StarCraft 2 Not at the Esports World Cup 2026

On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote:
Will be an interesting road from here with all the cards on the table. So the next few weeks and months will show who stays and who goes - not that I would blame any pro for going at this point. If you considered playing tournaments in SC2 your career, your career is most likely officially over. That's the shitty part. The good part is, that from here on out, everyone knows "who is who". No content creator or smalelr TO will have to live in "fear" of ESL randomly dropping a huge tournament in your schedule that messes everything up.

On January 22 2026 05:11 Antithesis wrote:

There is in fact one thing which might still shake up the scene in the future.

In his video Tasteless claims with surprising confidence the reason why EWC dropped SC2 is not a lack of viewers or anything of the sort but rather that they could not come to an agreement with Blizzard. I do not know if this is true and I did not hear this from any other source but if it is true it means SC2 can return to EWC if and when Blizzard decides to support SC2 in the fashion demanded by EWC, whatever those terms might be. And as other Blizzard titles are at EWC, such an agreement is not in principle out of the question. But again I do not know whether Tasteless is right.

On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote:
Yeah, fuck you Wombat!....what did you do though? ._.

On January 22 2026 05:11 Antithesis wrote:
In his video Tasteless claims with surprising confidence the reason why EWC dropped SC2 is not a lack of viewers or anything of the sort but rather that they could not come to an agreement with Blizzard. I do not know if this is true and I did not hear this from any other source but if it is true it means SC2 can return to EWC if and when Blizzard decides to support SC2 in the fashion demanded by EWC, whatever those terms might be. And as other Blizzard titles are at EWC, such an agreement is not in principle out of the question. But again I do not know whether Tasteless is right.

On January 22 2026 08:14 Agh wrote:


Haven't watched or listened but fairly certain our info comes from the same grapevine.
There are a lot of petty exchanges and stances from both sides that do nothing for the players & fans and just make both entities look pretty silly. I think both lose out in the end, and in the long run the genre is what suffers.

I don't really blame Blizzard in this particular instance but their track record has been pretty horrid with just about every aspect of their competitive titles, much less the esports handling.


As far as SC2 goes I'd be more upset but honestly with the current patch the game is a bit of a snoozefest, and just as unhealthy if not more than the previous patch.

On January 22 2026 13:35 LaughNgamezYT wrote:


It's almost like half assed patches leave the game in a worse state than no patches.

On January 22 2026 07:45 luxon wrote:


Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.

On January 22 2026 07:45 luxon wrote:


Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.

On January 24 2026 00:49 Balnazza wrote:


LotV was released over 10 years ago btw...

On January 23 2026 10:04 Balnazza wrote:


Not really reports, just rumours. That I also never fully bought tbh. Why would Blizzard be the "mimimi"-lord about SC2 when OW2 was and is at EWC, even as part as their official circuit if I recall correctly?

On January 22 2026 15:05 BrewKnowURSA wrote:
We hope to turn Stellar Fest into an annual Fall event in Ottawa. I know we're not close to replacing the EWC... but I look forward to this era where the independent circuit can grow and collaborate. Here's why:

Stellar Fest 1 has given UrsaTV a great audition tape, opening doors at both Ottawa's tourism and entrepreneurial sector support organizations. In the short-term, it will allow us to follow the example of Bellum Gens in Bulgaria, who have successfully used esports and StarCraft II to showcase the Stara Zagora region.

My ultimate ambition is opening a place like Germany's TaKeBar, in my city of Ottawa. My first esports event was HSC 22 - A Winter's Dream. The experience was magical... I loved how a crowd of all ages, from all over the world got to mingle with pro-gamers and content creators in an humble, underrated German town. I'm soon returning to Krefeld for more "market research" and pints during HSC 28. Go Pinguines! Avoid the Essacher Luft.

Within a few months of HSC 22, I started pursuing the idea seriously, adjusting my life towards entrepreneurship. I'm not sure how close I am to the dream of a venue just yet, but Stellar Fest helps me define the market in Ottawa. This winter, I'll leverage the mentorship program at Invest Ottawa for the first steps towards commercial real estate, defining a financial strategy and timeline for an Ottawa-based esports venue. Meanwhile, my day-to-day is focused on the plans for Stellar Fest 2 for Fall 2026 in Ottawa, which will more than likely be in a rented venue again. In 2026, we hope to secure UrsaTV / Stellar Fest's first sponsors.

I'm blown away by this weekend's venue at the Thunderfire StarCraft II All-Star Invitational - the Hangzhou Esports Center looked epic on tv. China's esports infrastructure is clearly world-leading... looks like they're in a great position to grow (and... arguably offer a better product than the EWC).

I'm aiming for the future home of UrsaTV to be near LeBreton Flats in Ottawa... the areas of Mechanicsville, Chinatown, Little Italy, Hintonburg. I share this because the area will transform over the next decade as our local NHL team moves from the suburbs to LeBreton Flats. Maybe Stellar Fest 10, 15 or 20 can be in an Arena.

Here's the short- medium- and long- term... peak behind the UrsaTV curtain, as we process the news of a changing StarCraft II landscape and EWC's long, quiet, and unceremonious abandonment of StarCraft II.

On January 28 2026 05:52 Drahkn wrote:
The only way RTS survives as a "big" ESPORT is if another Brood War comes along that hit the world as hard as that game did. SC3 needs to have the most badass visuals and gameplay that has that back and fourth gameplay that has you on the edge of your seat. But I think it has to reduce the APM requirements and be more about decision making, strategy and army control and less about MACRO that requires crazy apm to be 100% efficient(obviously MACRO should be a huge part of the game). Most people quit RTS games like SC because it is simply just to stressful and not fun to play once you get to higher MMR's because the effort you put in 2 win is so extreme it feels more like a job then a game. ( And this is because the APM required to play is so demanding). When I play games like CS GO or League of Legends I can play at a pretty high level and still just chill and have a laugh. While in SC2 I would be working up an early heart attack to play at the same level.

On January 27 2026 07:41 Charoisaur wrote:

I mean TvZ was peak in HotS. PvZ I think kinda the same or a bit worse now due to lame Mothership Tempest styles.
TvP is definitely better now though.
Not sure about the mirrors as I don't watch them much but I guess they're kinda the same too.
Don't really get your HotS hate.

If it's just because of Swarmhosts I think memory fails you a bit as Swarmhosts weren't really played that much, just the couple hour long games got lots of attention.

On January 28 2026 01:39 Charoisaur wrote:

If that's your take I'm confused why you think LotV is better considering with LotV they tripled down on the speed creep. The economy changes alone made the game progress way faster, and spread out bases makes worker harass much stronger. And all the changes you mentioned bar mship core are still in the game.

On January 29 2026 16:01 ejozl wrote:

It's because, I don't see WoL as the superior game, it's just quite different. There're things that I sorely miss, and the things I think lotv improved upon. Aside from the f2 button, lotv pretty much solved the death ball problem with stronger aoe and strong positional units. It also made micro worth it to do instead of only thinking about macro. And it made players make far more bases, which now because they place the bases so close on the newer maps, bring us closer to WoL, which sucks.

I wish we had big armies like WoL. That upgrades were more expensive but also strong. It should be worth it to turtle to get to stuff like seeker missiles, or vortex, strong carriers, or bcs. There should be way more production buildings, almost one for each of the new unit implemented, making it easier to scout things and so that there are trade offs for which tech you go.

For instance, if charge cost 200\200, there was a siege mode for 100\100 and ravager required a building cost 100\50, it would slow the game down and give more room for other units to breathe, such as adepts, stalkers, roaches, cyclones, or what have you.

On January 22 2026 01:42 luxon wrote:
Congrats Wombat! what you wanted finally happened, appreciate your good work sir

On January 22 2026 22:09 rwala wrote:


Or perhaps he was just voicing a thoughtful perspective? Virtue signaling has a negative connotation because it suggests that the goal is to signal beliefs that are insincerely or cynically or opportunistically held. It doesn’t apply well here because clearly in this community this is the unpopular, minority position so there isn’t much to be gained by “signaling it,” as these comments demonstrate.

Even if you don’t care about human rights, one could argue that if your game has been abandoned by the publisher and is relying on Saudi money to stay afloat, that’s an extremely precarious position to be in. But of course there’s also no question that this is a huge loss for the players who rely on this prize pool and everything that comes with it (e.g. team salaries and support) to justify continuing to playing at the professional level.