This is bad for the viewers, viewer count, overall hype, interest in the tournaments. I guess this is a decision taken by people who don' know what it means to watch sc2 hours on end. You just segment your viewers for no good reason. Hey, you know what those sc2 fans would like? What? To have all 3 Regional Season Finals in ONE WEEKEND. Would that be cool? Wow what a great idea, all synced up and tidy! Blizzard has to consult with e-sports people with a brain before screwing themselves and the viewers over. I'm not even going to get into the TI3 overlap. Just too silly.

Heyoka

Katowice25012 Posts

July 22 2013 23:39 GMT

#302

Updated OP with this reddit post that explains part of the situation.

GreYMisT

United States6736 Posts

July 22 2013 23:41 GMT

#303

Good thing we can watch TI3 in Dota tv

holy_war

United States3590 Posts

July 22 2013 23:41 GMT

#304

Well, that statement was exactly what I expected.

Waxangel

United States33506 Posts

July 22 2013 23:41 GMT

#305

yay nothing has been resolved

Esoterikk

Canada1256 Posts

July 22 2013 23:43 GMT

#306

Not surprised Blizzard isn't backing down, they have pretty inflated self worth in esports and as a company generally think they can do no wrong and are right in all situations. Oh well, this isn't going to hurt TI3 viewership at all but SC2 is going to miss out on a metric ton of potential views by being stupid.

BoZiffer

United States1841 Posts

July 22 2013 23:44 GMT

#307

Welp. I guess that "addresses concerns" in the most technical sense by merely acknowledging their existence. Watching TI3. Fix yourself Blizz.

mnck

Denmark1518 Posts

July 22 2013 23:45 GMT

#308

That response by Blizzard was completely what I expected! Hope this isn't as bad as people think it will be... My first impression was that this timing will completely destroy the viewership for this event, but maybe im being overdramatic. After all, the International 2013 will be held from 7th of August to 11th, where the WCS events will be from 5th to 8th. So the finals of WCS will overlap with the early stages of the playoff in The International. We're not talking about finals being played on the same time, but a small overlap at most!

oneill12

Romania1222 Posts

July 22 2013 23:45 GMT

#309

That statement does not address the idiotic idea to place all season finals in a single weekend. Executives that don't know what they are talking about. And he says there are a lot of e-sports events etc etc. OMFG, we know that, you only had to avoid one of them, TI3, Valve's yearly event

Boucot

France15997 Posts

July 22 2013 23:45 GMT

#310

They shouldn't have foreseen to organize it at GamesCom. That's the main problem.

tshi

United States2495 Posts

July 22 2013 23:45 GMT

#311

Well, I dont think it will be so bad, if it were a big League of Legends tournament, then I think people will have to worry a lot more. That game is so big compared to SC2 that I cant imagine SC2 being the main event for anything they run at the same time as LoL.

Random2323

United Kingdom1 Post

July 22 2013 23:46 GMT

#312

RIP WCS.

Esoterikk

Canada1256 Posts

July 22 2013 23:47 GMT

#313

On July 23 2013 08:45 tshi wrote:
Well, I dont think it will be so bad, if it were a big League of Legends tournament, then I think people will have to worry a lot more. That game is so big compared to SC2 that I cant imagine SC2 being the main event for anything they run at the same time as LoL.

The international viewer counts rivals any League events viewers for one tournament, Sc2 has just as much to lose in this situation because 90% of viewers will pick TI3 over Sc2 any day.

dcsoda

United States583 Posts

July 22 2013 23:48 GMT

#314

I'm still watching WCS and so will plenty of people. This will end up being a non issue because browsers can have more than one window open.

ch33psh33p

7650 Posts

July 22 2013 23:49 GMT

#315

The International 3 will grab more viewers than anything League has to offer, at least until they do their World Finals.

SC2 will take a heavy heavy backseat here.

tribulator

774 Posts

July 22 2013 23:49 GMT

#316

Considering they wanted to hit Gamescom for the global finals, you'd think they'd plan ahead and try to, you know, avoid any major conflicts by scheduling appropriately. It's pretty obvious at this point that they didn't do that.

Can't wait to see what they fuck up next!

Random_Guy09

Canada1010 Posts

July 22 2013 23:49 GMT

#317

If it was LCS instead of TI3 there wouldn't be anger at all towards Blizzard cause SC2 fans don't care about LoL. But a lot of SC2 fans are also Dota 2 fans which is why there is conflict. With it instead being TI3 WCS loses a hefty amount of viewers. What Blizzard also doesnt know is that the TI3 group stages are happening the week before the playoffs which alot of people will be watching instead of WCS as well.

On July 23 2013 08:47 Esoterikk wrote:

Show nested quote +

The international viewer counts rivals any League events viewers for one tournament, Sc2 has just as much to lose in this situation because 90% of viewers will pick TI3 over Sc2 any day.

And this year they're having more coverage for TI3 with more languages as broadcasters this year instead of just english and russian like last year. TI3 is just a smart marketing tool for Dota 2 and with half of the prize pool being raised by just dota 2 fans it brings alot more hype to the table and media. WCS will still be overshadowed even though its overlapping both part of the group stages and the first 2 days of the playoffs. Poor planning from Blizzard just like WCS season 1. Have fun dealing with the PR nightmare from team sponsors wondering about their ROI and why its shit Blizzard.

SpiZe

Canada3640 Posts

July 22 2013 23:51 GMT

#318

On July 23 2013 08:48 dcsoda wrote:
I'm still watching WCS and so will plenty of people. This will end up being a non issue because browsers can have more than one window open.

Twitch might want to have a word with you tho.

Netherlands12045 Posts

July 22 2013 23:51 GMT

#319

lol so they arent backing down. Yep, all aboard the Valve train.... expecting ghost town over SC vile soon. Yeah its a bad business decision if they would have backed down but its a price they gota pay making such terrible mistake. By not backing down, not only they ruined their reputation as a game developer, they also ruining their reputation in making business decision. We all know what WCS final last year or ANY of the ESL event are like. Even though they are not borderline horrible, they are no where close to The International in term of production quality. Thats not even counting the prestigious price pool and a huge storyline carried over from last year TI2. Meanwhile viewers still are confused with the regional format system of WCS. No way in hell this gona end pretty for blizzard.