Visited TL for the first time in weeks and what do I get but a heart attack. This title.....

Scary title aside, the article hit me right in the feels. Though to be perfectly honest, I expect the GSL will die abruptly instead of gradually. Basically, as soon as Blizzard/Hot6 cuts funding, the GSL is dead and for all intents and purposes, professional Korean SC2 will die with it. We do know it won't be in 2018, but anytime after that is fair game.

There's also the fact that, regardless of funding, the professional Korean scene is living on borrowed time anyway. There had already been difficulty finding new blood for several years, but the loss of KeSPA really put the writing on the wall. The current Korean scene is almost entirely comprised of an elite group of players that spent their formative years on a team during the glory years of SC2. All of these players are within a few years of each other, and all of them will have to join the military sooner or later. Their number is slowly dwindling with players like Dream and Leenock enlisting, and will only accelerate in the years to come.

Already the GSL is slowly degrading–the end of Code A, the sparsely-attended qualifiers that replaced it, the gaping chasm between the best and the rest. The same favorites in the Ro32, the same faces in the quarterfinals, the same names on the trophies. Within this small pool of potential champions, there is at least still enough competition to make a tournament worthy of the name. But once this small group is gone, even if the funding is there for GSL, the tournament will be a rotting corpse of its former self at best.

Without Proleague, the GSL basically singlehandedly holds up the professional Korean scene. Ever since 2010, the GSL has stood as the absolute pinnacle of competitive SC2, the gold standard of players' talent, the foundation-stone to greatness. Obviously SC2 is more than just the professional Korean scene, and the game will survive in other aspects. But after the GSL is gone, SC2 will never again reach that zenith of skill.

All things pass.

leublix

493 Posts

November 13 2017 23:20 GMT

#44

That was a bitter sweet read. Nicely done.

lestye

United States4163 Posts

November 14 2017 00:09 GMT

#45

On November 14 2017 07:53 fishjie wrote:

Show nested quote +

plenty of money in the scene? low viewership corresponds to less advertising sponsorship which would directly impact prize pool and team salaries. compare to DOTA where the prize pool is in the millions and I'm assuming LOL is similar. you can just look at the size of the LR for blizzcon finals. much smaller now then it was back in 2013

Those are MOBAs in much much more popular games. RTS is going to be way more niche. We don't have 12 million monthly players like Dota 2, we have 2 million.

There is 4.1 million dollars worth of prize money in the scene this year. That is more prize money than any year in SC2's history besides 2012.

Compare that to any 1v1 game.

Fran_

United States1024 Posts

November 14 2017 00:29 GMT

#46

On November 14 2017 01:16 Ansibled wrote:
Well thanks for scaring me with the title.

My heart skipped a beat :S

OrangeGarage

Korea (South)319 Posts

November 14 2017 01:34 GMT

#47

On November 14 2017 07:52 DSK wrote:
Might I ask who Jiwoo is? Why do I feel like a complete idiot for not knowing who that is?.

He's the korean name for Ash in pokemon- other then that i don't know any Jiwoos in gaming either

ShambhalaWar

United States930 Posts

November 14 2017 06:06 GMT

#48

I saw that Life reference in the second to last paragraph.

FREE LIFE!

(Good read btw).

usopsama

6502 Posts

November 14 2017 06:10 GMT

#49

Is there a tl;dr? Judging from the comments, it is a giant troll?

lestye

United States4163 Posts

November 14 2017 07:31 GMT

#50

On November 14 2017 15:10 usopsama wrote:
Is there a tl;dr? Judging from the comments, it is a giant troll?

It's just a morbid emotional fanfic of what it would feel like if GSL died in 2020.

Alarak'smanservant

35 Posts

November 14 2017 10:37 GMT

#51

This is making me really sad. Though the part about Nightmare winning gsl made me chuckle a little

Wolf

Korea (South)3290 Posts

November 14 2017 10:40 GMT

#52

Really enjoyed reading this. Thank you.

Hadronsbecrazy

United Kingdom551 Posts

November 14 2017 11:28 GMT

#53

Marus long awaited GSL victory

Sad times for Maru fans right now

Hadronsbecrazy

United Kingdom551 Posts

November 14 2017 11:28 GMT

#54

but yes the title had me worried xD

Jimmon

United States112 Posts

November 14 2017 14:45 GMT

#55

Thanks for the uneccesary click bait.

paralleluniverse

4065 Posts

November 14 2017 15:01 GMT

#56

WTF is this? Clickbait? FAKE NEWS?

StarDraKe

France65 Posts

November 14 2017 16:52 GMT

#57

Almost had my end of proleague trauma back! Nice article.

Would prefer a more epic last final such as Sos vs Soo !

Clazziquai10

Singapore1949 Posts

November 14 2017 17:00 GMT

#58

GODDAMMIT U JUST MADE ME CRY

DrunkenJedi

Germany175 Posts

November 14 2017 17:27 GMT

#59

On November 14 2017 05:42 Carminedust wrote:
after reading it again the article missed one of the greatest legends of the early days of GSL THE GREAT PoopFeast420 and his questions for Artosis

So true, those where the best and funniest times GSL has ever had. SaggyMidgetBooty had some real good questions as well

fishjie

United States1519 Posts

November 14 2017 19:47 GMT

#60

On November 14 2017 09:09 lestye wrote:

Show nested quote +

you'll need to source 4.1 million dollars worth of prize money in the scene this year. in the golden age of 2011-2013(?) there was NASL, IGN Proleague, MLG, GSL, TSL, IEM, Dreamhack and other big tournaments going on all the time, and all of them either died (NASL, IGN, TSL), dropped SC2 (MLG and dreamhack although i believe dreamhack picked it up again but reduced in scope). So the only two big ones left are IEM and GSL. So where is this 4.1 million number coming from?

Compare that to fighting games which are alive and kicking and have tons of viewership and are 1v1