We know we have SC2 back at blizzcon 2026 but we don't know if there will be other high profile tournaments yet. Is there a chance they won't continue in 2026 or does anyone with more info know? I haven't been following too closely. Thank you!!
Storyteller tells us how the gsls dream hacks and EWC 2025 was unexpected and had to be crammed into a couple months. Are we going to be playing that waiting game again... Just.... Wondering if this is the end of a "pro circuit with world championship?"
GSL was funded by saudis and not supposed to happen again, unless saudis come in again to fund the glorified EWC qualifier, EWC by saudis was the last announced game and likely to not have happened again because it was a likely filler for fornite, ESL by saudis will never happen again as they announced.
The biggest non-saudi tournament is Maestros of the Game with just 20k usd.
All tournament earnings for last year was 2.3 million (about 1.8 saudis), this year it is only 1.2million, out of which 0.8 is entirely from saudis. So I am not sure how this video can even conclude that SC2 is making a comeback, given that funds have halved from 2024. Non-saudi funds have also declined. Average twitch viewership also declined by about 30 percent from last year alone.
On November 26 2025 02:28 doktordingerdonger wrote: So I am not sure how this video can even conclude that SC2 is making a comeback...
RTS Storyteller just makes up stuff. I mean... its even in the title of his name/channel. He had a video about the 5 biggest RTS flops in history and half of his "facts" were BS.
On November 26 2025 02:28 doktordingerdonger wrote: Average twitch viewership also declined by about 30 percent from last year alone.
when will Activision/Microsoft pull the plug on the servers?
On November 26 2025 02:28 doktordingerdonger wrote: So I am not sure how this video can even conclude that SC2 is making a comeback...
RTS Storyteller just makes up stuff. I mean... its even in the title of his name/channel. He had a video about the 5 biggest RTS flops in history and half of his "facts" were BS.
Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene and the guy who can randomly go on long, non-computable rants. That was quite the feat - and so fast!
To answer your question: You cannot predict what will happen in '26, because '25 was already a complete shitshow that, under any other TO, should and could have never happened like this. EWC announcing SC2 like three months after their own second deadline was just insanity no one else would have gotten away with.
In a "sensible world", EWC announces all games for '26 until February at the latest, because it is highly likely the games that will be featured at EWC are also the games featured at their new Nations World Cup later that year. If they still want to feature a true RTS, SC2 is still the best choice by far for both events, though AoE 2 is creeping up, with much more backing from Microsoft. But who knows - maybe Blizzard/Microsoft will set something in motion in preparation for Blizzcon '26, which is pure speculation of course.
As for other LANs: Everything is affected by EWC. ESL will not do anything without EWC, so no Dreamhacks. And smaller LANs might only be viable with the additional motivation of offering a qualification spot. Without that, SC2 might devolve into the current AoE 2 scene, where basically everything is Online, except the tournaments hosted by GamerLegion and whatever fun RedBull is having with the Wololo-events.
On November 26 2025 02:28 doktordingerdonger wrote: GSL was funded by saudis and not supposed to happen again, unless saudis come in again to fund the glorified EWC qualifier, EWC by saudis was the last announced game and likely to not have happened again because it was a likely filler for fornite, ESL by saudis will never happen again as they announced.
The biggest non-saudi tournament is Maestros of the Game with just 20k usd.
All tournament earnings for last year was 2.3 million (about 1.8 saudis), this year it is only 1.2million, out of which 0.8 is entirely from saudis. So I am not sure how this video can even conclude that SC2 is making a comeback, given that funds have halved from 2024. Non-saudi funds have also declined. Average twitch viewership also declined by about 30 percent from last year alone.
Was GSL funded by Saudis? What? :S
Average Twitch viewership is basically irrelevant at this point. SC2 fans mostly care about tournaments, and nothing else on that platform. Content producers who do put up good numbers, it’s YouTube, not twitch they’re working off.
SC2 is on the decline, rather obviously but you’re massively disingenuous on the topic.
Great BW streamers make bank teaching attractive ladies who suck at StarCraft how to play, I don’t care. Cool, it’s of zero interest to me, but people seem to like it so fair play.
On November 26 2025 03:56 Balnazza wrote: Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene and the guy who can randomly go on long, non-computable rants. That was quite the feat - and so fast!
To answer your question: You cannot predict what will happen in '26, because '25 was already a complete shitshow that, under any other TO, should and could have never happened like this. EWC announcing SC2 like three months after their own second deadline was just insanity no one else would have gotten away with.
In a "sensible world", EWC announces all games for '26 until February at the latest, because it is highly likely the games that will be featured at EWC are also the games featured at their new Nations World Cup later that year. If they still want to feature a true RTS, SC2 is still the best choice by far for both events, though AoE 2 is creeping up, with much more backing from Microsoft. But who knows - maybe Blizzard/Microsoft will set something in motion in preparation for Blizzcon '26, which is pure speculation of course.
As for other LANs: Everything is affected by EWC. ESL will not do anything without EWC, so no Dreamhacks. And smaller LANs might only be viable with the additional motivation of offering a qualification spot. Without that, SC2 might devolve into the current AoE 2 scene, where basically everything is Online, except the tournaments hosted by GamerLegion and whatever fun RedBull is having with the Wololo-events.
EWC, as it has been for a few years is a boost, but also a problem.
SC2 is shifting to being a bit more grass roots, after years of Blizz, or IEM, and now EWC. But EWC lurks over it all, and they think it’s a virtue to delay telling you what the fuck is going on for months and months. Last iteration it was a complete joke how long they delayed confirmation.
Personally I’d rather SC2 told EWC to fuck off, but I know that’s unrealistic.
I’m seeing some promising signs, maybe it’s not a billion dollar fancy thing, but the grass roots are delivering. I think it’s great. Stara Zagora [sic?], Maestros of the Game in France, we’ve still got HSC. We’ve had other tournies offline whose names I can’t recall. We’ve the RSL’s offline finals coming up.
The scene can fund these things, many of us are old fuckers at this point with some decent income to throw at passion projects. There’s a shitload of people who still really care about things to this day.
There’s plenty of space for a reasonable scene to continue in perpetuity. Bigger than WC3’s, which I think is a pretty healthy, grass roots one, and bigger than BW outside of Korea.
You do that you’re still the biggest RTS game globally, even if you don’t touch the Saudi money at all.
On November 26 2025 03:56 Balnazza wrote: Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene.
the EA NHL '94 , Super Tecmo Bowl, and Def Jam Fight For New York events pay a lot more than $5! Big Def Jam Fight For New York event coming up next weekend @ Brooklyn Games & Arcade!
On November 26 2025 03:56 Balnazza wrote: Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene and the guy who can randomly go on long, non-computable rants. That was quite the feat - and so fast!
To answer your question: You cannot predict what will happen in '26, because '25 was already a complete shitshow that, under any other TO, should and could have never happened like this. EWC announcing SC2 like three months after their own second deadline was just insanity no one else would have gotten away with.
In a "sensible world", EWC announces all games for '26 until February at the latest, because it is highly likely the games that will be featured at EWC are also the games featured at their new Nations World Cup later that year. If they still want to feature a true RTS, SC2 is still the best choice by far for both events, though AoE 2 is creeping up, with much more backing from Microsoft. But who knows - maybe Blizzard/Microsoft will set something in motion in preparation for Blizzcon '26, which is pure speculation of course.
As for other LANs: Everything is affected by EWC. ESL will not do anything without EWC, so no Dreamhacks. And smaller LANs might only be viable with the additional motivation of offering a qualification spot. Without that, SC2 might devolve into the current AoE 2 scene, where basically everything is Online, except the tournaments hosted by GamerLegion and whatever fun RedBull is having with the Wololo-events.
5 bucks lmao. I think there is no use if I just show the link as you would just say that these are fake, or that all BW streamers somehow all stream daily for 5 bucks games. I guess its no use to look at the liquidpedia proleague link which EXACTLY shows how much has been donated each time it happens, or the many jinjin5000 threads. I guess you also just say that these are fake.
All those korean BW streamers only stream to an audience of close to 0 and just stream BW every day to earn 5 bucks. You are completely right bro. Also those afreeca numbers are all fake and the donations are also fake. Everything in BW is fake. Soop/Afreeca, a public company you can buy stocks from just faked the entire scene and its donation money, which they get a sizeable chunk from. Basically its all a scam. Of course they only do that to trigger a bunch of foreign Tl.net posters. Also every ASL, apart from the prize money, they have to pay blizzard 90k usd in fees. I guess its all to show that the platform is healthy, because we all know its all fake.
On November 26 2025 03:56 Balnazza wrote: Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene and the guy who can randomly go on long, non-computable rants. That was quite the feat - and so fast!
To answer your question: You cannot predict what will happen in '26, because '25 was already a complete shitshow that, under any other TO, should and could have never happened like this. EWC announcing SC2 like three months after their own second deadline was just insanity no one else would have gotten away with.
In a "sensible world", EWC announces all games for '26 until February at the latest, because it is highly likely the games that will be featured at EWC are also the games featured at their new Nations World Cup later that year. If they still want to feature a true RTS, SC2 is still the best choice by far for both events, though AoE 2 is creeping up, with much more backing from Microsoft. But who knows - maybe Blizzard/Microsoft will set something in motion in preparation for Blizzcon '26, which is pure speculation of course.
As for other LANs: Everything is affected by EWC. ESL will not do anything without EWC, so no Dreamhacks. And smaller LANs might only be viable with the additional motivation of offering a qualification spot. Without that, SC2 might devolve into the current AoE 2 scene, where basically everything is Online, except the tournaments hosted by GamerLegion and whatever fun RedBull is having with the Wololo-events.
5 bucks lmao. I think there is no use if I just show the link as you would just say that these are fake, or that all BW streamers somehow all stream daily for 5 bucks games. I guess its no use to look at the liquidpedia proleague link which EXACTLY shows how much has been donated each time it happens, or the many jinjin5000 threads. I guess you also just say that these are fake.
All those korean BW streamers only stream to an audience of close to 0 and just stream BW every day to earn 5 bucks. You are completely right bro. Also those afreeca numbers are all fake and the donations are also fake. Everything in BW is fake. Soop/Afreeca, a public company you can buy stocks from just faked the entire scene and its donation money, which they get a sizeable chunk from. Basically its all a scam. Of course they only do that to trigger a bunch of foreign Tl.net posters. Also every ASL, apart from the prize money, they have to pay blizzard 90k usd in fees. I guess its all to show that the platform is healthy, because we all know its all fake.
You have been right all along!
Who cares?
BW is going fine, cool. It’s basically impenetrable for a foreign audience, outside of when folks like JinJin do translations, unless you’re a pretty damn high level player already.
I don’t care, I love BW but only ASL really interests me.
BW is bigger, with the huge caveat that to properly follow it you need to be Korean.
If you aren’t Korean, SC2 is the biggest RTS going, and has been for 15 years.
Which is about 1/3th of the entire SC2 non-saudi prize money (about 400k) in 2025, just for some recast.
Not sure why you think that foreigners cannot follow korean BW at all. They just watch the games in korean like they did the past 25 years, or watch recasts.
On November 26 2025 07:20 doktordingerdonger wrote:
On November 26 2025 03:56 Balnazza wrote: Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene and the guy who can randomly go on long, non-computable rants. That was quite the feat - and so fast!
To answer your question: You cannot predict what will happen in '26, because '25 was already a complete shitshow that, under any other TO, should and could have never happened like this. EWC announcing SC2 like three months after their own second deadline was just insanity no one else would have gotten away with.
In a "sensible world", EWC announces all games for '26 until February at the latest, because it is highly likely the games that will be featured at EWC are also the games featured at their new Nations World Cup later that year. If they still want to feature a true RTS, SC2 is still the best choice by far for both events, though AoE 2 is creeping up, with much more backing from Microsoft. But who knows - maybe Blizzard/Microsoft will set something in motion in preparation for Blizzcon '26, which is pure speculation of course.
As for other LANs: Everything is affected by EWC. ESL will not do anything without EWC, so no Dreamhacks. And smaller LANs might only be viable with the additional motivation of offering a qualification spot. Without that, SC2 might devolve into the current AoE 2 scene, where basically everything is Online, except the tournaments hosted by GamerLegion and whatever fun RedBull is having with the Wololo-events.
5 bucks lmao. I think there is no use if I just show the link as you would just say that these are fake, or that all BW streamers somehow all stream daily for 5 bucks games. I guess its no use to look at the liquidpedia proleague link which EXACTLY shows how much has been donated each time it happens, or the many jinjin5000 threads. I guess you also just say that these are fake.
All those korean BW streamers only stream to an audience of close to 0 and just stream BW every day to earn 5 bucks. You are completely right bro. Also those afreeca numbers are all fake and the donations are also fake. Everything in BW is fake. Soop/Afreeca, a public company you can buy stocks from just faked the entire scene and its donation money, which they get a sizeable chunk from. Basically its all a scam. Of course they only do that to trigger a bunch of foreign Tl.net posters. Also every ASL, apart from the prize money, they have to pay blizzard 90k usd in fees. I guess its all to show that the platform is healthy, because we all know its all fake.
You have been right all along!
Who cares?
BW is going fine, cool. It’s basically impenetrable for a foreign audience, outside of when folks like JinJin do translations, unless you’re a pretty damn high level player already.
I don’t care, I love BW but only ASL really interests me.
BW is bigger, with the huge caveat that to properly follow it you need to be Korean.
If you aren’t Korean, SC2 is the biggest RTS going, and has been for 15 years.
You’re exceedingly boring.
By viewership, its AOE2 by about 25%, of course if you just randomly exclude koreans. Even WC3 has similar numbers to AOE2. By your logic, we should be following AOE2 or WC3 instead as they are the bigger communities.
Who fucking cares? You’re deeply tiresome and not even correct to boot.
SC2’s content creators do their numbers on YouTube, you go off Twitch. You go off Steamcharts to talk about numbers versus a game that isn’t even on Steam? Wow congrats.
You’re the most boring, weird type of cunt imaginable. Holy fucking shit.
Fuck off. It’s a thread where someone enthused about the SC2 scene is asking a question, your particular brand of bollocks is completely irrelevant and unwelcome in such a thread. Completely necessary.
If I was to be more polite, I’d still say fuck off. Bumming Brood War and thinking that makes you cool and sorta Korean isn’t a personality, get over your yourself.
I love how people always complain about Tasteless and Artosis making that much money, as if there is some central StarCraft governing body that has unilaterally decided to budget them higher than other SC related ventures.
Every content creator can launch their own fucking crowdfunding page and audiences are free to either subscribe or not. People happen to like these two dudes and you're mad other shit isn't as successful. Get over it. Their success is not at the detriment or expense of anyone else.
As for the OP, it is actually hopium, unfortunately. Reusing old IP in other games is not a sign said IP is about to make a comeback.
I don't expect Starcraft to be present with an actual tournament at Blizzcon. At most we get like a invite 4 player exhibition. We'll likely have 1-2 HomestoryCups, Stara Zagora and RSL as Offline tournaments. Maybe the odd LAN like the Canada tournament that happened a few weeks back. I don't expect anything more from Saudis. Last year was already the last nail
On November 26 2025 03:56 Balnazza wrote: Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene and the guy who can randomly go on long, non-computable rants. That was quite the feat - and so fast!
To answer your question: You cannot predict what will happen in '26, because '25 was already a complete shitshow that, under any other TO, should and could have never happened like this. EWC announcing SC2 like three months after their own second deadline was just insanity no one else would have gotten away with.
In a "sensible world", EWC announces all games for '26 until February at the latest, because it is highly likely the games that will be featured at EWC are also the games featured at their new Nations World Cup later that year. If they still want to feature a true RTS, SC2 is still the best choice by far for both events, though AoE 2 is creeping up, with much more backing from Microsoft. But who knows - maybe Blizzard/Microsoft will set something in motion in preparation for Blizzcon '26, which is pure speculation of course.
As for other LANs: Everything is affected by EWC. ESL will not do anything without EWC, so no Dreamhacks. And smaller LANs might only be viable with the additional motivation of offering a qualification spot. Without that, SC2 might devolve into the current AoE 2 scene, where basically everything is Online, except the tournaments hosted by GamerLegion and whatever fun RedBull is having with the Wololo-events.
5 bucks lmao. I think there is no use if I just show the link as you would just say that these are fake, or that all BW streamers somehow all stream daily for 5 bucks games. I guess its no use to look at the liquidpedia proleague link which EXACTLY shows how much has been donated each time it happens, or the many jinjin5000 threads. I guess you also just say that these are fake.
All those korean BW streamers only stream to an audience of close to 0 and just stream BW every day to earn 5 bucks. You are completely right bro. Also those afreeca numbers are all fake and the donations are also fake. Everything in BW is fake. Soop/Afreeca, a public company you can buy stocks from just faked the entire scene and its donation money, which they get a sizeable chunk from. Basically its all a scam. Of course they only do that to trigger a bunch of foreign Tl.net posters. Also every ASL, apart from the prize money, they have to pay blizzard 90k usd in fees. I guess its all to show that the platform is healthy, because we all know its all fake.
You have been right all along!
I love how that triggered you so much, even though that particular part of the trinity wasn't describing you at all. Btw, the guy it actually meant recognized it and took the joke. Y'know, like someone whos personality isn't defined by liking Brood War
You are right though: People should just watch AoE 2 or WC3. AoE 2 is just a super-fun community with crazy events (I will die on the hill that Red Bull Wololo V was the best Esports-event of all time) and WC3 is just the best game ever made in general. Glad we agree on that, welcome home, fellow WC3-fan :3
On November 26 2025 19:20 Harris1st wrote: I don't expect Starcraft to be present with an actual tournament at Blizzcon. At most we get like a invite 4 player exhibition. We'll likely have 1-2 HomestoryCups, Stara Zagora and RSL as Offline tournaments. Maybe the odd LAN like the Canada tournament that happened a few weeks back. I don't expect anything more from Saudis. Last year was already the last nail
I mean...SC2 will be 100% present at BlizzCon, because of that Classic Cup thingy. Will it be an "actual tournament"? Probably not...but who knows. Either way, that would be in almost exactly one year, so if that was the only thing to look forward to, that would be really depressing.
On November 26 2025 07:20 doktordingerdonger wrote:
On November 26 2025 03:56 Balnazza wrote: Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene and the guy who can randomly go on long, non-computable rants. That was quite the feat - and so fast!
To answer your question: You cannot predict what will happen in '26, because '25 was already a complete shitshow that, under any other TO, should and could have never happened like this. EWC announcing SC2 like three months after their own second deadline was just insanity no one else would have gotten away with.
In a "sensible world", EWC announces all games for '26 until February at the latest, because it is highly likely the games that will be featured at EWC are also the games featured at their new Nations World Cup later that year. If they still want to feature a true RTS, SC2 is still the best choice by far for both events, though AoE 2 is creeping up, with much more backing from Microsoft. But who knows - maybe Blizzard/Microsoft will set something in motion in preparation for Blizzcon '26, which is pure speculation of course.
As for other LANs: Everything is affected by EWC. ESL will not do anything without EWC, so no Dreamhacks. And smaller LANs might only be viable with the additional motivation of offering a qualification spot. Without that, SC2 might devolve into the current AoE 2 scene, where basically everything is Online, except the tournaments hosted by GamerLegion and whatever fun RedBull is having with the Wololo-events.
5 bucks lmao. I think there is no use if I just show the link as you would just say that these are fake, or that all BW streamers somehow all stream daily for 5 bucks games. I guess its no use to look at the liquidpedia proleague link which EXACTLY shows how much has been donated each time it happens, or the many jinjin5000 threads. I guess you also just say that these are fake.
All those korean BW streamers only stream to an audience of close to 0 and just stream BW every day to earn 5 bucks. You are completely right bro. Also those afreeca numbers are all fake and the donations are also fake. Everything in BW is fake. Soop/Afreeca, a public company you can buy stocks from just faked the entire scene and its donation money, which they get a sizeable chunk from. Basically its all a scam. Of course they only do that to trigger a bunch of foreign Tl.net posters. Also every ASL, apart from the prize money, they have to pay blizzard 90k usd in fees. I guess its all to show that the platform is healthy, because we all know its all fake.
You have been right all along!
I love how that triggered you so much, even though that particular part of the trinity wasn't describing you at all. Btw, the guy it actually meant recognized it and took the joke. Y'know, like someone whos personality isn't defined by liking Brood War
You are right though: People should just watch AoE 2 or WC3. AoE 2 is just a super-fun community with crazy events (I will die on the hill that Red Bull Wololo V was the best Esports-event of all time) and WC3 is just the best game ever made in general. Glad we agree on that, welcome home, fellow WC3-fan :3
On November 26 2025 19:20 Harris1st wrote: I don't expect Starcraft to be present with an actual tournament at Blizzcon. At most we get like a invite 4 player exhibition. We'll likely have 1-2 HomestoryCups, Stara Zagora and RSL as Offline tournaments. Maybe the odd LAN like the Canada tournament that happened a few weeks back. I don't expect anything more from Saudis. Last year was already the last nail
I mean...SC2 will be 100% present at BlizzCon, because of that Classic Cup thingy. Will it be an "actual tournament"? Probably not...but who knows. Either way, that would be in almost exactly one year, so if that was the only thing to look forward to, that would be really depressing.
Dude you are the one who whenever I post you go with a flurry about all my personality is to shit on sc2. What is your personality then?
On November 26 2025 07:49 doktordingerdonger wrote: Not like tastosis get 12k a month just to recast ASL https://www.patreon.com/ASLenglish Which is about 1/3th of the entire SC2 non-saudi prize money (about 400k) in 2025, just for some recast.
Tasteless, Artosis, and Wardi live modestly and do a lot of work. I hope they make an abundance of cash so that they produce even more cool SC2 esports content. Also others become motivated to do the same.
Maru's game 1 defense in the LB FInals for the RSL was an absolute fucking masterpiece.
Lets face it.. .Tasteless and Artosis are really dumb and they are making oodles and oodles of easy money. This open market looks like a great place for a genius like you to do a way better job than them and make $10M in 2026. I'll be watching for your superior SC2 content in 2026.
On November 26 2025 07:20 doktordingerdonger wrote:
On November 26 2025 03:56 Balnazza wrote: Congratulations on assembling the unholy trifecta of the guy who things liking BW is a personality, the guy who thinks playing for 5 bucks is the best kind of Esports scene and the guy who can randomly go on long, non-computable rants. That was quite the feat - and so fast!
To answer your question: You cannot predict what will happen in '26, because '25 was already a complete shitshow that, under any other TO, should and could have never happened like this. EWC announcing SC2 like three months after their own second deadline was just insanity no one else would have gotten away with.
In a "sensible world", EWC announces all games for '26 until February at the latest, because it is highly likely the games that will be featured at EWC are also the games featured at their new Nations World Cup later that year. If they still want to feature a true RTS, SC2 is still the best choice by far for both events, though AoE 2 is creeping up, with much more backing from Microsoft. But who knows - maybe Blizzard/Microsoft will set something in motion in preparation for Blizzcon '26, which is pure speculation of course.
As for other LANs: Everything is affected by EWC. ESL will not do anything without EWC, so no Dreamhacks. And smaller LANs might only be viable with the additional motivation of offering a qualification spot. Without that, SC2 might devolve into the current AoE 2 scene, where basically everything is Online, except the tournaments hosted by GamerLegion and whatever fun RedBull is having with the Wololo-events.
5 bucks lmao. I think there is no use if I just show the link as you would just say that these are fake, or that all BW streamers somehow all stream daily for 5 bucks games. I guess its no use to look at the liquidpedia proleague link which EXACTLY shows how much has been donated each time it happens, or the many jinjin5000 threads. I guess you also just say that these are fake.
All those korean BW streamers only stream to an audience of close to 0 and just stream BW every day to earn 5 bucks. You are completely right bro. Also those afreeca numbers are all fake and the donations are also fake. Everything in BW is fake. Soop/Afreeca, a public company you can buy stocks from just faked the entire scene and its donation money, which they get a sizeable chunk from. Basically its all a scam. Of course they only do that to trigger a bunch of foreign Tl.net posters. Also every ASL, apart from the prize money, they have to pay blizzard 90k usd in fees. I guess its all to show that the platform is healthy, because we all know its all fake.
You have been right all along!
I love how that triggered you so much, even though that particular part of the trinity wasn't describing you at all. Btw, the guy it actually meant recognized it and took the joke. Y'know, like someone whos personality isn't defined by liking Brood War
You are right though: People should just watch AoE 2 or WC3. AoE 2 is just a super-fun community with crazy events (I will die on the hill that Red Bull Wololo V was the best Esports-event of all time) and WC3 is just the best game ever made in general. Glad we agree on that, welcome home, fellow WC3-fan :3
On November 26 2025 19:20 Harris1st wrote: I don't expect Starcraft to be present with an actual tournament at Blizzcon. At most we get like a invite 4 player exhibition. We'll likely have 1-2 HomestoryCups, Stara Zagora and RSL as Offline tournaments. Maybe the odd LAN like the Canada tournament that happened a few weeks back. I don't expect anything more from Saudis. Last year was already the last nail
I mean...SC2 will be 100% present at BlizzCon, because of that Classic Cup thingy. Will it be an "actual tournament"? Probably not...but who knows. Either way, that would be in almost exactly one year, so if that was the only thing to look forward to, that would be really depressing.
Dude you are the one who whenever I post you go with a flurry about all my personality is to shit on sc2. What is your personality then?
Your definition of "flurry" is exceedingly odd my friend.
with all this money I hope Tasteless can buy himself a car.
This is what you get for $100/month
Everything from Siege Tank plus Immortal ($100/month) Benefits – Limited to 500:
Immortal Discord flair
Patrons in Immortal Tier will be given an extra vote (2 total) for each community vote
Platinum patrons and up will have their name physically represented in the Tasteless Studio (details to be confirmed) that will periodically be shown on camera
Exclusive Immortal Tier poster with unique annual artwork delivered to you, signed by the broadcast team (Tasteless, Gemini, State, Sturgeon)
Entry into prize raffles or giveaways that are exclusive to Immortal Tier or HIGHER
what I would do is have the RSL Cup be something like the NHL Stanley Cup and have all 500 Immortal Tier peoples' names engraved on the RSL Cup. The thing should weigh about 10 KGs and the winner can hoist it over his head during an epic celebration.
nuttin cooler than watching a guy with half his teeth in an epic celebration!
So yay, progress, they get their shit together faster this time! Still no SC2 though. I know I'm biased, but I would definetly say that a RTS would fill the last spot nicely, it is after all one of the grand-daddy genres of Esports. Though on the other hand, same is true for ArenaShooters...buuuuuut I think we can all agree that the RTS-genre is much more alive than Quake and Unreal Tournament. If they will go for the "RTSo is besto"-approach, I would say SC2 or AoE 2 are the best bets. Considering ESL is massively involved, SC2 then seems to be the more logical pick.
MLBB Women would have been announced together with MLBB, right? (also, sidenote: The fuck is MLBB even?) And CS2 Female doesn't seem very logical, seeing how ESL just closed down their Impact-Ecosystem because it wasn't sustainable.
Here’s the EWC 2026 lineup (alphabetical), with 3 more titles to be announced: Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Call of Duty: Warzone, Chess, Counter-Strike 2, Crossfire, Dota 2, EA Sports FC 26, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, Free Fire, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Overwatch 2, PUBG BATTLEGROUNDS, PUBG Mobile, Rocket League, TEKKEN 8, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege X, Street Fighter 6, Teamfight Tactics, and VALORANT.
Didn't think it would happen. Still sad though now thats official. Goodbye hopium
Will be interested to see how the scene 'organically' restructures now with the lack of disproportionate outside money. Personally, I expect something larger than the current War3 scene, but not as big as the post-KeSPA/pre-streaming boom BW scene (that's not saying much since that encompasses a really broad range of outcomes).
Loss of fans, players, and content creators is inevitable, and so is some degree of accompanying eulogizing/commiserating. Still, I think it's important to keep the vibes in a reasonable place, instead of letting it spiral into an endless vortex of deadgame posting. People are going to process the same information and come to different conclusions regarding their fandom, and I think those who choose to stick it out in the post-Blizz/ESL/EWC scene would appreciate it if they didn't have to deal with negativity from those who aren't going to be involved
Didn't think it would happen. Still sad though now thats official. Goodbye hopium
Will be interested to see how the scene 'organically' restructures now with the lack of disproportionate outside money. Personally, I expect something larger than the current War3 scene, but not as big as the post-KeSPA/pre-streaming boom BW scene.
that heavily depends on which sc2 players continue to play after S-tier tournaments are gone. sc2 has already lost a ton of star power, and I do not believe that sc2 will be able to retain what little star power it has left.
the all-time GOATs of 3/4 races are still competing in w3 (Happy, Moon, Lyn). human lost Sky and TH000 to retirement, but you still have Forti going toe-to-toe with Happy in very closely-tied series, so every race is well-represented at the top level.
the health of the sc2 scene also depends on streaming and viewership, which is in an absolutely dismal state.
w3's twitch viewership dwarfed sc2's twitch viewership during every month of 2025 except July, when EWC was live. this is mainly because of Grubby's streamer invitational, and all the content that he did with the onlyfangs personalities. even if you remove Grubby's stream from the picture, the twitch viewership numbers between w3 and sc2 remain pretty similar for 2025. surprisingly, 2024 saw a higher peak viewership for w3 compared to sc2 - even during the ECW month. I guess because RARALAND and the Chinese All-Star league were both going on during August.
this is all in spite of the fact that w3 has no presence at ECW / gamers8
this also says nothing of w3's viewership in China. TeD's stream seems to attract a ton of engagement on douyu - and it's where most of the chinese / kr pros stream their games. nobody is streaming sc2 on soop. as I'm writing this, sc2 has 8 viewers on soop, bw has over 10k.
bw > wc3 >>>>>>> sc2 very far behind
edit: hopefully I am not interpreted as doomposting or deadgame posting just for the sake of it. this is simply my own grim reality check as a long-time fan. I wish sc2 was doing well, but it is not. I will treasure the many good memories!
Didn't think it would happen. Still sad though now thats official. Goodbye hopium
Will be interested to see how the scene 'organically' restructures now with the lack of disproportionate outside money. Personally, I expect something larger than the current War3 scene, but not as big as the post-KeSPA/pre-streaming boom BW scene.
that heavily depends on which sc2 players continue to play after S-tier tournaments are gone. sc2 has already lost a ton of star power, and I do not believe that sc2 will be able to retain what little star power it has left.
the all-time GOATs of 3/4 races are still competing in w3 (Happy, Moon, Lyn). human lost Sky and TH000 to retirement, but you still have Forti going toe-to-toe with Happy in very closely-tied series, so every race is well-represented at the top level.
the health of the sc2 scene also depends on streaming and viewership, which is in an absolutely dismal state.
w3's twitch viewership dwarfed sc2's twitch viewership during every month of 2025 except July, when EWC was live. this is mainly because of Grubby's streamer invitational, and all the content that he did with the onlyfangs personalities. even if you remove Grubby's stream from the picture, the twitch viewership numbers between w3 and sc2 remain pretty similar for 2025. surprisingly, 2024 saw a higher peak viewership for w3 compared to sc2 - even during the ECW month. I guess because RARALAND and the Chinese All-Star league were both going on during August.
this is all in spite of the fact that w3 has no presence at ECW / gamers8
this also says nothing of w3's viewership in China. TeD's stream seems to attract a ton of engagement on douyu - and it's where most of the chinese / kr pros stream their games. nobody is streaming sc2 on soop. as I'm writing this, sc2 has 8 viewers on soop, bw has over 10k.
bw > wc3 >>>>>>> sc2 very far behind
edit: hopefully I am not interpreted as doomposting or deadgame posting just for the sake of it. this is simply my own grim reality check as a long-time fan. I wish sc2 was doing well, but it is not. I will treasure the many good memories!
Obviously post-Afreeca boom BW isn't a realistic outcome, but I think an active semi-pro European scene is realistic. I'll take your word for it on Twitch numbers for War3, but a very important thing to consider is how much better the SC2 scene has been at putting together small scale, grassroots offline events. Streaming numbers are an important currency to any esport, but so is this kind of organizational ability and fan interest.
Unfortunately, I do have to agree that Korea will probably be the biggest casualty given the game's status domestically.
Didn't think it would happen. Still sad though now thats official. Goodbye hopium
Will be interested to see how the scene 'organically' restructures now with the lack of disproportionate outside money. Personally, I expect something larger than the current War3 scene, but not as big as the post-KeSPA/pre-streaming boom BW scene (that's not saying much since that encompasses a really broad range of outcomes).
Loss of fans, players, and content creators is inevitable, and so is some degree of accompanying eulogizing/commiserating. Still, I think it's important to keep the vibes in a reasonable place, instead of letting it spiral into an endless vortex of deadgame posting. People are going to process the same information and come to different conclusions regarding their fandom, and I think those who choose to stick it out in the post-Blizz/ESL/EWC scene would appreciate it if they didn't have to deal with negativity from those who aren't going to be involved
Honestly the constant gaslighting over the years has I think driven out all the non-diehards at this point. There's already been a lot of players lost so I don't think we have too much more to lose. The end of SC2 esports has been a slow process taking place for a decade which has spread out the pain.
Didn't think it would happen. Still sad though now thats official. Goodbye hopium
Will be interested to see how the scene 'organically' restructures now with the lack of disproportionate outside money. Personally, I expect something larger than the current War3 scene, but not as big as the post-KeSPA/pre-streaming boom BW scene (that's not saying much since that encompasses a really broad range of outcomes).
Loss of fans, players, and content creators is inevitable, and so is some degree of accompanying eulogizing/commiserating. Still, I think it's important to keep the vibes in a reasonable place, instead of letting it spiral into an endless vortex of deadgame posting. People are going to process the same information and come to different conclusions regarding their fandom, and I think those who choose to stick it out in the post-Blizz/ESL/EWC scene would appreciate it if they didn't have to deal with negativity from those who aren't going to be involved
Honestly the constant gaslighting over the years has I think driven out all the non-diehards at this point. There's already been a lot of players lost so I don't think we have too much more to lose. The end of SC2 esports has been a slow process taking place for a decade which has spread out the pain.
True The SC2 lifespan has taken heavy hits over the years. The KESPA shutdown The Blizzard/ Blizzcon/ IEM shutdown The EWC / Gamers 8 shutdown
With every major point the viewership and probably the players was halfed.
Me personnally, I don't need that big Uber event 500k+ $. I would be happy with a tournament circuit 25-30k quarterly with qualifiers, reports and previews and power ranks and I'd be happy
Perhaps I'm crazy, but I don't feel this will make a huge difference to the scene as it exists.
The question of the scene is how players actually make money. At least since WCS shut down, players were already making their money overwhelmingly off of a good circuit of grassroots events, with some mix of streaming and youtube being a very distant second: they still will be. Losing EWC is a blow, and we'll probably see a few retirements (esp of players who were already on the edge), but I'm not really sure how this changes the main health of the scene drastically. We won't draw in new viewers through EWC, but I'd be surprised if a lot of viewers would stop watching because of that?
Anyway, time for Microsoft to step in and do their thing obviously.
It's not about viewership being drastically worse it's about their being no tournaments... We have what, 2 lans announced for the year that could maybe draw in big names? That's not good...
On January 21 2026 05:26 CicadaSC wrote: It's not about viewership being drastically worse it's about their being no tournaments... We have what, 2 lans announced for the year that could maybe draw in big names? That's not good...
2025 had quite a few small/mid-size live events, and even if they can't all be announced months ahead of time in 2026, I'd expect we get a similar number this time around. Obv, Code S and EWC are big gaps in the calendar for fans, but I'm cautiously optimistic about what the community can cook up.
EPT
Portal:Tournaments
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