Blizzard has purchased IPL's techonology and assets. According to IGN.ca and Slasher, existing members of IPL’s staff will help form a new team in San Francisco to produce content for Blizzard.
Blizzard Entertainment announced today that it has purchased IGN Pro League technology and assets from the company. In addition, Blizzard has hired several members of the IPL staff to create a new team based in San Francisco, California.
This team's primary goal will be creating "high-quality web and mobile content" to support various Blizzard games. Meanwhile, some IPL staff are now working on Blizzard's eSports team.
With Blizzard's purchase of the IGNProLeague, the IPL brand and structure is effectively dead, and will no longer run major tournaments. This includes tournaments for StarCraft II, but also other games that they have featured previously including Riot Games' League of Legends and Ubisoft's Shootmania. This past weekend's $100,000 Shootmania launch event was the last event the IPL organization will run.
Check back later for an interview with Schneider about the deal.
Blizzard has purchased the IGN Pro League. IPL technology and assets are now owned by Blizzard, and existing members of IPL’s staff will help form a new team in San Francisco “whose primary focus will be on creating high-quality web and mobile content in support of Blizzard games.”
“This new team will help us to further develop the rich media experiences that extend the fun and engagement of our games online,” said Blizzard executive vice president of publishing Itzik Ben-Bassat. “This is a team of passionate gamers with a proven track record, and we’re looking forward to now leveraging their expertise and technology to support a variety of online efforts.”
Other IPL staff members will join Blizzard’s existing eSports team. Following today’s news, IGN will partner with multiple eSports organizations to cover their events in the future rather than focusing on a few key titles.
With how successful the IPL events have become, why not keep the brand?
Peer Schneider: If you look at the asset transfer, Blizzard is picking up the team and the technology associated with it. We are committed to covering competitive gaming and broadcast events in the future, so you never know what you're going to see from us. The idea behind IPL and what it stood for over the last two years doesn't make sense in our current focus area.
With the acquisition by Ziff Davis, they really wanted to focus in on our core media business. We've got a pretty good thing going when it comes to users that we can afford to take a step back and really kind of focus on the stuff that we kicked off 16 years ago and have really grown over the past decade plus.
The core of what IPL did…it wasn't just about broadcasting eSports matches, something I'd love to continue doing, and it was basically an events business. At this time it doesn't really make sense for us to be in the events business.
How much was IPL sold for?
Unfortunately, neither side will be disclosing any numbers surrounding the deal.
Other IPL staff members will join Blizzard’s existing eSports team. Following today’s news, IGN will partner with multiple eSports organizations to cover their events in the future rather than focusing on a few key titles.
So IPL is now Blizzard and a new IPL will be made in its place? Or am I misunderstanding things?
Other IPL staff members will join Blizzard’s existing eSports team. Following today’s news, IGN will partner with multiple eSports organizations to cover their events in the future rather than focusing on a few key titles.
So IPL is now Blizzard and a new IPL will be made in its place? Or am I misunderstanding things?
Nah, IGN want to go back to just covering esports, instead of also producing esports content
Other IPL staff members will join Blizzard’s existing eSports team. Following today’s news, IGN will partner with multiple eSports organizations to cover their events in the future rather than focusing on a few key titles.
So IPL is now Blizzard and a new IPL will be made in its place? Or am I misunderstanding things?
You misunderstand it. They just bought the IPL name, assets and employees. They will not be doing any stand alone tournaments using the IPL name. What they will be doing is sending people to cover events like what gamespot does with slasher and people, ie doing interviews with players.
Also, I assume they will be doing casting for WCS NA. I'm just not sure how it's all going to be organized yet with MLG, since MLG is the official company doing WCS NA, but they only have axeltoss and axslav as casters, so I'm sure catspajamas and them will cast games as well. No idea how the offline part will work yet either until more details come out.
Meh, I hope at least they will up the production quality in their regular shows now. The big IPL events were always awesome, however their regular events looked like being created in the garage of a hobby caster.
This is so awesome. I am incredibly glad to see a talent and boon to the community like Kevin Knocke find a place to continue his work. Looking forward to the new face of the IPL!
On April 09 2013 04:33 MountainGoat wrote: Interesting that they don't talk specifically about SC2 very much. Maybe this will also be involved with Blizzard's DOTA project.
Obviously, the main focus is WoW Arena, followed by Diablo 3 and then Hearthstone.
So instead of using NASL to cast WCS NA, they instead choose the organizations with very unpopular casters. Mr.Bitter and Rotterdam along with Frodan/Gretorp are the most popular casters in NA. (not including Day9/Husky). Axeltoss, Axslav and Cats Pajamas are not really high quality. Axslav knows the game well but has a very dull and boring voice not fit for broadcasting. I dont understand this move but I hope everything works out. GL to all of you guys
On April 09 2013 04:33 MountainGoat wrote: Interesting that they don't talk specifically about SC2 very much. Maybe this will also be involved with Blizzard's DOTA project.
It doesn't sound esports exclusive. I read it as they will be making content covering all of blizzard's games and not just sc2 and esports.
Not that IPL was exactly the greatest, it was good to have regular content even if it was mediocre at best. Hopefully now with Blizzard backing them they will start recruiting some talented casters and not dry personalities that say the same thing 40 times per match to drive their viewers crazy. No offense to the casters (Not mentioning any names)
While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
Guess that probably means no more LoL at IPL events haha. Shame, IPL5 was one of the best ones. On the bright side Blizzard gets a nice tournament infrastructure and a lot of people get to keep their jobs! In the end not a bad deal considering it could have ended a lot worse for IPL.
isn't it misleading to say that they bought IPL? They hired their former employees, and one of their jobs will probably be WCS NA, but that doesn't mean we'll see another IPL. (even though the planned IPL Shootmania tournament still went ahead this weekend with a $100,000 prize - though it was hosted by the game's creators)
On April 09 2013 04:37 Brutaxilos wrote: Will IPL still have LoL now? Just curious.
Answer to your question:
"Existing members of IPL’s staff will help form a new team in San Francisco “whose primary focus will be on creating high-quality web and mobile content in support of Blizzard games.”"
On April 09 2013 04:39 FabledIntegral wrote: I'm so confused. I just came from another thread that stated the exact opposite..?
It was a month or two old thread where Blizzard denies the rumors. People (including me..) bumped it when the news came out.
Love that blizzard is getting involved more in the esports scene, first the new WCS, then this. Clear sign, that blizzard is investing into the market, which means more cashflow, higher quality content and more viewers (if everything works out as it should).
Would it be better if the spoiler gets removed and that there is only the link to Gamespot? To give gamespot the page views, or does it not really matter?
OT: Pretty awesome. Looks like they will work with MLG.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Cause Blizzard bought them? ^^
they are moving from nevada to san franciso? oO sources pls.
Go watch their streams, they aren't super secretive about it. Incontrol has already moved to the Bay area. The rest will follow. Catz also talked about with the advent of NA WCS, they were looking to start a team house in California near EG. If we have team houses and a blizzard-sponsored esports organization in San Francisco, then we're starting to see the beginnings of an actual American esports scene that might allow live content that isn't played online.
It's still shame to have lost IPL as a tournament, in part because of the other games they had there, such as fighting games, but will be exciting to see the content the former staff members will make for Blizzard.
On April 09 2013 04:43 Xacez wrote: Yeah IPL from a LoL tournament perspective is now dead because IPL=Blizzard, and why would Blizzard run something related to LoL?
On April 09 2013 04:43 Xacez wrote: Yeah IPL from a LoL tournament perspective is now dead because IPL=Blizzard, and why would Blizzard run something related to LoL?
They're still going to run MOBA tournaments, they'll just be playing Blizzard All-Stars.
On April 09 2013 04:43 Xacez wrote: Yeah IPL from a LoL tournament perspective is now dead because IPL=Blizzard, and why would Blizzard run something related to LoL?
I dunno maybe to get more money?
I agree. First of Blizzard has no foothold in the DOTA genre anyway soo making money of of it wouldn't hurt and IPL could be made profitable with LoL alone if Blizzard and Riot work together.
YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! Honestly i was only expecting them to hire Kevin and some other key figures there, but this is spectacularly good news for them. They had some of the best content in America, and far and away the most consistent content
"Saving eSports" is kind of funny in this respect. Are they saving SC2? Probably not, SC2's doing just fine with the current number of tournaments, and people have even been talking about oversaturation of SC2's tournaments, which this may only further perpetuate. Instead, the League of Legends scene, the fighting game scene and the Shootmania scene all lost a huge major tournament with this purchase. Had IPL been purchased by another corporate sponsor and allowed to continue with their previous track, that would have "saved eSports" way more than this purchase does.
why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Cause Blizzard bought them? ^^
they are moving from nevada to san franciso? oO sources pls.
Go watch their streams, they aren't super secretive about it. Incontrol has already moved to the Bay area. The rest will follow. Catz also talked about with the advent of NA WCS, they were looking to start a team house in California near EG. If we have team houses and a blizzard-sponsored esports organization in San Francisco, then we're starting to see the beginnings of an actual American esports scene that might allow live content that isn't played online.
Yeah, this isn't rocket science. A lot of folks are moving to the Bay area, where the suns is bright, the ping to Korea is good, and Blizzard is local. With NASL right down the road. The only group that would need to open a studio out there is MLG.
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
IPL 5 was widely regarded as one of the best-produced events in 2012 on both the Starcraft 2 and the League of Legends side. It's a shame that you missed it.
This title is misleading a bit, as blizzard has purchased the name and assets, but does not appear in anyway to be continuing the IGN brand as a league.
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
IGN didn't dump them because of the quality of content, please put in some effort to find out why they were cut off before stating wild accusations which are wrong.
To me, this is better and more interesting news than Blizzard unveiling their rushed WCS 2013 plans. I'm happy for the IPL guys and look forward to their content.
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
You clearly didn't follow the shutting down of IPL and IGN. IGN didn't dump them due to failure. They dumped them due to being sold by News Corp and loosing their largest backer. They also shut down a ton of other stuff that was going on at IGN as well, some of it successful. There was no sinking ship.
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
So basically, you don't watch anything IPL has done, you pay zero attention to their content, yet you write an entire post saying they're bad?
More importantly, you don't even read any threads related to IGN dropping IPL, including this thread, and you still feel he need to share a completely ignorant opinion?
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
Lol, please don't spread misinformation with such an ill-informed post. IGN didn't dump IPL. >_<
But I guess the IPL or IPTL will not return, as it stands. Oh well.
Also:
Kevin Knocke @KevinKnocke 33m Yes, it's true. I'm proud to announce I'm the new Manager of Online Broadcasting for Blizzard Entertainment. More details to come! So excite 12:25 PM - 8 Apr 13 · Details
Shiny new title!
Sundance DiGiovanni @MLGSundance 31m @KevinKnocke congrats dude - looking forward to working with you guys. 12:28 PM - 8 Apr 13 · Details
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
So basically, you don't watch anything IPL has done, you pay zero attention to their content, yet you write an entire post saying they're bad?
Well the playoffs were great, but the qualifiers not so much cmon
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
So funny! IPL was always my favorite tournament. So well done in most aspects. Although their casters are definitely not my favorite CASTERS they are awesome people who do a fantastic job with eSports.
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
So basically, you don't watch anything IPL has done, you pay zero attention to their content, yet you write an entire post saying they're bad?
Well the playoffs were great, but the qualifiers not so much cmon
I wasn't talking about a single tournament. IPL produced tons of SC2 content with some of the best production value around, short of possibly GSL.
Good for Blizzard. Acquiring this sort of experienced manpower to build interesting content around their products will increase the longevity of their products, among maintaining good relations to the various communities of course.
I wonder whether/how this Blizzard DotA thingy can benefit from this cooperation.
:/ I'm happy that the IPL crew gets picked up but I feel that most of their work will be exclusively the WCS.This will be good for SC2 as it lets blizzard get an experienced crew to handle the tournament. But it is also a big blow to North American esports; other games have lost a major outlet/organizer.
It's unfortunate that some can't stand on their own with the product, without the Blizzard parachuting in to save/absorb these brands. At the same time, I think it's wonderful that Blizzard bought it because obviously with the WCS changes things are moving forward (not perfectly but definitely better as a result).
I guess I don't really have an opinion on this yet.
Hmm, IPL is involved a lot in LoL too, and it was pretty good too. Is this deal only limited for SC2, or the whole IPL in general? IPL is going to continue to run LoL tournaments on Blizzard's money?
On April 09 2013 05:14 canikizu wrote: Hmm, IPL is involved a lot in LoL too, and it was pretty good too. Is this deal only limited for SC2, or the whole IPL in general? IPL is going to continue to run LoL tournaments on Blizzard's money?
IPL doesn't exist any more, Blizzard bought IPL's assets but will not run LoL tournaments or an IPL 6.
On April 09 2013 05:14 canikizu wrote: Hmm, IPL is involved a lot in LoL too, and it was pretty good too. Is this deal only limited for SC2, or the whole IPL in general? IPL is going to continue to run LoL tournaments on Blizzard's money?
IPL doesn't exist any more, Blizzard bought IPL's assets but will not run LoL tournaments or an IPL 6.
Prepare for 15 more questions on the same lines.
Also, this shit is awesome. SC2 is coming to the Bay Area in a big way.
Expected this, but pleasantly surprised in a way. Blizzard is clearly demonstrating they are taking initiative into e-sports, and willing to foster the phenomenon.
it's pretty cool that blizzard saved their asses but they definitely need to change some people that run it, the last IPLs were pretty lame and their casters need to be updated for sure.
On April 09 2013 05:13 iMOOrtal wrote: Good and bad.
It's unfortunate that some can't stand on their own with the product, without the Blizzard parachuting in to save/absorb these brands. At the same time, I think it's wonderful that Blizzard bought it because obviously with the WCS changes things are moving forward (not perfectly but definitely better as a result).
I guess I don't really have an opinion on this yet.
Except Blizzard isn't really saving the brand. They're buying out experienced staff with all the infrastructure to manage content creation and broadcasting, and they're dropping the old brand.
As I said back in the old IPL Closing threads, anyone interested in starting up any kind of Esports content creation would have been foolish to ignore IPL's existing resources.
First of all congrats to the people at IPL! They must be really excited to be working for Blizzard. It's apparent that Blizzard has something Esports related in mind for these guys or they would not get them in the first place. And bloody hell Blizzard is really investing into Esports.
Wow, really happy to hear this. Congratz to Kevin Knocke for the new title and to all other employes Looking forward to the Blizzard content coming up.
I agree, totally unexpected! I'm glad to see the IGN guys have jobs and with Blizzard no less, but I wonder how they'll use Kevin Knocke and his talents. It'd be a shame to waste his voice and charisma.
On April 09 2013 04:48 scintilliaSD wrote: "Saving eSports" is kind of funny in this respect. Are they saving SC2? Probably not, SC2's doing just fine with the current number of tournaments, and people have even been talking about oversaturation of SC2's tournaments, which this may only further perpetuate. Instead, the League of Legends scene, the fighting game scene and the Shootmania scene all lost a huge major tournament with this purchase. Had IPL been purchased by another corporate sponsor and allowed to continue with their previous track, that would have "saved eSports" way more than this purchase does.
Nono you got it all wrong. Starcraft 2 IS eSports. LoL and Riot in particular is a villain supported by Dustin Browder and David Kim, trying to kill everything we hold dear.
Seriously though, i really hope that IPL will still be for shooters, fighters and even LoL. I don't see anything good coming out of a feud between Blizzard and Riot.
On April 09 2013 05:32 FatBat wrote: wait .. What about EG announcement of incontrol and his wife moving to bay area?
No announcement. They just moved to a house in the Bay area like normal people. The same area with Blizzard and NASL are. People are just putting things together because we are smart and stuff.
Grats to the IPL people, they deserved to be given another shot after all they've done. And working for Blizzard of all companies! I've got to agree, the boys and girls in blue have definitely been stepping it up, looking forward to seeing what comes of this.
On April 09 2013 04:50 HotShizz wrote: why keep the same people? IGN dumped them for a reason. I haven't had the stomach to watch any of their content since IPL 3 because I just don't think they had the quality of personnel to make it worth my while. Cool blizzard is getting involved but is a sinking ship really where you want to place your trust? good luck to them hopefully they turn it into something worthwhile.
So basically, you don't watch anything IPL has done, you pay zero attention to their content, yet you write an entire post saying they're bad?
Well the playoffs were great, but the qualifiers not so much cmon
I wasn't talking about a single tournament. IPL produced tons of SC2 content with some of the best production value around, short of possibly GSL.
There's going to be a lot of disappointed people judging from some of the responses in this thread when they find out IPL events and IPL is not continuing in any fashion. Blizzard grabbed IPL employees to help them run their own esports(WCS) events, not to run IPL6.
On April 09 2013 05:32 FatBat wrote: wait .. What about EG announcement of incontrol and his wife moving to bay area?
No announcement. They just moved to a house in the Bay area like normal people. The same area with Blizzard and NASL are. People are just putting things together because we are smart and stuff.
He said he moved there because EG is doing something there and there'll be an announcement.
On April 09 2013 05:32 FatBat wrote: wait .. What about EG announcement of incontrol and his wife moving to bay area?
No announcement. They just moved to a house in the Bay area like normal people. The same area with Blizzard and NASL are. People are just putting things together because we are smart and stuff.
He said he moved there because EG is doing something there and there'll be an announcement.
Almost like they all knew what was happening and didn't tell us.....wait.....thats exactly what happened.
Yay! This is sweet news indeed! I was so sad when Blizzard announced Heartstone on PAX as I thought THIS would be the big news, but I guess it all worked out in the end!
On April 09 2013 05:32 FatBat wrote: wait .. What about EG announcement of incontrol and his wife moving to bay area?
No announcement. They just moved to a house in the Bay area like normal people. The same area with Blizzard and NASL are. People are just putting things together because we are smart and stuff.
He said he moved there because EG is doing something there and there'll be an announcement.
Almost like they all knew what was happening and didn't tell us.....wait.....thats exactly what happened.
And with all that said. Guess where at least a part of the IPL team is going to get relocated and do their job to create Esports content Wouldn't be terrible surprising if they are going to be working in the bay area...
On April 09 2013 05:40 BearG wrote: I'm so confused. I could have sworn that I read an article earlier today stating Blizzard wasn't going to buy IPL. Too much sleep deprivation ~.~
I'm almost sure Blizzard Said exactly that not too long ago.
On April 09 2013 05:32 FatBat wrote: wait .. What about EG announcement of incontrol and his wife moving to bay area?
No announcement. They just moved to a house in the Bay area like normal people. The same area with Blizzard and NASL are. People are just putting things together because we are smart and stuff.
He said he moved there because EG is doing something there and there'll be an announcement.
Almost like they all knew what was happening and didn't tell us.....wait.....thats exactly what happened.
And with all that said. Guess where at least a part of the IPL team is going to get relocated and do their job to create Esports content Wouldn't be terrible surprising if they are going to be working in the bay area...
Well Blizzard did hire them and that is where Blizzard's office is. Its almost...logical.
Holy fucking shit - this is the biggest news for SC2 so far. Why? Because Blizzard can FINALLY FUCKING FOCUS on getting their shit together in development, and stop focusing on content or tournament production.
Jesus Christ. I've been waiting for this day for so god damn long....
On April 09 2013 05:37 Dodgin wrote: There's going to be a lot of disappointed people judging from some of the responses in this thread when they find out IPL events and IPL is not continuing in any fashion. Blizzard grabbed IPL employees to help them run their own esports(WCS) events, not to run IPL6.
I hope this means the production that IPL had, I loved their YouTube channel and would love to see the daily news continued.
On April 09 2013 05:54 hoby2000 wrote: Holy fucking shit - this is the biggest news for SC2 so far. Why? Because Blizzard can FINALLY FUCKING FOCUS on getting their shit together in development, and stop focusing on content or tournament production.
Jesus Christ. I've been waiting for this day for so god damn long....
I'm not sure if the people who worked in content/tournament production would now end up contributing to game development. The type of expertise seems too different.
IPL's production is top notch and they have great casters. I think this is a smart pickup, I hope they continue casting games regularly under Blizzard.
Glad this is happening. I throughly enjoyed the IPL, TAC, IPTL, and especially Fight Club, and dont want the people that made it possible go to waste. Hope to see what the future holds for Knocke and crew.
I'm glad about this. Great news, I think. I always enjoyed IPL, and I'm glad that some of the staff will still be together creating different content for Blizzard.
This is good news, also it's nice because the IPL staff is used to producing regular scheduled content. I'm excited to see who the final caster lineup will be, because it's going to be a very important part of the NA growth.
On April 09 2013 05:54 hoby2000 wrote: Holy fucking shit - this is the biggest news for SC2 so far. Why? Because Blizzard can FINALLY FUCKING FOCUS on getting their shit together in development, and stop focusing on content or tournament production.
Jesus Christ. I've been waiting for this day for so god damn long....
I'm not sure if the people who worked in content/tournament production would now end up contributing to game development. The type of expertise seems too different.
Think it's the other way around.. they hire people doing tournament production to keep blizz people developing. I just can't help but feel that staffing is tight in their offices.
Buying IPL basically removes the process of creating a new department from scratch. It's already done for them.
On April 09 2013 05:54 hoby2000 wrote: Holy fucking shit - this is the biggest news for SC2 so far. Why? Because Blizzard can FINALLY FUCKING FOCUS on getting their shit together in development, and stop focusing on content or tournament production.
Jesus Christ. I've been waiting for this day for so god damn long....
I'm not sure if the people who worked in content/tournament production would now end up contributing to game development. The type of expertise seems too different.
Think it's the other way around.. they hire people doing tournament production to keep blizz people developing. I just can't help but feel that staffing is tight in their offices.
Buying IPL basically removes the process of creating a new department from scratch. It's already done for them.
What he means is the people previously doing the tournament production won't now move onto game development because they are significantly different areas of expertise.
Glad for old IPL. Never liked official leagues with company names in them; it somewhat illegitimizes it professionally - can you image a company name attached to the NBA, MLB, etc
So glad Blizzard didn't attach it's name to WCS. Yay.
Hey everyone! Glad to see so much enthusiasm here. We have a lot of big plans and will be involved in a lot of Blizzard's efforts moving forward. We'll be sure to let everyone know more information as soon as we can release it about what exactly we're doing. Thanks again!
On April 09 2013 05:32 FatBat wrote: wait .. What about EG announcement of incontrol and his wife moving to bay area?
No announcement. They just moved to a house in the Bay area like normal people. The same area with Blizzard and NASL are. People are just putting things together because we are smart and stuff.
Oh there will be an announcement.
AnnaProsserRobinson @AnnaProsser
I can say officially (if it hasn't been obvious enough) @EGiNcontroL & I have moved to the Bay Area! @EvilGeniuses will tell you why soon.
Great news the for the IPL guys! Well done Blizzard recognizing and opportunity to snag up some top notch talent. WCS is keeps looking better and better.
On April 09 2013 05:32 FatBat wrote: wait .. What about EG announcement of incontrol and his wife moving to bay area?
No announcement. They just moved to a house in the Bay area like normal people. The same area with Blizzard and NASL are. People are just putting things together because we are smart and stuff.
On April 09 2013 06:51 Starp wrote: Glad for old IPL. Never liked official leagues with company names in them; it somewhat illegitimizes it professionally - can you image a company name attached to the NBA, MLB, etc
So glad Blizzard didn't attach it's name to WCS. Yay.
well if NBA or MLB was solely owned by apple, im sure they´d find a way
On April 09 2013 07:37 snively wrote: YYAAAAAAHHHH woohoo!!
so happy ipl not dead~
IPL for practical purposes is dead, we won't be seeing the IPL logo anymore. The staff however are still alive, and instead moved to Blizzard to aid them in their e-sports initiatives, so consider it a spiritual successor to IPL.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
Plan tickets back and forth to the Bay Area are also expensive.
Not to mention small businesses are able to write a lot of stuff off really easily, which end up translating into tax credits. Its ridiculous the type of shit that business owners can write off ~_~
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
Do you even understand what is going on? They are working with Blizzard and competing in the WCS, which is going to be based in the Bay area. Blizzard hired an entire production crew that worked on Esports events. Blizzard only has one Esport.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
Apparently we'll find out once they make an official announcement.
Catz also said that Root is planning on starting a team house close to EG. So given this recent Blizzard announcement, it looks like this will likely happen.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
Apparently we'll find out once they make an official announcement.
Catz also said that Root is planning on starting a team house close to EG. So given this recent Blizzard announcement, it looks like this will likely happen.
Because one of the main reasons that BW viable in Korea is it was all done out of one city. Costs are way lower when everyone is in the same place.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
Apparently we'll find out once they make an official announcement.
Catz also said that Root is planning on starting a team house close to EG. So given this recent Blizzard announcement, it looks like this will likely happen.
The above guy is right, the same house size they had in Phoenix will cost them 3-4x as much in SF. Unless Blizz is going to go one level higher and create some kind of team e-sport center where theyll rent/provide entire facilities to multiple teams at once. some kind of SC2 e-sport hive.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
Do you even understand what is going on? They are working with Blizzard and competing in the WCS, which is going to be based in the Bay area. Blizzard hired an entire production crew that worked on Esports events. Blizzard only has one Esport.
Ok? Unless Blizzard is paying for all this then I'll still stand by the fact that I believe it's a terrible idea for EG to move to the Bay Area. And I think it's equally dumb to run a league out of San Francisco.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
Apparently we'll find out once they make an official announcement.
Catz also said that Root is planning on starting a team house close to EG. So given this recent Blizzard announcement, it looks like this will likely happen.
The above guy is right, the same house size they had in Phoenix will cost them 3-4x as much in SF. Unless Blizz is going to go one level higher and create some kind of team e-sport center where theyll rent/provide entire facilities to multiple teams at once. some kind of SC2 e-sport hive.
I don't doubt that housing costs are higher, but I'm sure EG has a good reason that they are moving which they haven't announced. They were in Arizona because that's where Scoots lived.
Based on what was said last week on State of the Game, it made sense for a single city in California to emerge as the U.S.'s esports capital. That's where the game companies are, and it will have the best ping to the Korean servers.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
Do you even understand what is going on? They are working with Blizzard and competing in the WCS, which is going to be based in the Bay area. Blizzard hired an entire production crew that worked on Esports events. Blizzard only has one Esport.
Ok? Unless Blizzard is paying for all this then I'll still stand by the fact that I believe it's a terrible idea for EG to move to the Bay Area. And I think it's equally dumb to run a league out of San Francisco.
On April 09 2013 05:33 Plansix wrote: wait .. What about EG announcement of incontrol and his wife moving to bay area?
No announcement. They just moved to a house in the Bay area like normal people. The same area with Blizzard and NASL are. People are just putting things together because we are smart and stuff.
On April 09 2013 04:34 Branman wrote: I guess this explains why EG is moving their team house to San Francisco.
Wow that seems like such a fucking stupid idea. Home prices in the Bay Area are so outrageous compared to Phoenix
when your entire management is located in the Bay Area, it makes complete sense.
I don't think it's worth paying that much more money just because of that. There has to be more to it for it to be even remotely worth it and if there is I still think it's really stupid. It's really simple to find a nice ~3,500 sq. ft home in Phoenix for less than $600k but that shit ain't happening in the Bay Area. And especially now seeing as housing prices in the Bay Area are starting to grow at an exponential pace.
Do you even understand what is going on? They are working with Blizzard and competing in the WCS, which is going to be based in the Bay area. Blizzard hired an entire production crew that worked on Esports events. Blizzard only has one Esport.
Ok? Unless Blizzard is paying for all this then I'll still stand by the fact that I believe it's a terrible idea for EG to move to the Bay Area. And I think it's equally dumb to run a league out of San Francisco.
and i'll stand by the fact that its incredibly dumb to judge their decision when you know next to nothing of the situation. esports in NA needs a central hub. and that place isn't gonna be some small, cheap area. its gonna be a big city like SF.
And there is a reason Blizzard isn't just moving the IPL crew to its HQ in SoCal.
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
On April 09 2013 09:49 ThomasjServo wrote: This will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages content from other companies, most notably League but Shoot mania as well.
I don't think they will be doing any content that isn't a blizzard game, maybe another activision game but highly unlikely league/shootmania.
Really excited to see how this turns out. Only thing I'm wondering about is what is going to happen to kibbles and robin? Are they also being hired by blizzard or are they being left out to dry?
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
Harsh but true. If you have speech issues you should be backstage support not the guy trying to portray the excitement of the game, no matter how smart you are about the game. Listening to people who slurr and butcher the English language have no place in top level of casting. YouTube videos ok but I hope blizzard realizes this and fills them in.
On April 09 2013 09:49 ThomasjServo wrote: This will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages content from other companies, most notably League but Shoot mania as well.
I don't think they will be doing any content that isn't a blizzard game, maybe another activision game but highly unlikely league/shootmania.
They will probably pick up COD but I doubt they will drop league because of how profitable it is. they could use the LOL stream to try and direct people to the SC stream and also LOL gets lots of viewers so if they make somthing worth watching, then it will make money. Just getting rid of the LOL stream causes blizzard to lose potential money and also possible viewers that they can re direct to SC. The only reason I can see to cut league would be if riot makes unreasonable demands for the rights to broadcast their game.
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
Harsh but true. If you have speech issues you should be backstage support not the guy trying to portray the excitement of the game, no matter how smart you are about the game. Listening to people who slurr and butcher the English language have no place in top level of casting. YouTube videos ok but I hope blizzard realizes this and fills them in.
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
Harsh but true. If you have speech issues you should be backstage support not the guy trying to portray the excitement of the game, no matter how smart you are about the game. Listening to people who slurr and butcher the English language have no place in top level of casting. YouTube videos ok but I hope blizzard realizes this and fills them in.
who has a speech impediment?
Can't name the caster but he is on most of the main casts, might not be a speech impediment in reality but more like "ESL who speaks as if he has an impediment".
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
Harsh but true. If you have speech issues you should be backstage support not the guy trying to portray the excitement of the game, no matter how smart you are about the game. Listening to people who slurr and butcher the English language have no place in top level of casting. YouTube videos ok but I hope blizzard realizes this and fills them in.
who has a speech impediment?
Can't name the caster but he is on most of the main casts, might not be a speech impediment in reality but more like "ESL who speaks as if he has an impediment".
Axslav does. He enunciates badly (He sounds like he is latin-American with a bad stereotyped "geek"-manner of speaking), has slurred speech and a lisp. Three really bad qualities when your profession is related to public speaking. I don't mean to personally attack him, but I really can't stand it. As a analyst etc., I don't mind him at all -- As he does a great job in that regard. It's just as a caster, there's literally 15 other people I'd rather watch. Rotterdam isn't a native English speaker, and has somewhat of a bad accent, which might be bothersome to North-American watchers, as well as non-English speakers might find him difficult to understand, but as an individual he brings a lot more to the table than Axslav. Edit: I realize that I'm shitting on Axslav quite badly, but hopefully it's done in a constructive way (?).. I don't hate the guy, I just don't want him to be potentially casting 5 days a week, because I would simply not watch that at all.
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
Harsh but true. If you have speech issues you should be backstage support not the guy trying to portray the excitement of the game, no matter how smart you are about the game. Listening to people who slurr and butcher the English language have no place in top level of casting. YouTube videos ok but I hope blizzard realizes this and fills them in.
who has a speech impediment?
Can't name the caster but he is on most of the main casts, might not be a speech impediment in reality but more like "ESL who speaks as if he has an impediment".
Axslav does. He enunciates badly, has slurred speech and a lisp. Three really bad qualities when your profession is related to public speaking. I don't mean to personally attack him, but I really can't stand it. As a analyst etc., I don't mind him at all -- As he does a great job in that regard. It's just as a caster, there's literally 15 other people I'd rather watch. Rotterdam isn't a native English speaker, and has somewhat of a bad accent, which might be bothersome to North-American watchers, as well as non-English speakers might find him difficult to understand, but as an individual he brings a lot more to the table than Axslav.
i enjoy axlav as a caster he's one of my favourite
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
Harsh but true. If you have speech issues you should be backstage support not the guy trying to portray the excitement of the game, no matter how smart you are about the game. Listening to people who slurr and butcher the English language have no place in top level of casting. YouTube videos ok but I hope blizzard realizes this and fills them in.
who has a speech impediment?
Can't name the caster but he is on most of the main casts, might not be a speech impediment in reality but more like "ESL who speaks as if he has an impediment".
Axslav does. He enunciates badly (He sounds like he is latin-American with a bad stereotyped "geek"-manner of speaking), has slurred speech and a lisp. Three really bad qualities when your profession is related to public speaking. I don't mean to personally attack him, but I really can't stand it. As a analyst etc., I don't mind him at all -- As he does a great job in that regard. It's just as a caster, there's literally 15 other people I'd rather watch. Rotterdam isn't a native English speaker, and has somewhat of a bad accent, which might be bothersome to North-American watchers, as well as non-English speakers might find him difficult to understand, but as an individual he brings a lot more to the table than Axslav. Edit: I realize that I'm shitting on Axslav quite badly, but hopefully it's done in a constructive way (?).. I don't hate the guy, I just don't want him to be potentially casting 5 days a week, because I would simply not watch that at all.
The speech thing bothered me for about 15 minutes and then I stopped thinking about it. Axslav is a very good commentator. As long as he is paired with someone who has a good radio voice he is fine. For example, I would love to hear him and Kevin Knocke.
Casters/player-casters like Axslav, Artosis, Incontrol, Apollo, and Tod give me the feeling of one layer deeper analysis than the slew of other "analytic" casters(this list is not exhaustive, and I also realize that there are plenty of good casters who spend their time doing a billion other good and productive things content-wise, and am not faulting them for their lack of pro-level knowledge).
This sounds pretty awesome, it is cool to see Blizzard getting involved in the scene a bit more than they already are. Can't wait to see what they have in the works.
This depresses me :[ the loss of a new potential league for Fighting Games is gone.
Good for Blizzard I guess it was a smart business move to higher a team with a whole lot of experience already. Its just depressing to see so many games doors close because of 1 door opening.
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
Harsh but true. If you have speech issues you should be backstage support not the guy trying to portray the excitement of the game, no matter how smart you are about the game. Listening to people who slurr and butcher the English language have no place in top level of casting. YouTube videos ok but I hope blizzard realizes this and fills them in.
who has a speech impediment?
Can't name the caster but he is on most of the main casts, might not be a speech impediment in reality but more like "ESL who speaks as if he has an impediment".
Axslav does. He enunciates badly (He sounds like he is latin-American with a bad stereotyped "geek"-manner of speaking), has slurred speech and a lisp. Three really bad qualities when your profession is related to public speaking. I don't mean to personally attack him, but I really can't stand it. As a analyst etc., I don't mind him at all -- As he does a great job in that regard. It's just as a caster, there's literally 15 other people I'd rather watch. Rotterdam isn't a native English speaker, and has somewhat of a bad accent, which might be bothersome to North-American watchers, as well as non-English speakers might find him difficult to understand, but as an individual he brings a lot more to the table than Axslav. Edit: I realize that I'm shitting on Axslav quite badly, but hopefully it's done in a constructive way (?).. I don't hate the guy, I just don't want him to be potentially casting 5 days a week, because I would simply not watch that at all.
It was kind of funny to hear you tell us that you don't like Axslav's natural way of talking, and that someone with a different way of talking shouldn't do public speaking, then admit that many people might not like Rotti's natural way of talking, but you like Rotti "as an individual" so it's okay.
Just wanted it to be clear to everyone that this guy gave his subjective preference only rather than giving any objective criticism of Axslav's casting ability or reasons not to use him as a WCS caster.
I KNEW IT! they kinda fooled me when they denied that they're buying IPL... didnt expect them to lie about it, but blizzard are keen as beans to get as involved with esports as they can and evolve it as much as possible so its a no brainer that they'd sink their teeth into this and see what they can do with it.
I hope they do a good job, and dont fuck it up, but since theyre hiring a whole bunch of the IPL guys im confident they'll do well, and i'll give them the benefit of the doubt
On April 09 2013 04:37 scintilliaSD wrote: While I'm excited to know that IPL won't be a dead organization, I am a bit disappointed because one of the biggest things I saw IPL doing for the eSports scene was their involvement in the fighting game community in particular. Getting Capcom's backing is difficult, and the fact that their venture failed and now has been picked up by a company that has no reason to work with the FGC means that it will be even more difficult for organizations in the future to prove to Capcom that it's worthy to work for them.
I was also a huge fan of how IPL treated the League of Legends scene, so I'll be sad to see that go as well.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but why are some people having such difficulties realizing FGC was never meant to be? I gave up 3 years ago after the last deal crash and burned, and I'm sorry, but I don't ever see it rising to stardom over the current dominant e-sports. Just let it die in silence. Even Fifa is crushing fighting games these days..
I called it on Blizzard acquiring IPL though. Great move content-wise, Someone mentioned how weird it is that Blizzard chose MLG to partner with, which in turn leaves us with Axeltoss and Axslav. I have to agree on the weird fact that we're stuck with sub-par and unpopular casters that are not very hyped within Sc2 community, nor will they be intriguing for newcomers. Both lack ANY appeal, individuality or personality. One has a very bad speech impediment that is veeery distracting (And will be mocked by most newcomers) and quite frankly unfitting for the profession of commentating, while Rotti and Bitter are stuck playing mock-social games on Sunday late nights.. Makes no sense.
Harsh but true. If you have speech issues you should be backstage support not the guy trying to portray the excitement of the game, no matter how smart you are about the game. Listening to people who slurr and butcher the English language have no place in top level of casting. YouTube videos ok but I hope blizzard realizes this and fills them in.
who has a speech impediment?
Can't name the caster but he is on most of the main casts, might not be a speech impediment in reality but more like "ESL who speaks as if he has an impediment".
Axslav does. He enunciates badly (He sounds like he is latin-American with a bad stereotyped "geek"-manner of speaking), has slurred speech and a lisp. Three really bad qualities when your profession is related to public speaking. I don't mean to personally attack him, but I really can't stand it. As a analyst etc., I don't mind him at all -- As he does a great job in that regard. It's just as a caster, there's literally 15 other people I'd rather watch. Rotterdam isn't a native English speaker, and has somewhat of a bad accent, which might be bothersome to North-American watchers, as well as non-English speakers might find him difficult to understand, but as an individual he brings a lot more to the table than Axslav. Edit: I realize that I'm shitting on Axslav quite badly, but hopefully it's done in a constructive way (?).. I don't hate the guy, I just don't want him to be potentially casting 5 days a week, because I would simply not watch that at all.
It was kind of funny to hear you tell us that you don't like Axslav's natural way of talking, and that someone with a different way of talking shouldn't do public speaking, then admit that many people might not like Rotti's natural way of talking, but you like Rotti "as an individual" so it's okay.
Just wanted it to be clear to everyone that this guy gave his subjective preference only rather than giving any objective criticism of Axslav's casting ability or reasons not to use him as a WCS caster.
/SC2 community caster debates
You are belittling what I wrote. The impression of Axslav that I have is maybe 70% self-preference (Subjective, biased and very opinionated thoughts...), and 30% of what I've seen others say, both on here, twitter, friends, reddit and chats. When I said that I like Rotti more as an "individual", I meant as in his complete character and connection to the scene. He is way more popular, he is more relevant, is A LOT (!!!) more out-going and likeable, and is generally an easier person to connect to. Axslav is rather boring and unenthusiastic, over-the-top tryhard professional, and on top of that he has the speech thingy. He lacks any identity. My bottom-line objective stance on Axslav is basically that he is a pick from the bottom of the barrel when you compare him to basically any other caster that can be deemed suitable for WCS. If you asked most people what they think about Axslav, they'd respond with "Who the fuck is Axslav?". I think I'm going wildly off-topic here now.
My bottom-line objective stance on Axslav is basically that he is a pick from the bottom of the barrel when you compare him to basically any other caster that can be deemed suitable for WCS..
Which is to say, I miss having a 24/7 stream I know will have content I want to watch, even if it's my 6th trip through Hyun's reign on Fight Club. Dammit, Kevin, get that stuff started back up. Though I guess it'll be "Blizzard Fight Club!"
Anyone know if Nick Allen still has a job? I really liked the guy. I know he did LoL content, but since RedBaron still went over to Blizzard I was hoping Nick got a job too.
On April 09 2013 09:49 ThomasjServo wrote: This will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages content from other companies, most notably League but Shoot mania as well.
I don't think they will be doing any content that isn't a blizzard game, maybe another activision game but highly unlikely league/shootmania.
They will probably pick up COD but I doubt they will drop league because of how profitable it is. they could use the LOL stream to try and direct people to the SC stream and also LOL gets lots of viewers so if they make somthing worth watching, then it will make money. Just getting rid of the LOL stream causes blizzard to lose potential money and also possible viewers that they can re direct to SC. The only reason I can see to cut league would be if riot makes unreasonable demands for the rights to broadcast their game.
They won't do LoL because it's a competitor and they're not running tournaments anymore besides WCS. I think the headline blizzard buys IPL is largely semantics. I don't believe they bought "IPL" because since they won't be using any of the IPL branding, IPL was dead and worthless.
I would guess blizzard paid $0 for "IPL" but it looks sexy as a headline to say they bought IPL. What they did do is hire 23 jobless people and bought the IPL equipment they wanted to bring along. I could be totally wrong on that, but I don't see how the IPL brand would have any monetary value if they didn't plan on using any the branding which would make it worth something.
On April 09 2013 09:49 ThomasjServo wrote: This will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages content from other companies, most notably League but Shoot mania as well.
I don't think they will be doing any content that isn't a blizzard game, maybe another activision game but highly unlikely league/shootmania.
They will probably pick up COD but I doubt they will drop league because of how profitable it is. they could use the LOL stream to try and direct people to the SC stream and also LOL gets lots of viewers so if they make somthing worth watching, then it will make money. Just getting rid of the LOL stream causes blizzard to lose potential money and also possible viewers that they can re direct to SC. The only reason I can see to cut league would be if riot makes unreasonable demands for the rights to broadcast their game.
They won't do LoL because it's a competitor and they're not running tournaments anymore besides WCS. I think the headline blizzard buys IPL is largely semantics. I don't believe they bought "IPL" because since they won't be using any of the IPL branding, IPL was dead and worthless.
I would guess blizzard paid $0 for "IPL" but it looks sexy as a headline to say they bought IPL. What they did do is hire 23 jobless people and bought the IPL equipment they wanted to bring along. I could be totally wrong on that, but I don't see how the IPL brand would have any monetary value if they didn't plan on using any the branding which would make it worth something.
You missed the part where it said Blizzard picked up all of IPL's personnel and assets. IPL still has a lot of equipment and the IP (including past broadcasts) are still worth money. The name itself is still worth money, because of the trademarks, reputation, and intangibles. A straight hire wouldn't have brought all of the things they can pick up in a sale. Plus, yeah, they get to be Good Guy Blizzard saving some cat's pajamas from an uncaring IGN.
On April 09 2013 09:49 ThomasjServo wrote: This will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages content from other companies, most notably League but Shoot mania as well.
I don't think they will be doing any content that isn't a blizzard game, maybe another activision game but highly unlikely league/shootmania.
They will probably pick up COD but I doubt they will drop league because of how profitable it is. they could use the LOL stream to try and direct people to the SC stream and also LOL gets lots of viewers so if they make somthing worth watching, then it will make money. Just getting rid of the LOL stream causes blizzard to lose potential money and also possible viewers that they can re direct to SC. The only reason I can see to cut league would be if riot makes unreasonable demands for the rights to broadcast their game.
They won't do LoL because it's a competitor and they're not running tournaments anymore besides WCS. I think the headline blizzard buys IPL is largely semantics. I don't believe they bought "IPL" because since they won't be using any of the IPL branding, IPL was dead and worthless.
I would guess blizzard paid $0 for "IPL" but it looks sexy as a headline to say they bought IPL. What they did do is hire 23 jobless people and bought the IPL equipment they wanted to bring along. I could be totally wrong on that, but I don't see how the IPL brand would have any monetary value if they didn't plan on using any the branding which would make it worth something.
You missed the part where it said Blizzard picked up all of IPL's personnel and assets. IPL still has a lot of equipment and the IP (including past broadcasts) are still worth money. The name itself is still worth money, because of the trademarks, reputation, and intangibles. A straight hire wouldn't have brought all of the things they can pick up in a sale. Plus, yeah, they get to be Good Guy Blizzard saving some cat's pajamas from an uncaring IGN.
I dunno. I just see them as buying all the equipment as just straight equipment sales, otherwise IGN would try to send those to auction or something to get money for it. Instead they just sold it to blizzard. What trademarks, reputation are they buying? The IPL name is dead. Blizzard won't be using the name IPL in anything they do. If they planned to use the IPL brand somehow, then yeah I could see it having value.
Basically, I just see it as 23 employees got laid off. 23 employees sent their resumes to blizzard. Blizzard hired 23 people. That's part 1. Part 2 is IGN had equipment to sell. IGN sold this equipment to blizzard. Therefore, I see blizzard spent money on parts 1 and 2. Why would they spend additional money on part 3, which would be the value of the IPL brandname itself if they don't plan on using any of that branding which gave it value? Seems like it would be a waste of money. Again, I'm no expert on this stuff though. Just thinking about it logically, so I could be totally wrong.
wow awesome news so glad that Blizz stepped in and helped with this great program and people keeping their jobs
they are very lucky and now I will be more inclined to purchase blizz products....considering what happened with d3 I kind of have been on the iffy side but now I'll show my support
On April 09 2013 09:49 ThomasjServo wrote: This will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages content from other companies, most notably League but Shoot mania as well.
I don't think they will be doing any content that isn't a blizzard game, maybe another activision game but highly unlikely league/shootmania.
They will probably pick up COD but I doubt they will drop league because of how profitable it is. they could use the LOL stream to try and direct people to the SC stream and also LOL gets lots of viewers so if they make somthing worth watching, then it will make money. Just getting rid of the LOL stream causes blizzard to lose potential money and also possible viewers that they can re direct to SC. The only reason I can see to cut league would be if riot makes unreasonable demands for the rights to broadcast their game.
They won't do LoL because it's a competitor and they're not running tournaments anymore besides WCS. I think the headline blizzard buys IPL is largely semantics. I don't believe they bought "IPL" because since they won't be using any of the IPL branding, IPL was dead and worthless.
I would guess blizzard paid $0 for "IPL" but it looks sexy as a headline to say they bought IPL. What they did do is hire 23 jobless people and bought the IPL equipment they wanted to bring along. I could be totally wrong on that, but I don't see how the IPL brand would have any monetary value if they didn't plan on using any the branding which would make it worth something.
what is the difference between "Blizzard hired ex-IPL employees and their infrastructure and has them do the same job" and "Blizzard bought IPL...to get access to its emplyoees and infrastructure to do the same job" ? The only people who would care would be IGN. To the fans this is great news because (a) IPL puts on strong tournaments and (b) Blizzard seems to be strongly supporting the NA scene instead of just kind of saying "O well, good luck MLG" and moving onto Warcraft 4 hype.
On April 09 2013 09:49 ThomasjServo wrote: This will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages content from other companies, most notably League but Shoot mania as well.
I don't think they will be doing any content that isn't a blizzard game, maybe another activision game but highly unlikely league/shootmania.
They will probably pick up COD but I doubt they will drop league because of how profitable it is. they could use the LOL stream to try and direct people to the SC stream and also LOL gets lots of viewers so if they make somthing worth watching, then it will make money. Just getting rid of the LOL stream causes blizzard to lose potential money and also possible viewers that they can re direct to SC. The only reason I can see to cut league would be if riot makes unreasonable demands for the rights to broadcast their game.
They won't do LoL because it's a competitor and they're not running tournaments anymore besides WCS. I think the headline blizzard buys IPL is largely semantics. I don't believe they bought "IPL" because since they won't be using any of the IPL branding, IPL was dead and worthless.
I would guess blizzard paid $0 for "IPL" but it looks sexy as a headline to say they bought IPL. What they did do is hire 23 jobless people and bought the IPL equipment they wanted to bring along. I could be totally wrong on that, but I don't see how the IPL brand would have any monetary value if they didn't plan on using any the branding which would make it worth something.
You missed the part where it said Blizzard picked up all of IPL's personnel and assets. IPL still has a lot of equipment and the IP (including past broadcasts) are still worth money. The name itself is still worth money, because of the trademarks, reputation, and intangibles. A straight hire wouldn't have brought all of the things they can pick up in a sale. Plus, yeah, they get to be Good Guy Blizzard saving some cat's pajamas from an uncaring IGN.
I dunno. I just see them as buying all the equipment as just straight equipment sales, otherwise IGN would try to send those to auction or something to get money for it. Instead they just sold it to blizzard. What trademarks, reputation are they buying? The IPL name is dead. Blizzard won't be using the name IPL in anything they do. If they planned to use the IPL brand somehow, then yeah I could see it having value.
Basically, I just see it as 23 employees got laid off. 23 employees sent their resumes to blizzard. Blizzard hired 23 people. That's part 1. Part 2 is IGN had equipment to sell. IGN sold this equipment to blizzard. Therefore, I see blizzard spent money on parts 1 and 2. Why would they spend additional money on part 3, which would be the value of the IPL brandname itself if they don't plan on using any of that branding which gave it value? Seems like it would be a waste of money. Again, I'm no expert on this stuff though. Just thinking about it logically, so I could be totally wrong.
Thinking about things logically doesn't work for Intellectual Property lawyer types. The name "IPL", the "IPL" logo, etc, all have value simply as a known brand. (Similar to why "Twinkies" is a valuable name, whether or not anyone actually makes them.) ZD wanted IGN to focus on content and news creation, so IGN had to sell IPL. Selling it as a unit to include all the broadcasts (and they can still make money rebroadcasting or selling rights for old broadcasts, etc) is easier all around for both IGN and Blizz. (Not sure if employment contracts contain any "yellow dog" clauses, despite them being basically unenforceable in California. Plus, if you buy the business entire, you aren't renegotiating salaries with each employee.
Umm. TL;dr is it's a legal and corporate operations kindof thing, it's just easier to buy the entire company and then drop people than it is to let the company dissolve and pick up the pieces.
SC2 is doing great e-sports wise and for the rest of the titles I really can't see any need for something like this. I think Blizzard would never do such a big step without some big reasons like preparing for the dota clone, the only possible title with real e-sports value besides sc2.
Very excited to see what they're gonna do with it BlizzTV? Hopefully they'll stay classy and not go too mainstream. Would hate for primary content to turn into StarJeweled, Aiur Chef or other stuff like that.
On April 09 2013 09:49 ThomasjServo wrote: This will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages content from other companies, most notably League but Shoot mania as well.
I don't think they will be doing any content that isn't a blizzard game, maybe another activision game but highly unlikely league/shootmania.
They will probably pick up COD but I doubt they will drop league because of how profitable it is. they could use the LOL stream to try and direct people to the SC stream and also LOL gets lots of viewers so if they make somthing worth watching, then it will make money. Just getting rid of the LOL stream causes blizzard to lose potential money and also possible viewers that they can re direct to SC. The only reason I can see to cut league would be if riot makes unreasonable demands for the rights to broadcast their game.
They won't do LoL because it's a competitor and they're not running tournaments anymore besides WCS. I think the headline blizzard buys IPL is largely semantics. I don't believe they bought "IPL" because since they won't be using any of the IPL branding, IPL was dead and worthless.
I would guess blizzard paid $0 for "IPL" but it looks sexy as a headline to say they bought IPL. What they did do is hire 23 jobless people and bought the IPL equipment they wanted to bring along. I could be totally wrong on that, but I don't see how the IPL brand would have any monetary value if they didn't plan on using any the branding which would make it worth something.
You missed the part where it said Blizzard picked up all of IPL's personnel and assets. IPL still has a lot of equipment and the IP (including past broadcasts) are still worth money. The name itself is still worth money, because of the trademarks, reputation, and intangibles. A straight hire wouldn't have brought all of the things they can pick up in a sale. Plus, yeah, they get to be Good Guy Blizzard saving some cat's pajamas from an uncaring IGN.
I dunno. I just see them as buying all the equipment as just straight equipment sales, otherwise IGN would try to send those to auction or something to get money for it. Instead they just sold it to blizzard. What trademarks, reputation are they buying? The IPL name is dead. Blizzard won't be using the name IPL in anything they do. If they planned to use the IPL brand somehow, then yeah I could see it having value.
Basically, I just see it as 23 employees got laid off. 23 employees sent their resumes to blizzard. Blizzard hired 23 people. That's part 1. Part 2 is IGN had equipment to sell. IGN sold this equipment to blizzard. Therefore, I see blizzard spent money on parts 1 and 2. Why would they spend additional money on part 3, which would be the value of the IPL brandname itself if they don't plan on using any of that branding which gave it value? Seems like it would be a waste of money. Again, I'm no expert on this stuff though. Just thinking about it logically, so I could be totally wrong.
Thinking about things logically doesn't work for Intellectual Property lawyer types. The name "IPL", the "IPL" logo, etc, all have value simply as a known brand. (Similar to why "Twinkies" is a valuable name, whether or not anyone actually makes them.) ZD wanted IGN to focus on content and news creation, so IGN had to sell IPL. Selling it as a unit to include all the broadcasts (and they can still make money rebroadcasting or selling rights for old broadcasts, etc) is easier all around for both IGN and Blizz. (Not sure if employment contracts contain any "yellow dog" clauses, despite them being basically unenforceable in California. Plus, if you buy the business entire, you aren't renegotiating salaries with each employee.
Umm. TL;dr is it's a legal and corporate operations kindof thing, it's just easier to buy the entire company and then drop people than it is to let the company dissolve and pick up the pieces.
This is 100% correct. It is far easier to buy everything as a whole and then discard what is not needed. It is simpler on both sides, since IGN gets to unload everything in one transaction and Blizzard can just cherry pick what they need. Selling everything piece by piece and may not yield enough money to make it worth it. Remember that when you sell something, you need to devote time to selling it and assuring you are getting a good value. This is compounded by the number of sales you are attempting.
In short, it is faster and requires less manpower to just preform a single sale. Also IPL worth more whole, rather than each piece being sold separately. The equipment is only good when people to us it.
On April 09 2013 17:43 SinO[Ob] wrote: Oh yea! IPL couldnt die that easily! With all the effort ppl have put into it. Hope them the best for the future!
Well it IS dead. Blizzard is just salvaging to boost its own tournements. That said it is about as ideal a situration as we could have hoped for.
I still find it funny how last month they were like we are not gonna touch IPL. I wonder who else would want to buy IPL? I can't really think of too many organizations that would. But on another note, I am glad that a lot of the IPL staff found a home, they were a talented bunch doing some good stuff with a little budget.
On April 09 2013 14:06 DonKey_ wrote: Anyone know if Nick Allen still has a job? I really liked the guy. I know he did LoL content, but since RedBaron still went over to Blizzard I was hoping Nick got a job too.
Nick is supposed to be talking about what he will be doing today on State of the League.
Is it just me or is it kind of sad that blizzard was forced to be the only one to buy it? IGN seems to be pretty successful, I find it odd that other esport centric company didnt pick it up asap after it fell.
On April 09 2013 04:28 kollin wrote: Hey JimmyJRaynor. That 30 day ban is waiting.
try reading the thread. i predicted no more IPL events. i did not get into the discussion of who was or was not "buying" IPL. you wanted to go on and on about how IPL would be "bought" by someone.
and even in this thing.. they are getting SOME employees and SOME of the Tech and SOME of the assets. IPL is gone.
On April 09 2013 04:28 kollin wrote: Hey JimmyJRaynor. That 30 day ban is waiting.
try reading the thread. i predicted no more IPL events. i did not get into the discussion of who was or was not "buying" IPL. you wanted to go on and on about how IPL would be "bought" by someone.
and even in this thing.. they are getting SOME employees and SOME of the Tech and SOME of the assets. IPL is gone.
The condition was 30 day ban if IPL is bought. IPL have been bought.
Maybe I just misread, but why are people going "Woo Esports!" from this announcement? What I gathered from the OP is that the IPL studio will be a Blizzard studio that pushes mobile apps. That's hardly Blizz investing in Esports.
On April 09 2013 04:28 kollin wrote: Hey JimmyJRaynor. That 30 day ban is waiting.
try reading the thread. i predicted no more IPL events. i did not get into the discussion of who was or was not "buying" IPL. you wanted to go on and on about how IPL would be "bought" by someone.
and even in this thing.. they are getting SOME employees and SOME of the Tech and SOME of the assets. IPL is gone.
The condition was 30 day ban if IPL is bought. IPL have been bought.
Don't even try. He is going to say that IPL was bought by Blizzard, but is not operating as IPL any more. The man never admits he is wrong, only amend his previous statements so he can always be partly correct.
Behold his recent edit, done while I was typing my post:
On April 09 2013 04:28 kollin wrote: Hey JimmyJRaynor. That 30 day ban is waiting.
try reading the thread. i predicted no more IPL events. i did not get into the discussion of who was or was not "buying" IPL. you wanted to go on and on about how IPL would be "bought" by someone.
and even in this thing.. they are getting SOME employees and SOME of the Tech and SOME of the assets. IPL is gone.
On April 10 2013 03:52 Ljas wrote: Maybe I just misread, but why are people going "Woo Esports!" from this announcement? What I gathered from the OP is that the IPL studio will be a Blizzard studio that pushes mobile apps. That's hardly Blizz investing in Esports.
No, they hired then to make high quality web and mobile "content", better known as video.. They did not provide programmers to make apps for the Iphone, they hired a production team.
On April 10 2013 03:52 Ljas wrote: Maybe I just misread, but why are people going "Woo Esports!" from this announcement? What I gathered from the OP is that the IPL studio will be a Blizzard studio that pushes mobile apps. That's hardly Blizz investing in Esports.
You misread. They will be doing far more than simply pushing mobile apps.
On April 10 2013 03:59 Ljas wrote: Mmh, maybe so. It's still not exactly pushing Esports.
They just started the WCS, hired a production team who specialized in creating Esports content and created a studio for them to work in the Bay Area. Unless you expected the press release to say "And they are going to be making Esports content all day and all night, all the time! 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, all the Esports!", I think they are pushing Esports pretty hard.
Yesterday, Blizzard Entertainment announced it would purchase IGN ProLeague assets. In addition, the Warcraft studio revealed it had brought on some of the team to form a new Blizzard studio in San Francisco, California focused on content production.
To get a better sense of how the deal came to be, what it means, and more, GameSpot spoke with IGN cofounder Peer Schneider.
With how successful the IPL events have become, why not keep the brand?
Peer Schneider: If you look at the asset transfer, Blizzard is picking up the team and the technology associated with it. We are committed to covering competitive gaming and broadcast events in the future, so you never know what you're going to see from us. The idea behind IPL and what it stood for over the last two years doesn't make sense in our current focus area.
With the acquisition by Ziff Davis, they really wanted to focus in on our core media business. We've got a pretty good thing going when it comes to users that we can afford to take a step back and really kind of focus on the stuff that we kicked off 16 years ago and have really grown over the past decade plus.
The core of what IPL did…it wasn't just about broadcasting eSports matches, something I'd love to continue doing, and it was basically an events business. At this time it doesn't really make sense for us to be in the events business.
How much was IPL sold for?
Unfortunately, neither side will be disclosing any numbers surrounding the deal.
On April 10 2013 04:40 Slasher wrote: Yesterday, Blizzard Entertainment announced it would purchase IGN ProLeague assets. In addition, the Warcraft studio revealed it had brought on some of the team to form a new Blizzard studio in San Francisco, California focused on content production.
To get a better sense of how the deal came to be, what it means, and more, GameSpot spoke with IGN cofounder Peer Schneider.
With how successful the IPL events have become, why not keep the brand?
Peer Schneider: If you look at the asset transfer, Blizzard is picking up the team and the technology associated with it. We are committed to covering competitive gaming and broadcast events in the future, so you never know what you're going to see from us. The idea behind IPL and what it stood for over the last two years doesn't make sense in our current focus area.
With the acquisition by Ziff Davis, they really wanted to focus in on our core media business. We've got a pretty good thing going when it comes to users that we can afford to take a step back and really kind of focus on the stuff that we kicked off 16 years ago and have really grown over the past decade plus.
The core of what IPL did…it wasn't just about broadcasting eSports matches, something I'd love to continue doing, and it was basically an events business. At this time it doesn't really make sense for us to be in the events business.
How much was IPL sold for?
Unfortunately, neither side will be disclosing any numbers surrounding the deal.
To read more, click the link above to GameSpot!
Well done Slasher. Peer Schneider pretty much summed it up right there. I am pumped to see what Blizzard does with the IPL crew.
On April 10 2013 05:03 SuperFanBoy wrote: Looks like Blizzard is taking one out of Riot's book, and trying to control esports.
If they were trying to "control esports", they'd have done far more than they already have, particularly in terms of edging out competing, 3rd party tournaments. I think Blizzard just wants a piece of the pie that is made of their game rather than the whole thing like Riot.
On April 10 2013 05:03 SuperFanBoy wrote: Looks like Blizzard is taking one out of Riot's book, and trying to control esports.
If they were trying to "control esports", they'd have done far more than they already have, particularly in terms of edging out competing, 3rd party tournaments. I think Blizzard just wants a piece of the pie that is made of their game rather than the whole thing like Riot.
riot was forced into making it competitive and are the only thing that keep it going, there would be zero tournaments without them since their game isnt made for competitive play while blizzard wants some of that money and invest in their own game to increase their revenue now and further down the road with void
Blizzard already runs it's own tournaments. All they did was hired the displaced staff and unknown "assets" that Blizzard somehow doesn't already have. They don't plan on continuing the IPL brand.
On April 10 2013 15:13 Ownos wrote: Blizzard already runs it's own tournaments. All they did was hired the displaced staff and unknown "assets" that Blizzard somehow doesn't already have. They don't plan on continuing the IPL brand.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/TZHXDY9.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kxjkg4W.jpg)
Wouldn't be terrible surprising if they are going to be working in the bay area...
