EPTBlizzard announces 2015 WCS changes - Page 21
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Jerom
Netherlands588 Posts
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada16710 Posts
when attendance at this weekend's WCS Global finals RO16 is sub par look for Blizzard to adjust the WCS prize pool downwards for 2015. i see nothing in these changes that will allow Blizzard even the remote chance of breaking even in their esports ventures for SC2. Blizzard is not going to continue to pour money down the drain. Look for the over all prize pool in 2015 to decline compared to 2014 (WCS plus other events). | ||
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Faefae
2203 Posts
On November 01 2014 21:39 JimmyJRaynor wrote: this circle-jerk of a thread has been way too positive. when attendance at this weekend's WCS Global finals RO16 is sub par look for Blizzard to adjust the WCS prize pool downwards for 2015. i see nothing in these changes that will allow Blizzard even the remote chance of breaking even in their esports ventures for SC2. Blizzard is not going to continue to pour money down the drain. Blizzard is losing money and will always lose money with WCS. Even Riot lose money and won't break even any time soon with their lcs thing | ||
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Scrubwave
Poland1786 Posts
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada16710 Posts
On November 01 2014 21:47 Faefae wrote: Blizzard is losing money and will always lose money with WCS. Even Riot lose a money and won't break even any time soon with their lcs thing true, James Naismith doesn't have the skills to create a basketball league like the NBA. Blizzard doesn't have the skills to turn their game into a money making year long live event tournament series. it'd be really cool if Blizzard were able to hand WCS over to a different company that knew how make money off of live events.. in the way Brood War events in South Korea made money. | ||
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MockHamill
Sweden1798 Posts
I think the changes are great. 90% of the good players are Koreans so it makes sense to have more leagues in Korea. Much more than having lots of Koreans to play in in America. I really think GSL and the new Korean league should have VODs free of charge though. Having a paywall does not make sense for E-sports, you should aim to get as many viewers as possible. | ||
Zealously
East Gorteau22261 Posts
On November 01 2014 21:39 JimmyJRaynor wrote: this circle-jerk of a thread has been way too positive. when attendance at this weekend's WCS Global finals RO16 is sub par look for Blizzard to adjust the WCS prize pool downwards for 2015. i see nothing in these changes that will allow Blizzard even the remote chance of breaking even in their esports ventures for SC2. Blizzard is not going to continue to pour money down the drain. Look for the over all prize pool in 2015 to decline compared to 2014 (WCS plus other events). WCS has been run at a loss since day 1, why do you think it would change now? | ||
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Jade
Poland289 Posts
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Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
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gruff
Sweden2276 Posts
On November 01 2014 15:50 CursOr wrote: I am going to be quite blunt and speculative. I figure that Blizzard is looking for WCS viewership to go up drastically. I am quite sure they would like at least 5x to 10x more the viewers on all WCS events at all times. With many more people playing and being interested in the game. If things stay largely the same, well they will stay the same. LotV and drastic changes to WCS are in the long term (2-3 years), going to be the last pushes to get dramatically increased viewership, or this shit is just going to go away. Blizzard cant just continue to fund it for another 20 years for no good reason. And I SINCERELY hope it works. I like SC2 and would love to see it around for a long time. Eh no, your 5-10x prediction is luldacris and I'm sure Blizzard aren't expecting that. Also, how exactly are Blizzard funding the scene? They aren't Riot. Sure they pitch in here and there but the sc2 scene have been largely independent of Blizzards support. | ||
digmouse
China6329 Posts
On November 01 2014 21:39 JimmyJRaynor wrote: this circle-jerk of a thread has been way too positive. when attendance at this weekend's WCS Global finals RO16 is sub par look for Blizzard to adjust the WCS prize pool downwards for 2015. i see nothing in these changes that will allow Blizzard even the remote chance of breaking even in their esports ventures for SC2. Blizzard is not going to continue to pour money down the drain. Look for the over all prize pool in 2015 to decline compared to 2014 (WCS plus other events). Why do you think a company like Blizzard would back out of their announcement and do something like reducing the prize pool? Looks like your typical thinking. | ||
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Doublemint
Austria8519 Posts
On November 01 2014 22:10 Zealously wrote: WCS has been run at a loss since day 1, why do you think it would change now? Sorry to burst your negative bubble but if the CEO of Blizzard feels passionate about it and wants to spend it, it's not just "putting money down the drain". Not to forget the pretty huge benefits in PR for Blizzard and the gaming franchise that is Starcraft. Without the esports aspect, Twitch won't give a shit. People won't give a shit. Sponsors won't give a shit. Basically nobody would give a shit ~ 6 months after release, probably even sooner. Look at the immense campaign and effort EA put in place for Titanfall before and after release. Now? Yeah, you tell me. | ||
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada16710 Posts
On November 01 2014 22:10 Zealously wrote: WCS has been run at a loss since day 1, why do you think it would change now? Blizzard didn't make any money in its first 5 years either. But, for them to really start making cool games on a large scale they had to start making money. Same applies to WCS. | ||
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digmouse
China6329 Posts
On November 01 2014 22:33 JimmyJRaynor wrote: Blizzard didn't make any money in its first 5 years either. But, for them to really start making cool games on a large scale they had to start making money. Same applies to WCS. You probably don't know that SC2 is Mike Morhaime's personal boy and he won't stop supporting it, no matter it makes money or not. | ||
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vjcamarena
Spain493 Posts
My main concern is that the Korea->Foreign skill communication that was ocurring with foreign-based koreans acting as the connection might stop and foreign skill might grow much slower. Well see though, now that foreigners are slightly more incentivized (because of the higher amount of tournaments and prize money) to go to Korea to learn (as Jinro, HuK, Idra, Nani, Scarlett used to do and as State does now). Those players became the "importers" of skill from Korea to international lands before, it might happen again. Secondly, I'm slightly concerned that there's going to be less money for foreigners overall since I expect it will have about 1/3 of total prizepool now as compared to 2/3 of total prizepool before. To clarify, I'm assuming all three tournaments have similar prize pools like they more or less had in the 2013-2014 WCS era. That said, it will be the full 1/3 instead of being (2/3rds - whatever Koreans based in Korea but competing in EU/AM can get). Maybe it evens out. And yeah, I'm counting Koreans living in foreign lands as foreigners. As sould everyone. This really, really sucks for ForGG. Hope that we europeans can keep him. As a final consideration, the following post makes a compelling case for watching international WCS. Clever. It will be hard to find a timezone that works for all regions tho. The finals will probably end up being at late night EU/evening AM, which is fine for both, but screws SEA, China, etc. Maybe those people are supposed to watch GSL even tho their players play in international WCS? Then again maybe we get WCS reruns, which would be pretty awesome for everyone. On November 01 2014 11:02 Musicus wrote: Now if I'm egoistic for a second and think about it from a viewer perspective. This surely will be an entertaining tournament to watch if it looks anything like this: Europe:  BunnyHappyKasDayshi SnuteTLOVortiXTargANerchio HarstemShoWTimELilbowMaNaWelmuNorth America: PoltqxcviOLetScarlettKaneHuKMinigunpuCKChina: XYXiGuaJimMacSedLatin Ameica: MajOrJimRiSiNgOceania Sout East Asia: iaguzPiGTaiwan SenHas | ||
lichter
1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
On November 01 2014 22:20 Doublemint wrote: Sorry to burst your negative bubble but if the CEO of Blizzard feels passionate about it and wants to spend it, it's not just "putting money down the drain". Not to forget the pretty huge benefits in PR for Blizzard and the gaming franchise that is Starcraft. Without the esports aspect, Twitch won't give a shit. People won't give a shit. Sponsors won't give a shit. Basically nobody would give a shit ~ 6 months after release, probably even sooner. Look at the immense campaign and effort EA put in place for Titanfall before and after release. Now? Yeah, you tell me. "at a loss" doesn't mean "throwing money down the drain" | ||
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Zealously
East Gorteau22261 Posts
On November 01 2014 22:33 JimmyJRaynor wrote: Blizzard didn't make any money in its first 5 years either. But, for them to really start making cool games on a large scale they had to start making money. Same applies to WCS. Blizzard's primary goal isn't to make goal off WCS. Kim Phan has said as much on Twitter. If they could break even that's nice and it might be a goal to strive towards, but they sunk money into WCS events for three years, they won't downscale it now. On November 01 2014 22:20 Doublemint wrote: Sorry to burst your negative bubble but if the CEO of Blizzard feels passionate about it and wants to spend it, it's not just "putting money down the drain". Not to forget the pretty huge benefits in PR for Blizzard and the gaming franchise that is Starcraft. Without the esports aspect, Twitch won't give a shit. People won't give a shit. Sponsors won't give a shit. Basically nobody would give a shit ~ 6 months after release, probably even sooner. Look at the immense campaign and effort EA put in place for Titanfall before and after release. Now? Yeah, you tell me. There's no negative bubble here, what are you talking about? Are you quoting the right person? | ||
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FanaticCZ
Czech Republic287 Posts
More tournaments in Korea with more Koreans is the best thing i couldve hoped for and unified Premier League seems really nice to me as well. Lets see how it goes!  | ||
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada16710 Posts
On November 01 2014 22:35 digmouse wrote: You probably don't know that SC2 is Mike Morhaime's personal boy and he won't stop supporting it, no matter it makes money or not. If they make money off the events themselves it becomes a lot easier to pay the eSports stars a full time wage commensurate with the effort they put into the game. as long as it keeps losing money there is only so much Blizzard can justify to pour into it due to their corporate overlords ATVI. On November 01 2014 22:35 digmouse wrote: You probably don't know that SC2 is Mike Morhaime's personal boy you're incorrect. i know how he had to go to his grandma for money because his parents wanted nothing to do with video games. i read Morhaime's forward in the compendium of 3 works of SC1 fiction. i recall Morhaime stating that he always looks forward to the Starcraft competition at Blizzcon in the 20 year retrospective. read a few of my SC related posts and you'll see i follow Morhaime very closely. For SC2 eSports to take off it needs its watershed event like Wrestlemania3 in 1987 or UFC30 in 2001. It will require a genius promoter to pull that off. Disregarding these pie in the sky dreams though, 2015 should be a fun year for SC2 esports for viewers. Over all aggregate prize money will go down somewhat, making it even tougher on the players. | ||
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Thax
Belgium1060 Posts
That being said I feel that Blizzard should make an exception for players like ForGG who have been living and working in Europe for years and have built a life there. | ||
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