Pomf & Thud, IS producers released a video tonight about French commentary for WCS Europe and Iron Squid 3.
First part, WCS Europe. On March 2013, Blizzard announced WCS. They were surprised by this tournament and they were not invited to stream this competition. Blizzard told them to speak to ESL because the company produced WCS. ESL owned WCS Europe. O'GamingTV, Millenium and aAa decided to create an alliance, they wanted to produce contents together. ESL did not allowed OGTV, Millenium and aAa to stream the tournament.
They wanted to cast on O'Gaming studio then on Millenium studio in Paris. They wanted to cast some parts of the tournament, most likely RO8/4/2. Today it's not possible. Twitch has a parternship with ESL. Moreover, Twitch is a great service bu in France there is a major issue. For each 10000 viewers, the French streamer receives between 20 and 2 euros. That's 4 kebabs maximum. A one hour show with professional knowledge such as casting, lighting, cameraman, it's between 200 and 500 euros per hour. It's represents between 40 and 100 kebabs. It's only one hour, a whole year represents 300 hours. There is a lot of money behind a stream. In France no one can use Twicth if they want to survive. In France, a few streamers use Twitch but it's not their first way to win money. They are sponsored, they have a huge YouTube fanbase. It's just impossible for them. They just want to produce a great show, to pay producers, not only casters but the whole crew who work behind the scenes. This issue is only on France and Poland. Blizzard want a French stream. The action #WCSinFrench was useful by the way.
Then, Iron Squid 3. One year ago they produced Iron Squid, it was amazing, we loved it. We have been on Iron Squid 3 3 months after the end of Iron Squid 3. They earned experience, they have partnership with brands and also Dailymotion. With tehm they can afford it and they know which venues are great for Iron Squid 3. But, there is a tiny detail, it's called WCS. WCS is the biggest tournament on StarCraft II scene. If they want to produce Iron Squid 3 they need to know when there is a weekend without WCS event but also they need to book the venue. They need to book the venue months/year before the event. You also have to pay the first part to the owner of the venue when you book it. And Blizzard does not know what will happen to WCS in two months, they don't know when a RO8/4/2 will be played. O'GamingTV can't afford to book a venue if they don't know when a week end of WCS will happen. They are working with Blizzard. They want to do Iron Squid 3.
They will also produce a new tournament with an offline part. It's a big tournament. It's a great one, they will be great players. It will be announced soon.
Thanks for keeping us updated on the French scene, and I'm optimistic Blizzard and Pomf et Thud can come up with some kind of agreement to have Iron Squid 3 or whatever it will be renamed.
On April 18 2014 05:49 Amestir wrote: So guys. Either I'm missing something really obvious or France has a secret underground economy where they pay people in kababs?
I'm really confused.
Putting it in perspective with something that we all understand.
i have another translation (better english, but no kebab and other jokes) here
We are working on Iron Squid 3 3 months after the end of Iron Squid 3.
"we have been working"
i can translate the IS3 part if it is needed, but there not much to talk about.
the real issue hasn't change: -twitch has a global monopoly and they want to make sure to keep it (hopefully the mlg thingy i forgot the name of, and maybe owned.tv comeback, or youtube can do something about that, i have no hope in dailymotion worldwide) -dailymotion is monopolizing the video streaming revenue for french viewers
Yeah it is tough because Blizzard/ESL strictly want WCS to be on one service to have a direct flow of revenue towards one common source. Having multiple affiliates with their own studio/casters/$$ would obviously qualified as entitled to a cut of any money that was made through the French stream, which would have to be on Twitch, something that is not so successful in France :/ It really is a tough spot. Hopefully they can reach for an agreement.
As for Iron Squid, I think Blizzard does a terrible job at being transparent with their scheduling and plans for WCS. Take Dreamhack, for example. They release a FULL schedule of the whole year, with weekends and venues and all the information you would really need for a year long circuit. They make sure people know when their events are and what it's for and give ample info to people. Blizzard, on the other hand, is not nearly as transparent or vocal about their scheduling. The average viewer probably isn't knowledgeable of when new seasons of WCS even begin, how long they run, or whatever unless they really dig deep and comb forums. And even then, it is quite difficult.
This is where I see the problem with the WCS atmosphere. It doesn't leave people thinking about next season, considering what might happened, a "post-season" review or analysis of the coming season, and instead that is left to the occasional community shows to discuss, which ultimately doesn't reach the entire marketshare that WCS may have. Hype doesn't really exist, and we sort of just saunter into the next season with no real build up or anything. Idk. Sorry about the rant.
Anyways, Iron Squid is an amazing event with passionate fans and an outstanding production. Them not being able to, as third-party tournament organizers, access information about the non-compete WCS tournament is evident of monopolistic tactics. Maybe in the future Blizzard will be more open about their tournaments, but alas, we must wait and see.
It all comes down to money and that the fill rate for France sucks on twitch. I can see why they would want to use another streaming service, but thats not part of the deal Blizzard worked out with twitch. Hopefully something can be worked out.
That's a great video, way more satisfying than the weird angry message that they posted on TL a few months ago.
I really hope they can make a new Iron Squid, these tournaments were exciting and I like how they do things differently than the other standard tournaments.
This situation is so messy I still hope it can be resolved so we get a frenchie stream for WCS EU and a WCS free weekend, the Iron Squids were some of the most amazing tournaments so far, I loved them a lot (the orchestra, oh my)!
On April 18 2014 06:26 ACrow wrote: I still hope it can be resolved so we get a frenchie stream for WCS EU and a WCS free weekend, the Iron Squids were some of the most amazing tournaments so far, I loved them a lot (the orchestra, oh my)!
On April 18 2014 05:49 Amestir wrote: So guys. Either I'm missing something really obvious or France has a secret underground economy where they pay people in kababs?
I'm really confused.
Putting it in perspective with something that we all understand.
Hope blizzard will move their ass on Ironsquid topic! Seriously , we know they are really incompetent but to the point of not being able to schedule their damn WCS for a year , common every half decent company can plannify something 2 years ahead. Blizzard is not even giving 1 year of visibility of their WCS .
Blizzard is becoming an expert in self-destruction
EPT
![[image loading]](http://static.mnium.org/images/contenu/actus/sc2/sc2_moman_baguette.png)
