• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 16:43
CEST 22:43
KST 05:43
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver4[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Siren's Call8[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End9Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2915
Community News
Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down1StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon98Weekly Cups (Aug 30-Sep 7): herO thrives amid growing schism10Official StarCraft website teases new content ahead of BlizzCon?179Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20)9
StarCraft 2
General
How do you feel about the StarCraft shooter announcement at BlizzCon 2026? Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 SC2 AI Tournament 2026 Fall Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament KSL Week #92
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 543 Enhanced Defenses The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 542 The Ascended Mutation # 541 Binary Choice
Brood War
General
Syncronization issues and can't find games BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Why Protoss Struggles on ASL (Ft. Shuttle, Tulbo) ASL22 General Discussion
Tourneys
[ASL22] Ro16 Group D KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL22] Ro16 Group C
Strategy
Replay Review Process - What do you do? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Game Theory for Starcraft
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation Diablo IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Post Your Watch!
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The Creator Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Virtual Romance, Real-Life C…
TrAiDoS
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Dreaming of BW patches (mod…
c3rberUs
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 6262 users

TY & Stats on the Future and Decline of Korean SC2 - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
66 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Kinky
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States4126 Posts
August 28 2020 01:45 GMT
#41
Thanks for translating! This was a good interview. I'm glad TY and Stats think SC2 still has a long future ahead.
[Phantom]
Profile Blog Joined August 2013
Mexico2170 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-08-28 16:33:24
August 28 2020 16:25 GMT
#42
Why do people blame the life matchfixing scandal with the fall of proleague?

Proleague fell because blizzard butchered their management of StarCraft. When they finally transitioned to BW from SC2 Blizzard had already screwed the scene too much so interest for SC2 didn't compare to BW at the top. That coupled with the rise of league in Korea, it was clear sc2 proleague was not going to last.

Not saying the match fixing helped, but it would have happened anyway.
WriterTeamLiquid Staff writer since 2014 @Mortal_Phantom
RealityTheGreat
Profile Joined January 2018
China564 Posts
August 28 2020 16:37 GMT
#43
The Korea scene died when the meta grew perfect, what a pity.
Betrayed, forgotten, abandoned.
Mizenhauer
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
United States1960 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-08-28 19:53:19
August 28 2020 19:50 GMT
#44
On August 29 2020 01:25 [Phantom] wrote:
Why do people blame the life matchfixing scandal with the fall of proleague?

Proleague fell because blizzard butchered their management of StarCraft. When they finally transitioned to BW from SC2 Blizzard had already screwed the scene too much so interest for SC2 didn't compare to BW at the top. That coupled with the rise of league in Korea, it was clear sc2 proleague was not going to last.

Not saying the match fixing helped, but it would have happened anyway.


Maybe because the KeSPA commissioner said it was impossible to get sponsors after the matchfixing scandal??? (and, yes proleague would have ended eventually, but it ended at that exact moment because of life/prime/bbyong)
┗|∵|┓Second Place in LB 28, Third Place in LB 29 and Destined to Be a Kong
Jerubaal
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States7684 Posts
August 29 2020 01:37 GMT
#45
On August 27 2020 15:45 jpg06051992 wrote:
It's always going to be niche. SC2 is chess which only the tactical and the astute appreciate, then you have things like Fortnite/PubG/whatever that appeal to the brainless masses.


My ignorant opinion is that the casual players are driving the pro scene rather than vice versa. SC2, imo, is a waaay better spectator sport than Dota 2, but people like to play Dota 2 with their friends, so that keeps their interest.
I'm not stupid, a marauder just shot my brain.
CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
United States1986 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-08-29 01:58:30
August 29 2020 01:58 GMT
#46
if we want to see korean amateurs rise up we need to region lock Korea i think. similar to what we did in foreign scene.

Foreigners should not be allowed to play in GSL and ESL Circuit. Currently because of covid19 there are not many foreigners competing in GSL besides Special but in a normal season there could be 3+ on any season and i think players like Prince and any other korean semi pros would benefit from this. there is no WCS Challenger like NA/EU has for semi pros to make money so GSL is all theyve got.
Solar and many other koreans think this system is unfair since 2018. Please change.

https://twitter.com/sc2_solar/status/1073116274144595968?lang=en

Remember that we all come from a place of passion!!
AssyrianKing
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Australia2118 Posts
August 29 2020 03:31 GMT
#47
I sort of agree with them that patching keeps the game fresh, but it feels like the latest patches feel like bandaids or something to keep people's attention off real issues that the game faces and has faced for the past 10 years
John 15:13
[Phantom]
Profile Blog Joined August 2013
Mexico2170 Posts
August 29 2020 04:49 GMT
#48
On August 29 2020 10:37 Jerubaal wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 27 2020 15:45 jpg06051992 wrote:
It's always going to be niche. SC2 is chess which only the tactical and the astute appreciate, then you have things like Fortnite/PubG/whatever that appeal to the brainless masses.


My ignorant opinion is that the casual players are driving the pro scene rather than vice versa. SC2, imo, is a waaay better spectator sport than Dota 2, but people like to play Dota 2 with their friends, so that keeps their interest.


A long time ago I did a comparison of the ratios of viewers compared to playerbase in sc2, dota 2 and League. The number was way, way higher for SC2 . I don't remember the exact numbers maybe I'll look for it in the future it must be around somewhere but I remember it being like 5 times bigger for Starcraft.

But yeah, basically those games have massive viewerships because the playership is massive, but more people watched sc2 compared to the playerbase (and this was a few years ago, I think In the Hearth of the swarm era when sc2 had bigger numbers).

I think part of it was that, even though there was a lot of shit thrown to developers for certain design decisions, they made sc2 from the ground up to be a great spectator esport, and they succeded.
WriterTeamLiquid Staff writer since 2014 @Mortal_Phantom
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada17805 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-08-29 05:14:25
August 29 2020 05:14 GMT
#49
On August 28 2020 01:03 deacon.frost wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 27 2020 23:38 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
On August 27 2020 15:25 luxon wrote:
The other 50% as they address, is the high barrier to entry and the fact that 1v1 games will never be as compelling as team games. This is true in conventional sports too; compare tennis viewership to literally any team sport (basketball, football, soccer). In tennis the top 5 players live lucratively and the rest have to take part time jobs. This is hard to address; it would take a complete redesign of sc to make it an actual RTS team game, and current players probably won't like it.

I'm pretty sure Floyd Mayweather and whoever the #1 combat sports athlete is in any era makes more money than almost all best team sport players.

In the top 3 best payed athletes are 2 football players(yes, Ronaldo and Messi), #1 being Roger Federer. (so much for the Tennis)

Then it follows with Neymar(football), LeBron James(basketball), Stephen Curry(basketball), Kevin Durant(basketball),Tiger Woods(golf), Kirk Cousin(american football) and Carson Wentz(amrican football)

From the top 10 best payed athletes on the earth 8 are from team games. Source - forbes best payed athletes for 2020.

Even if you add the next 10 we're adding 5 team sport athletes.
Tyson Fury(fighting), Russel Westbrook(basketball), Lewis Hemilton(F1), Rory McIlroy(golf), Jared Goff(american football), Conor McGregor(fighting), James Harden(basketball), Giannis Antetokounmpo(basketball), Anthony Joshua(box) and Deontay Wilder (box)

Soooooo, nope? I'm sorry for butchered names and if I added wrong sport to some person.

So, from top 20 we have 8 being 1v1, with heavier focus on team games at the top.

And I briefly scanned the next 20 and unless I made an error(which is possible) there are 7 non-team athletes. 5 of them from Tennis

Link to them articlez:
https://www.forbes.com/athletes/#1e1a6e2755ae


IN 2018 Floyd Mayweather made $285 million.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/06/13/full-list-the-worlds-highest-paid-athletes-2018/#18d2c5c77d9f

he is way past his prime.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27358 Posts
August 29 2020 11:02 GMT
#50
On August 29 2020 13:49 [Phantom] wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 29 2020 10:37 Jerubaal wrote:
On August 27 2020 15:45 jpg06051992 wrote:
It's always going to be niche. SC2 is chess which only the tactical and the astute appreciate, then you have things like Fortnite/PubG/whatever that appeal to the brainless masses.


My ignorant opinion is that the casual players are driving the pro scene rather than vice versa. SC2, imo, is a waaay better spectator sport than Dota 2, but people like to play Dota 2 with their friends, so that keeps their interest.


A long time ago I did a comparison of the ratios of viewers compared to playerbase in sc2, dota 2 and League. The number was way, way higher for SC2 . I don't remember the exact numbers maybe I'll look for it in the future it must be around somewhere but I remember it being like 5 times bigger for Starcraft.

But yeah, basically those games have massive viewerships because the playership is massive, but more people watched sc2 compared to the playerbase (and this was a few years ago, I think In the Hearth of the swarm era when sc2 had bigger numbers).

I think part of it was that, even though there was a lot of shit thrown to developers for certain design decisions, they made sc2 from the ground up to be a great spectator esport, and they succeded.

That would make sense to me, both me 7 year old and my girlfriend both were able to quite enjoy watching Starcraft, I was just watching GSL or something on my phone while doing something else and both times we ended up watching together (with some brief explanation). They were able to at least get a feel for what was happening, and casters tend to do a good job here too.

Despite actually playing WC3 DoTA and having an idea of the mechanics I have close to zero idea what’s going on when watching a MOBA. Lots of spells and visual cues for said spells to know. Plus it’s interactions between two whole teams of players as well.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Poaktree
Profile Joined January 2017
165 Posts
August 29 2020 12:35 GMT
#51
I also follow Overwatch and it is amazing the kind of decisions blizzard took in that game when it came to design and esports scene of it. I think it is very safe to conclude blizzard is completely incompetent when it comes to this eposrt thing.
AbouSV
Profile Joined October 2014
Germany1278 Posts
August 29 2020 12:55 GMT
#52
Very interesting content, thanks a lot!
coverpunch
Profile Joined December 2011
United States2093 Posts
August 29 2020 12:56 GMT
#53
Pro-gaming is hard because it depends so much on a fan base that understands the game enough to appreciate the talent and dedication of the players. But the gaming industry is fundamentally based on the latest and greatest, constantly churning out new games for revenue stream.

It remains a shock that Brood War developed a sustained pro-gaming scene at all and that it happened in South Korea, which involves a special confluence.

The comparison to tennis should also note the paradox of consistency in results. In the 2010s, tennis actually got a nice boost because the top 4 men have remained very consistent - Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray. Women's tennis has suffered after the Williams sisters because the top women have very inconsistent results. It gets exacerbated in infrastructure that the top men can hire support staff and get ad deals because their results are fairly predictable but the women have a tougher time because the results are inconsistent and nobody wants to be Anna Kournikova.
Boblington
Profile Joined August 2020
2 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-08-29 14:18:57
August 29 2020 14:17 GMT
#54
I think more consistent mechanics and design can help reduce the learning curve without simplifying the game. Stuff like reaper/colossus pathing, ravager/queen/archon being neither light or heavy. Abduct not working on ultras feels like SC2 is duck taped together to maintain balance. And with each duck tape applied, the game mechanics become more inconsistent.

Also long cool downs are dumb. Big maps with big cool downs is a waiting game.
Xamo
Profile Joined April 2012
Spain886 Posts
August 29 2020 14:23 GMT
#55
Great content, thank you!
My life for Aiur. You got a piece of me, baby. IIIIIIiiiiiii.
StarStruck
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
25339 Posts
August 29 2020 16:04 GMT
#56
On August 27 2020 21:37 LTCM wrote:
I've come to accept why a region lock was needed years and years ago.

No one has ever answered me why region lock was left in place for 2019 and now 2020. And then as icing on the cake, Apollo will tell you, "we are considering the possibility of removing region lock for 2021". How is it a possibility... Should be 100% final and approved already.

Shame on blizzard and now ESL. You cannot boast everyone else by continuing to choke hold kr.


Region lock was always a crap shoot.
MoonyD
Profile Joined December 2013
Australia191 Posts
August 30 2020 07:17 GMT
#57
Watching this interview was pretty sad and disheartening. Makes you wonder what the pro-SC2 scene will be like in another 5-10 years time. By then all the current Korean pros will be a lot older and returning back from army and there may not be much new blood in terms of Korean professionals by then.
The world wants to be deceived
sertman
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States540 Posts
August 30 2020 07:46 GMT
#58
Thank you jinjin!

We can bemoan the lack of popularity of Starcraft without insinuating that it's just too hard for your regular plebian gamer.
October34th
Profile Joined July 2019
7 Posts
August 30 2020 08:17 GMT
#59
Whatever happens, I'll always be a fan of TY~
新潮 New Tide
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany7402 Posts
August 31 2020 07:52 GMT
#60
On August 29 2020 10:58 CicadaSC wrote:
if we want to see korean amateurs rise up we need to region lock Korea i think. similar to what we did in foreign scene.

Foreigners should not be allowed to play in GSL and ESL Circuit. Currently because of covid19 there are not many foreigners competing in GSL besides Special but in a normal season there could be 3+ on any season and i think players like Prince and any other korean semi pros would benefit from this. there is no WCS Challenger like NA/EU has for semi pros to make money so GSL is all theyve got.
Solar and many other koreans think this system is unfair since 2018. Please change.

https://twitter.com/sc2_solar/status/1073116274144595968?lang=en



I don't think region locking Korea would change anything. Foreigners that mostly play in GSL (SpeCial, Scarlett, Astrea, Sortof, Jake, ... ) are Tier 2 foreigners. They really don't make a difference cause they are Ro24 or Ro16 fodder at best and don't even make the cut at worst.

What could make a difference would be challenger tournaments with a really flat payout curve and maybe seeds into Ro16 or even the "Code A" giving out some price moneys
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 3h 17m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 605
UpATreeSC 83
JuggernautJason57
StarCraft: Brood War
MaD[AoV]3
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm110
febbydoto15
LuMiX0
Counter-Strike
fl0m1482
shoxiejesuss1013
pashabiceps1001
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King110
Heroes of the Storm
Grubby3440
Liquid`Hasu546
Other Games
Beastyqt858
FrodaN635
shahzam455
C9.Mang0292
XaKoH 96
ZombieGrub90
Dewaltoss86
Railgan29
Livibee13
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1578
BasetradeTV29
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21822
• WagamamaTV392
League of Legends
• TFBlade1193
Other Games
• imaqtpie818
• Shiphtur135
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
3h 17m
IntoTheTV X SOOP
14h 17m
Cure vs SHIN
herO vs Solar
Percival vs Classic
ByuN vs Rogue
OSC
1d 1h
Replay Cast
1d 3h
IntoTheTV X SOOP
1d 14h
Replay Cast
2 days
GSL
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
GSL
3 days
Shopify Rebellion Sundays
3 days
Spirit vs Mixu
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Shine vs Rush
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Light vs EffOrt
PiGosaur Cup
6 days
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #5 - TRS
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
Calamity Invitational
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSA
Acropolis #5 - GSB
Acropolis #5 - GSC
SC4ALL II: Brood War
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Copium Cup
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.