• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 01:09
CEST 07:09
KST 14:09
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2914Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)11Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format13[IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!5Weekly Cups (July 6 - 12): Protoss strike back12BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion8
StarCraft 2
General
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format Is the larve respawn broken? 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start) BGE Stara Zagora to be held again in June 2025
Tourneys
Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) WardiTV Summer Cup 2026 GSL CK #5 Race War RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event HomeStory Cup 29
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 534 Burning Evacuation Mutation # 533 Die Together Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family
Brood War
General
Etiquete rules in Asl? Recommended FPV games (post-KeSPA) Pros Debate: Zerg Unfairly Nerfed? (ASL S22 map) BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ screpdb: new Starcraft reporting tool
Tourneys
[IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend! Escore Tournament - Season 3 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL22] Wildcard Qualifier
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile General RTS Discussion Thread Beyond All Reason Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread MLB/Baseball 2023 McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
The Experiences We Want and …
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8017 users

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 States8477 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
Australia2117 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
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 3h 51m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft818
RuFF_SC2 179
oGsTOP 133
StarCraft: Brood War
ajuk12(nOOB) 10
Icarus 6
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm104
League of Legends
JimRising 631
Counter-Strike
Coldzera 1080
Other Games
summit1g5960
PiGStarcraft341
C9.Mang0314
XaKoH 199
Maynarde142
ViBE70
Trikslyr17
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1794
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH200
• practicex 27
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota238
League of Legends
• Stunt575
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
3h 51m
CrankTV Team League
5h 51m
WardiTV Qualifier
6h 51m
Epic.LAN
7h 51m
Big Brain Bouts
10h 51m
SHIN vs Elazer
Percival vs Nicoract
Reynor vs Lambo
Replay Cast
18h 51m
RSL Revival
1d 3h
Clem vs Lambo
Scarlett vs Cure
CranKy Ducklings
1d 4h
Epic.LAN
1d 7h
IPSL
1d 10h
Dragon vs Hawk
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
2 days
Classic vs Trap
herO vs SHIN
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
OSC
2 days
IPSL
2 days
Bonyth vs Ret
WardiTV Weekly
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
PiGosaur Cup
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
CrankTV Team League
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-07-13
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
Escore Tournament S3: W3
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026

Upcoming

ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 1
Escore Tournament S3: W4
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 2
Escore Tournament S3: W5
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.