EPTSoul to disband - Page 8
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plgElwood
Germany518 Posts
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VArsovskiSC
Macedonia563 Posts
On December 20 2013 06:49 Zealously wrote: Do you know why STX SouL and Woongjin Stars disbanded? If your answer is that they were broke - then there must be a reason.. Famous brands/teams don't just disappear after being mostly-successful in the region... Think of it like a Football-league - why would the best 2 teams that got 1st and 2nd last season get broke ??? Too much transfer-money ?, too high player salaries ?? - certainly that isn't the reason.. The main reason is the lack of new sponsorship.. And can't think that that's unrelated to the game itself, or the viewership TBH.. As I said - wish it wasn't, just hope it's not, and at the far ends after all - we can't be sure | ||
opterown
Australia54785 Posts
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Zealously
East Gorteau22261 Posts
On December 20 2013 06:59 VArsovskiSC wrote: If your answer is that they were broke - then there must be a reason.. Famous brands/teams don't just disappear after being mostly-successful in the region... Think of it like a Football-league - why would the best 2 teams that got 1st and 2nd last season get broke ??? Too much transfer-money ?, too high player salaries ?? - certainly that isn't the reason.. The main reason is the lack of new sponsorship.. And can't think that that's unrelated to the game itself TBH.. As I said - wish it wasn't, just hope it's not, and after all - can't be sure.. Sure there is a reason. Their main sponsors went bankrupt. It had very little to do with Starcraft, be it Brood War or Starcraft II. Corporate sponsors were rare in BW, make no mistake - Team 8, for all the popularity of their players, were unable to find a sponsor for a very long time despite the rich histories of their players. I agree that if SC2 had been in a much better spot in Korea, Stars and SouL may have been able to secure a new corporate sponsorship, but the fact is that the situation for many teams was tough back in Brood War as well (look at MBCGame closing and the teams that disbanded around '10 and '11, eventually leading to the foundation of Team 8). Given that KeSPA has always (until recently) been strictly Korean, it would be weird for foreign companies to sponsor a strictly Korean pro team, and there has never been an excess of major corporations interested in dumping money into eSports anywhere. With Proleague no longer as interesting for viewers as it once was, my personal conclusion is that what happened to Stars and SouL was largely due to the financial troubles of their sponsors, whereas the problem only got (slightly) worse due to differing conditions in SC2. | ||
BigFan
TLADT24920 Posts
On December 20 2013 07:07 Zealously wrote: Sure there is a reason. Their main sponsors went bankrupt. It had very little to do with Starcraft, be it Brood War or Starcraft II. Corporate sponsors were rare in BW, make no mistake - Team 8, for all the popularity of their players, were unable to find a sponsor for a very long time despite the rich histories of their players. I agree that if SC2 had been in a much better spot in Korea, Stars and SouL may have been able to secure a new corporate sponsorship, but the fact is that the situation for many teams was tough back in Brood War as well (look at MBCGame closing and the teams that disbanded around '10 and '11, eventually leading to the foundation of Team 8). Given that KeSPA has always (until recently) been strictly Korean, it would be weird for foreign companies to sponsor a strictly Korean pro team, and there has never been an excess of major corporations interested in dumping money into eSports anywhere. With Proleague no longer as interesting for viewers as it once was, my personal conclusion is that what happened to Stars and SouL was largely due to the financial troubles of their sponsors, whereas the problem only got (slightly) worse due to differing conditions in SC2. While I agree with this, just wanted to expand on the MBCGame part from what I've read in the BW forums. It was in one of the Savior threads that popped up a couple of weeks back. As it goes: the closing wasn't due to lack of popularity. From what I read, the director or whoever was at the head at the time had some personal venda against MBCGame(or esports) so he made endeavors that didn't generate much for MBCGame and he knew that would be the case. He used this to claim that MBCGame wasn't doing well despite the fact that they were generating decent revenue and shut it down to make it a music station for Kpop. True that kpop was getting really popular but if MBCGame was earning them money compared to other projects they had at the time, why not replace those other ones? btw, this is what I remember reading from the thread. I could have completely messed that up so I'll leave it at that lol | ||
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Burns
United States2300 Posts
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Locke-
499 Posts
On December 20 2013 06:56 plgElwood wrote: no STX no Soul T_T. This is really sad... | ||
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Xiphos
Canada7507 Posts
On December 20 2013 07:23 BigFan wrote: While I agree with this, just wanted to expand on the MBCGame part from what I've read in the BW forums. It was in one of the Savior threads that popped up a couple of weeks back. As it goes: the closing wasn't due to lack of popularity. From what I read, the director or whoever was at the head at the time had some personal venda against MBCGame(or esports) so he made endeavors that didn't generate much for MBCGame and he knew that would be the case. He used this to claim that MBCGame wasn't doing well despite the fact that they were generating decent revenue and shut it down to make it a music station for Kpop. True that kpop was getting really popular but if MBCGame was earning them money compared to other projects they had at the time, why not replace those other ones? btw, this is what I remember reading from the thread. I could have completely messed that up so I'll leave it at that lol The viewership have always been there. Its the model that was sponsor-reliant that failed. OGN/MBC should've charged people to go inside their stadium. In 2010/11, BW PL managed to cling on the number 1 TV viewership of SK and the OGN studio jam packed that they plan to construct a larger stadium to accommodate such audience. The lack of sponsorship is caused by two things. First the matchfixing fiasco that made sponsors skeptical about the spirit of the competition and from Blizzard's lawsuit. The lawsuit gave ALL pro BW leagues bad names that OGN/MBC were hosting illegal tournaments. At end, both Kespa and Blizzard settled that OGN may allow to broadcast BW with Blizzard's "permission" as long as OGN/Kespa decide to promote SC2 through a "transition". Thus came forth the hideous Frankenstein monster that is SK Planet ProLeague 2012 Season 2. At the same time, Kespa/OGN's abandonment of BW was not solely because Blizzard's threat. LoL was rising in Korea with OGN's Champion League gaining massive momentum, they would rather not fight against Blizzard as Blizzard got an excellent law firm behind them and decide to allocate their resources into LoL. Again remember that eSport is a BUSINESS, OGN saw the opportunity of money-making in LoL and they ceased it. There are a lot of factors at play in these years. Have Blizzard not sue Kespa and its subordinates, the transition to SC2 would have been much smoother and perhaps BW's fanbase would have tried SC2 before LoL and therefore the LoL's hype would have never caught on in Korea. However if Blizzard didn't sue Kespa, BW would most likely have more positive PR surrounding it and there will be more sponsors and thus still persisted. It was the perfect storm that destroyed both SC scenes in Korea. During the anarchy, LoL swept everyone by surprise. And on Team 8, if you have watched the documentary "State of the Play", it explored on the reason the team haven't gained any sponsors w/ the reason being that they underperformed. The culture there is that they don't care about "star" power, the only thing that matters is the result of the play. So it is no surprise that they didn't gain any sponsors. JinAir's intention were much more focused toward LoL's development over SC2 such that they've got their LoL teams already set up from the interview and Team 8 was more of a side dish. At that time, Team 8 had pretty much all rookies in their roster so their salaries was low enough for Kespa to negotiate. | ||
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Akimbo
Canada105 Posts
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Dragoonstorm7
United States599 Posts
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Thrill
2599 Posts
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DwD
Sweden8621 Posts
I miss seeing the Red Sniper Hwasin play... I wonder what he is up to these days anyway | ||
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GoodSirTets
Canada200 Posts
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sparklyresidue
United States5524 Posts
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isaachukfan
Canada785 Posts
Also, Hyvaa to Prime pls... | ||
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Xiphos
Canada7507 Posts
On December 20 2013 10:57 isaachukfan wrote: Guys, weather sc2 is dying or not is irrelevant to the closure of Woonjin and STX, the only reason these got shut down is that STX and Woongjin both went bankrupt, all of their sponsorships have closed down as have the companies. While I don't doubt the sc2 scene is not what i once was, especially in korea, that has nothing to do with this Also, Hyvaa to Prime pls... The unfortunate thing is that no single organization is willing to sponsor the finalists of the most prestigious SC2 team tournament. | ||
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iamho
United States3347 Posts
On December 20 2013 09:30 DwD wrote: So sad I miss seeing the Red Sniper Hwasin play... I wonder what he is up to these days anywayHe said in some interview that he was a waiter now. | ||
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MysterySC
Andorra109 Posts
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Cam Connor
Canada786 Posts
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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