21 Targe wrote:
Nice article monk!

Show nested quote +
Since this interview, Archer has quit Netease and thus s.163.com for personal reasons. Netease is moving its game channel(game.163.com) to Hangzhou, but Archer wanted to stay in Beijing.


Owe. What does that mean for SC2 coverage in china?

Someone will replace him.
Moderator
BreAKerTV
Profile Blog Joined November 2011
Taiwan1658 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-13 00:23:02
December 13 2012 00:22 GMT
#54
On December 13 2012 06:31 Csong wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 13 2012 06:28 Rescawen wrote:
On December 13 2012 05:34 Enders116 wrote:
I have F91 aka Xiaose on my skype friends list.

digmouse: The Chinese scene almost has no major connections with the western scene or Taiwanese scene. The former is limited language barriers and time differences, while the latter has no such issues, but is simply not being explored yet. We've tried several times to collude with the western scene, but none of them have turned out well. I know that at BWC, Archer started a talk with TeSL as a initiative to connect China and Taiwan more to help each other.


I could help. I'm a chinese-speaking American who is looking for work in the eSports industry.


Isnt xiaose a caster and f91 a player


yea they aren't the same person

I just double-checked my skype contacts. I only have xiaose. Never had F91. I don't know what made me think that...
Retired caster / streamer "BingeHD". Digital Nomad.
DKR
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom622 Posts
December 13 2012 00:39 GMT
#55
Thanks, always wondered about the Chinese state of affairs!
"1 base. Cheese man." - MKP. "[MVP] is not stylistic, his style is winning, which is the style you want to have." - Artosis
MVega
Profile Joined November 2010
763 Posts
December 13 2012 00:53 GMT
#56
On December 13 2012 07:14 DaCruise wrote:
SC2 will never get as popular in China as WC3 because its simply not as good as WC3.
Its a good e-sport but in every other department it falls behind WC3 with a cheesy, un-imaginative political correct campaign, hardly any featured user made maps and b-net 2.0, which sucks compared to the b-net we had in WC3.

So howcome SC2 is popular in the western world? Because of BW and its history cause when the orginal SC launched back in 1998 a lot of homes had internet and pc´s but this wasnt the case in China. The Starcraft universe simply doesnt mean much in China.

The Blizzard era is over and unless, by some miracle, HoTS turns out to be fantastic in every way and not just as an e-sport, I dont see the sale numbers in China sky rocket.


What? I disagree completely. As an above poster mentioned a fair amount of WC3's success was due to it's ease of access through piracy which is huge in China.

Obviously whether a game is better or worse than another is opinion, but as someone who played WarCraft 3 from the time it came out and for several years after that, beta tested the expansion, was ranked in the top 20 on US and top 50 Euro ladders, etc I cannot see a single way that StarCraft 2 isn't as good as WarCraft 3 other than the custom map scene. Which is partially Blizzard's fault for the lack of intuitive interface for the first 2 years or whatever of StarCraft 2's life and the map editor is more powerful but a lot less user friendly.
bumkin: How can you play like 50 games per day... I 4gate 2 times then it's nap time
Zergrusher
Profile Joined November 2011
United States562 Posts
December 13 2012 00:56 GMT
#57
Blizzard needs to Get SC2 popular in china, how? By setting up a China super tournament.


Get it on TV and streaming online.


Also they should make SC2 and HOTS be Cheaper in china
GreyKnight
Profile Joined August 2010
United States4720 Posts
December 13 2012 00:59 GMT
#58
sc2 isn't as popular in china for the same reasons as in korea but just more so
Zergrusher
Profile Joined November 2011
United States562 Posts
December 13 2012 01:04 GMT
#59
On December 13 2012 09:59 GreyKnight wrote:
sc2 isn't as popular in china for the same reasons as in korea but just more so



Because collosi?
AssyrianKing
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Australia2115 Posts
December 13 2012 01:05 GMT
#60
Why is there a subscription fee for Starcraft II, most stupidest thing I have ever heard, China is in the millions and made Blizzard big, Blizzard should repay them with kindness
John 15:13
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