• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 20:37
CEST 02:37
KST 09:37
  • 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
[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star6Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists14[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash10[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers11Maestros of the Game 2 announced52026 GSL Tour plans announced14Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid23
StarCraft 2
General
MaNa leaves Team Liquid Maestros of the Game 2 announced 2026 GSL Tour plans announced Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists
Tourneys
GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament 2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 522 Flip My Base The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss Mutation # 520 Moving Fees
Brood War
General
[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star ASL21 Strategy, Pimpest Plays Discussions Data needed BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro16 Group C [ASL21] Ro16 Group B [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend? Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Dawn of War IV Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Reappraising The Situation T…
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1478 users

2023/24 ESL Pro Tour: Prizes down, regions merged

Forum Index > SC2 General
47 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 3 All last
Also Read: AfreecaTV's GSL 2023 Announcement
knotfun
Profile Joined July 2019
41 Posts
February 24 2023 01:44 GMT
#29
in hindsight, Artosis leaving GSL would mean he knew the whole thing was going to shrink in size to the point one wonders if it's still existing.
depressing news anyway, but could have been even worse. Blizzard is letting its game die for what is for them just spare money.
mintyminmus
Profile Joined September 2022
Australia127 Posts
February 24 2023 02:14 GMT
#30
I like the region merge very much.
The oceania region feels like a meme anyway xD
xyfan
-NegativeZero-
Profile Joined August 2011
United States2142 Posts
February 24 2023 02:21 GMT
#31
On February 24 2023 10:44 knotfun wrote:
in hindsight, Artosis leaving GSL would mean he knew the whole thing was going to shrink in size to the point one wonders if it's still existing.
depressing news anyway, but could have been even worse. Blizzard is letting its game die for what is for them just spare money.

We've known for years that Blizzard funding would end this year, it was pretty obvious that there would at least be some budget cuts
vibeo gane,
digmouse
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
China6331 Posts
February 24 2023 06:41 GMT
#32
This is the beginning of the end, isn't it.
TranslatorIf you want to ask anything about Chinese esports, send me a PM or follow me @nerddigmouse.
ZeroByte13
Profile Joined March 2022
795 Posts
February 24 2023 07:19 GMT
#33
It is (almost) 13 years old game. All things come to an end one day.
There were ups and downs, but in general these 13 years were awesome.
Sad to see Korean scene taking such a big hit but it is what it is.

Hopefully Stormgate will be released next year and become successful - then we'll see quite a few familiar faces again, I'd guess.
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany7153 Posts
February 24 2023 09:29 GMT
#34
I'm not sure what you all expected. SC2 will live on another year!

GSL price pool maybe low but don't forget that Korean will still participate in the ESL Masters and World Cup where there is additional money to make
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
Musicus
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany23576 Posts
February 24 2023 09:58 GMT
#35
All good things come to an end. Huge thank you to ESL for the continued support of the sc2 scene. Hopefully we can have a great Year and corwdfund some community tournaments as well.

And hopefully Stormgate will be good!
Maru and Serral are probably top 5.
True_Spike
Profile Joined July 2004
Poland3429 Posts
February 24 2023 12:21 GMT
#36
Glad we get another year, at the very least.
MJG
Profile Joined May 2018
United Kingdom1451 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-02-24 12:47:25
February 24 2023 12:42 GMT
#37
I'm actually excited to see what happens in the condensed Regionals. It'll be interesting to see how well some of the "smaller" regions manage to compete, and it'll also mean that we'll see fewer one-sided series at the start of Global events.

It's obviously a shame that the prize money has gone down, especially to the extend that it has in Korea, but this was always going to happen without developer support. If these are the levels that are deemed sustainable from advertising and viewership alone, then I don't think things are as bad as some people are trying to make out.

Besides, it's a 13 year old game, so we're very lucky to have gotten this far!
puking up frothing vitriolic sarcastic spittle
oneill12
Profile Joined February 2012
Romania1222 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-02-24 12:59:23
February 24 2023 12:57 GMT
#38
ESL is doing good by the SC2 community. I hope Microsoft can support SC2 after the Blizzard acquisition. If not, we shall enjoy SC2 as it will be. Also hope Frost Giant's game will be good, if Microsoft does not pick up SC2 I can see a lot of player migration and maybe the "death" of SC2 scene.
Akio
Profile Blog Joined January 2019
Finland1838 Posts
February 24 2023 15:38 GMT
#39
On February 24 2023 08:14 tlnetuser108 wrote:
I wish Elon Musk loved SC2

I'd rather have a small scene than have Elon Musk love SC.
Mine gas, build tanks.
argonautdice
Profile Joined January 2013
Canada2719 Posts
February 24 2023 17:06 GMT
#40
On February 25 2023 00:38 Akio wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 24 2023 08:14 tlnetuser108 wrote:
I wish Elon Musk loved SC2

I'd rather have a small scene than have Elon Musk love SC.

Elon reveals Zerg cabal at Blizzard HQ
very illegal and very uncool
IArako
Profile Joined June 2015
Germany195 Posts
February 24 2023 17:13 GMT
#41
I was hoping for a bit less drastic cutbacks, but great news its still going!
People taking stuff like that too much for granted for a game this old.
Special Tactics
[Phantom]
Profile Blog Joined August 2013
Mexico2170 Posts
February 24 2023 18:22 GMT
#42
people excited about stormgate are on hopium.

The fact is this:

Even if stormgate is great, it will never have the budget to fund big events
WriterTeamLiquid Staff writer since 2014 @Mortal_Phantom
Janosh
Profile Joined February 2023
4 Posts
February 24 2023 18:53 GMT
#43
Very happy about this! Was expecting way worse. GSL-level downsizing or nothing at all. New format and region makes sense and 660k+ is still good money. Thanks ESL!
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany7153 Posts
February 27 2023 09:43 GMT
#44
On February 25 2023 03:22 [Phantom] wrote:
people excited about stormgate are on hopium.

The fact is this:

Even if stormgate is great, it will never have the budget to fund big events


Exactly. Even if this does come out big, the first big tournemts will have max price pools of maybe 50k. There is now way a small company like this can invest heavily into esport right from the getgo
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
Schelim
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Austria11528 Posts
February 27 2023 09:55 GMT
#45
On February 27 2023 18:43 Harris1st wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 25 2023 03:22 [Phantom] wrote:
people excited about stormgate are on hopium.

The fact is this:

Even if stormgate is great, it will never have the budget to fund big events


Exactly. Even if this does come out big, the first big tournemts will have max price pools of maybe 50k. There is now way a small company like this can invest heavily into esport right from the getgo

they probably can't, but if they can find one/a few big sponsors, things might be different. if Stormgate can make some large company believe in its Esports potential, that might be enough.
TY <3 Cure <3 Inno <3 Special <3
sixfour
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
England11061 Posts
February 27 2023 20:04 GMT
#46
On February 24 2023 15:41 digmouse wrote:
This is the beginning of the end, isn't it.


It's hard to say to be honest. Korean scene is probably done, but it's been that way for some time, more or less since pros realised that ASL + streaming made BW a viable option again. Foreign scene maybe isn't quite so bad, given ESL hasn't cut things from a percentage standpoint quite so much as GSL + maybe not so many Koreans taking higher spots - on the assumption that they don't make prize money absurdly top heavy (as so many major tournaments have had a tendency to do in the past).

That said, I fail to see how ESL can possibly be breaking even on investment and would be able to retain the prize fund levels they have in the medium term, especially given how casual interest is basically zero at this stage. Checking on the SC thread in another forum I frequent, and while volumes are generally down, there's been barely a couple of hundred posts a year for half a decade now, and half of those are discussing ASL/BW. I personally can't recall the last time I watched an SC2 game - probably Neeb's Kespa Cup win. Maybe there's a greater propagation of community tournaments (hate the term, but for want of a better name for those not bankrolled by Blizzard) and players can at least maintain a side income from SC2, who knows, but I don't see how you ever get any significant new interest in the game again.
p: stats, horang2, free, jangbi z: soulkey, zero, shine, hydra t: leta, hiya, sea
ScarletAerie
Profile Joined May 2016
40 Posts
February 28 2023 01:52 GMT
#47
On February 28 2023 05:04 sixfour wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 24 2023 15:41 digmouse wrote:
This is the beginning of the end, isn't it.


That said, I fail to see how ESL can possibly be breaking even on investment and would be able to retain the prize fund levels they have in the medium term, especially given how casual interest is basically zero at this stage.


Given the state of esports and the economy currently, I wouldn't be surprised if it continues to plummet if not drop it entirely.
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland26629 Posts
February 28 2023 21:24 GMT
#48
On February 25 2023 03:22 [Phantom] wrote:
people excited about stormgate are on hopium.

The fact is this:

Even if stormgate is great, it will never have the budget to fund big events

It doesn’t have to be huge, just a bloody good game that’s relatively successful.

It doesn’t have to be hitting the heights Starcraft(s) have to carve out a big enough niche for folks who love competitive RTS. Although people are I think giving into hype more in desperation than hope.

As for these changes, not as bad as expected. Actually think some of the region merges are something that could have been done a while ago.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
1 2 3 All last
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
The PiG Daily
00:00
CLEM vs SOLAR bo7 TLMC
Clem vs Solar
PiGStarcraft551
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft551
SpeCial 95
UpATreeSC 68
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 5715
Artosis 705
NaDa 30
Dota 2
monkeys_forever811
League of Legends
JimRising 501
Counter-Strike
fl0m2001
minikerr4
Other Games
summit1g12618
C9.Mang0428
hungrybox171
Trikslyr162
Maynarde117
RuFF_SC213
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1039
BasetradeTV239
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• davetesta34
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki13
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• Scarra1600
• imaqtpie1085
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
1h 23m
GSL
7h 23m
Afreeca Starleague
9h 23m
Barracks vs Leta
Royal vs Light
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
10h 23m
RSL Revival
1d 9h
Replay Cast
1d 23h
The PondCast
2 days
KCM Race Survival
2 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
[ Show More ]
Escore
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
4 days
Universe Titan Cup
4 days
Rogue vs Percival
Ladder Legends
4 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
BSL
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
5 days
Ladder Legends
5 days
BSL
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Wardi Open
6 days
Monday Night Weeklies
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-04-20
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W4
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 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.