• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 09:42
CEST 15:42
KST 22:42
  • 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
[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall9HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0TL Team Map Contest #5: Presented by Monster Energy6
Community News
Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL50Weekly Cups (June 23-29): Reynor in world title form?12FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event16Esports World Cup 2025 - Final Player Roster16Weekly Cups (June 16-22): Clem strikes back1
StarCraft 2
General
The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings How does the number of casters affect your enjoyment of esports? The SCII GOAT: A statistical Evaluation Statistics for vetoed/disliked maps Esports World Cup 2025 - Final Player Roster
Tourneys
RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series https://www.facebook.com/MiracleSheetsOnline/ [GSL 2025] Code S: Season 2 - Semi Finals & Finals $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo) FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[UMS] Zillion Zerglings
External Content
Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome Mutation # 478 Instant Karma Mutation # 477 Slow and Steady
Brood War
General
Player “Jedi” cheat on CSL BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Unit and Spell Similarities Help: rep cant save Flash Announces Hiatus From ASL
Tourneys
[BSL20] Grand Finals - Sunday 20:00 CET [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 [BSL20] GosuLeague RO16 - Tue & Wed 20:00+CET
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile What do you want from future RTS games? Beyond All Reason
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Trading/Investing Thread The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread NBA General Discussion Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Blogs
Culture Clash in Video Games…
TrAiDoS
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
Blog #2
tankgirl
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 622 users

Reality Check: State of SC2

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 4 5 Next All
mikkmagro
Profile Joined April 2011
Malta1513 Posts
December 14 2012 22:43 GMT
#1
NB: I have nothing to do with Complexity, or the author, but I stumbled on this, and thought it was a very good read, and brought up excellent points.

Reality Check: State of SC2 - Jason Bass, COO Complexity

It was pretty obvious that the viewership was declining and my personal opinion was that it was due to several factors but the most important being content saturation...Can you imagine if the Dallas Cowboys played the Houston Texans 3 times a week?


coL deserves the hits, read up here:
http://www.complexitygaming.com/news/3922/
mousesports, Team Acer, Fnatic!
kochanfe
Profile Joined July 2011
Micronesia1338 Posts
December 14 2012 22:46 GMT
#2
hmmm... read the article. not sure I totally agree with a lot of it actually.
"The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long." - Lao Tzu
Kluey
Profile Joined April 2011
Canada1197 Posts
December 14 2012 22:47 GMT
#3
So true but, there is nothing we can do. The organizations that can't keep up with the top will die out and that's how we get rid of over saturation.
Rebel_
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada94 Posts
December 14 2012 22:53 GMT
#4
Well small leagues are dieing out little by little now. Next year lets see how the big organizations do it. Its good for players but the viewership is small (comparing to Moba games, sorry), lets hope HoTS restores everything again. Next year will be interesting to see.
“Give the guy a gun he's superman, give him two and he’s God.” - Hard Boiled
Yorbon
Profile Joined December 2011
Netherlands4272 Posts
December 14 2012 22:58 GMT
#5
hm, i didn't really read anything surprising or shocking in the article to be honest.
I don't really see how this should be a reality check :$
OkStyX
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
Canada1199 Posts
December 14 2012 22:58 GMT
#6
Starcraft as much as we want it to be huge actually always thrived as a small highly competitive scene , its good to separate the wheat from the chaff . Good read but not entirely sure i agree with all of it .
Team Overklocked Gaming! That man is the noblest creature may be inferred from the fact that no other creature has contested this claim. - G.C. Lichtenberg
mikkmagro
Profile Joined April 2011
Malta1513 Posts
December 14 2012 23:02 GMT
#7
The next thing would be for Blizzard to put more control on who can and can't run an SC2 event. We need a pro and amateur circuit. I am not advocating killing off all of the small events, but we do need some controls in place to make sure some baseline level of criteria is met before Blizzard gives a tournament license


This is pretty interesting. What do you think about Blizzard having such a degree of control over the competitive scene?
mousesports, Team Acer, Fnatic!
SlayerS_BoxxY
Profile Joined June 2012
United States64 Posts
December 14 2012 23:05 GMT
#8
The "story line" problem he mentions is big. Fixing this is largely a problem of production value. Casters need research available to them, statistics, analysis, stories, etc. Gom uses lots of graphics to show previous results of players. This is a good start, but then it is up to the casters to synthesize that information and connect it to stories about the players.
ledarsi
Profile Joined September 2010
United States475 Posts
December 14 2012 23:06 GMT
#9
The idea of a longer-term circuit is great. Having a Starcraft World Series, or a Starcraft Super Bowl is a great idea.

Not sure if I like the idea of Blizzard preventing people from holding tournaments for arbitrary reasons, like another tournament being scheduled at that time. This could work if strictly limited, such as not having pro tournaments concurrently so that it splits the professional player base, with some attending each. But amateur tournaments should not be limited by Blizzard in any way.
"First decide who you would be, then do what you must do."
packrat386
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
United States5077 Posts
December 14 2012 23:09 GMT
#10
On December 15 2012 08:02 mikkmagro wrote:
Show nested quote +
The next thing would be for Blizzard to put more control on who can and can't run an SC2 event. We need a pro and amateur circuit. I am not advocating killing off all of the small events, but we do need some controls in place to make sure some baseline level of criteria is met before Blizzard gives a tournament license


This is pretty interesting. What do you think about Blizzard having such a degree of control over the competitive scene?


I guess it seems like somebody has to. Kespa was bad in some respects, but look at how successful they can help make things like proleague and OSL. When you have a lawmaking body you can limit oversaturation without having to wait for companies to fail. You also give the community as a whole some sort of way to get behind stuff as a whole. No tournament or even group of tournaments could probably get a TV contract, but if a rulemaking organization could ensure that, for example, other big tournaments wouldn't broadcast at the same time, then they might be able to do something like that.
dreaming of a sunny day
packrat386
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
United States5077 Posts
December 14 2012 23:11 GMT
#11
On December 15 2012 08:06 ledarsi wrote:
The idea of a longer-term circuit is great. Having a Starcraft World Series, or a Starcraft Super Bowl is a great idea.

Not sure if I like the idea of Blizzard preventing people from holding tournaments for arbitrary reasons, like another tournament being scheduled at that time. This could work if strictly limited, such as not having pro tournaments concurrently so that it splits the professional player base, with some attending each. But amateur tournaments should not be limited by Blizzard in any way.


I think if there was going to be a body like this, limitations on small prize-pool amateur tournaments would be small, just like they are with similar institutions in traditional sports. The most important restrictions are on top teams and players. Teamleagues with a long running format like proleague are critical and tournaments need to make sure that name-brand players are there when they ought to be.
dreaming of a sunny day
envisioN .
Profile Joined February 2011
United States552 Posts
December 14 2012 23:17 GMT
#12
I definitely agree with the fact that the SC2 pro scene is over saturated with events. MLG, GSL, IPL, NASL, Dreamhack, WCS, ESL and now SPL. If each of these tournaments have 4 major events per year (many of which have more), that is 28 events, more than two every month. With so many tournaments, there is no continuity in rivalries or story lines other than the ones that have carried over from before all of these SC2 events have sprung up.

Don't get me wrong, it is great that we have so many amazing events. It shows that eSports as a whole is growing, and growing rapidly. The problem is that there are so many events that each tournament only really has any importance during that tournaments weekend, and winning a tournament isn't as big of a deal as I believe it should be for a player. In order to gain any lasting recognition as a truly amazing player, one must win multiple tournaments convincingly, which most players cannot do because of the nature of a constantly shifting meta game and the fact that everyone has slumps. One of the reasons the GSL is so prestigious is because the tournament is played out over the course of a month and a half. I think fewer, or more spaced out tournaments, would give much more importance to each tournament win, and make the SC2 scene as a whole much more interesting to watch.
"Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works" -Martin Luther ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
TrippSC2
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States209 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-14 23:25:45
December 14 2012 23:22 GMT
#13
The one thing that I think should be noted that isn't is that fewer, more important tournaments also means more practice time between tournaments. Without that, the HotS metagame will end up exactly like WoL has become, with 1 standard style for each MU with a lot of small variations that look the exact same to the average fan. I think a metagame with more variety will do more to help viewership than anything and will occur with less major events.
Penev
Profile Joined October 2012
28472 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-14 23:29:35
December 14 2012 23:26 GMT
#14
I'm not impressed by the last part of the article about adblock and pvv. I'm amazed I hear this opinion so much from people in the industry because it's such an unrealistic view. You cannot expect your customers to not use adblock or pay for content because you ask nicely. It doesn't work that way. You have to make sure your ads can't be blocked (broadcast them yourself) and pvv.. Well that is a very dangerous path to take. Especially if you want a relatively new, small form of entertainment to grow.
I Protoss winner, could it be?
Hrrrrm
Profile Joined March 2010
United States2081 Posts
December 14 2012 23:28 GMT
#15
We need "Team" events at tournaments. The majority of teams fly out 2-3 players anyways why not 2 more and have the "primary" event be the Team Event and have a smaller Individual tournament. Single player tournaments are what is old and there are too many of them. Would give more exposure to the teams and sponsors, to players on the teams that don't get that much exposure, and allow underdogs to get recognition. Not even going to mention the HYPE! BW was a huge success primarily because it was teams first then players. In SC2 teams have been more in the background and it's all been mainly about individual success.

Maybe IPL or Dreamhack can make it happen. A simple 8 Team Double Elimination Tourney at an event. It would be grand!
alot = a lot (TWO WORDS)
Greenei
Profile Joined November 2011
Germany1754 Posts
December 14 2012 23:30 GMT
#16
On December 15 2012 08:06 ledarsi wrote:
The idea of a longer-term circuit is great. Having a Starcraft World Series, or a Starcraft Super Bowl is a great idea.



isn't wcs/bwc exactly that?
IMBA IMBA IMBA IMBA IMBA IMBA
divito
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Canada1213 Posts
December 14 2012 23:34 GMT
#17
On December 15 2012 08:30 Greenei wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 15 2012 08:06 ledarsi wrote:
The idea of a longer-term circuit is great. Having a Starcraft World Series, or a Starcraft Super Bowl is a great idea.



isn't wcs/bwc exactly that?

I think the better idea would be to incorporate results from all events though, rather than their own satellite events.
Skype: divito7
SigmaoctanusIV
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States3313 Posts
December 14 2012 23:37 GMT
#18
Over saturation has nothing to do with the decline in viewers. The game has gotten Stale to watch for a lot of the casual viewers. Most tournaments don't have a wide variety of races being played, one race is always cut out early. Many Foreigner fan favorites don't perform like they used to.

The scene is going to turn around for HOTS, we will have an influx of people playing just to check stuff out and they might love it or just be interested enough in it to come browse on TL and see what the scene is up to.
I am Godzilla You are Japan
ishyishy
Profile Joined February 2011
United States826 Posts
December 14 2012 23:40 GMT
#19
- Event saturation: I dont see a problem here, the fans will tune in to what they like, and each company will either grow or decline as a result. It's all part of the entertainment industry, it's all about competition for viewers. I see no problem here.

- Watching the game: if people dont like watching the game anymore, then they move on to something else. Just because the diehard fans of sc2 demand it of everyone that sets their eyes on a sc2 stream one time to stay glued to it for life doesnt mean it's going to happen. No one other than the players can choose how the players play the game, and if you dont like watching a zerg sit on their ass for 15 minutes and mass spines, then dont watch it anymore, or watch someone else. No one knows if it will be "the best" strat in the expansion, but if it is, there is only 1 entity to blame, blizzard. Not the players. Not the fans.

- Playing the game: Pro and amatuer circuit? Who the hell is going to care or watch non-pro players? Cant say for sure that no one will, but I'll bet that there are less viewers for it than there is for the Pro matches lol, and I'll also bet that it wont be a sustainable or profittable business for long. I dont watch Playhem, I dont watch go4sc2 or any other small tournament, I only watch MLG and GSL because those 2 events have *the best* players playing, and I am only entertained by *the best players*.

For example, Jason says "...basically anyone can run an event, regardless of quality, whenever they want. This creates a situation of white noise. Nothing seems important anymore."

How does this make any sense at all? People will either like or dislike an event, and if an event is disliked enough times it will disappear. An MLG sure does seem a hell of a lot more important because everyone likes it, than some fucking joke tournament in some remote country that was ran poorly.

IMO people are slowly getting bored with seeing the actual game. We dont live in an age where people stay entertained by the same shit for years and years anymore. New generation gamers always want flashy shit that changes often. Look at LoL, a flashy, somewhat easy to play game that changes several times a month because new skins and heros come out. Look at Call of Duty, they fuckin make a new game or 2 every year with a few new flashy eye candy bits in each game (not saying the actual gamplay changes, just the shit you see).

In sc2, nothing changes, theres no flashy eye candy to keep kids entertained (not even a dis, its true), the changes we get are "reduce build time on [X building] by 5 seconds". Is that supposed to bring new players into the game? Blizzard is not making new ways to attract new players, and obviously everyone currently playing will eventually lose interest, thus you have a declining population, it's that simple. Sc2 is plain, dull, not entertaining to play for long periods of time for most people, and gets insanely boring to watch because pro players have figured the game out. The expansion wont change this. It will eventually boil down to a set amount of maps that are good, a set amount of builds that are good, and flip coins. It isnt going anywhere fast, and Jason, that is no ones fault other than the creator, the designers, and the main supporters of the game, Blizzard.
Hider
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Denmark9376 Posts
December 14 2012 23:40 GMT
#20
Gah unfortunately bass view is very simplistic.

Sc2 would decline eventually, regardless of the saturation. If fewer games were played, the duration might have been longer in terms of years, but in terms of total veiwerships of all games watched it wouldn't have mattered (or it would have been even lower).

1 2 3 4 5 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
13:00
King of the Hill #216
davetesta60
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Harstem 440
Lowko366
Hui .129
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 57572
firebathero 9463
Calm 7698
Rain 4826
Horang2 1704
EffOrt 1079
Larva 639
actioN 387
BeSt 373
Mini 191
[ Show more ]
Light 163
Leta 142
ToSsGirL 139
Snow 99
hero 96
Hyun 93
Pusan 86
Mind 72
JYJ52
Mong 44
Rush 41
Barracks 34
Movie 31
Shinee 31
Backho 27
PianO 26
sSak 18
Killer 16
HiyA 16
Shine 13
soO 11
yabsab 10
IntoTheRainbow 9
SilentControl 8
Terrorterran 8
Sacsri 7
Nal_rA 6
Dota 2
Gorgc6868
qojqva2194
420jenkins505
XcaliburYe458
League of Legends
singsing2725
Super Smash Bros
Chillindude29
Other Games
Grubby2137
B2W.Neo1088
hiko880
DeMusliM584
Fuzer 303
rGuardiaN281
XaKoH 269
ArmadaUGS122
QueenE19
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 96
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 2890
• WagamamaTV321
League of Legends
• Nemesis5289
• Stunt536
Upcoming Events
WardiTV European League
2h 18m
Scarlett vs Percival
Jumy vs ArT
YoungYakov vs Shameless
uThermal vs Fjant
Nicoract vs goblin
Harstem vs Gerald
FEL
2h 18m
Big Brain Bouts
2h 18m
Korean StarCraft League
13h 18m
CranKy Ducklings
20h 18m
RSL Revival
20h 18m
FEL
1d 2h
RSL Revival
1d 20h
FEL
1d 22h
BSL: ProLeague
2 days
Dewalt vs Bonyth
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
The PondCast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-06-28
HSC XXVII
Heroes 10 EU

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL 2v2 Season 3
BSL Season 20
Acropolis #3
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Championship of Russia 2025
RSL Revival: Season 1
Murky Cup #2
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters
CCT Season 2 Global Finals
IEM Melbourne 2025

Upcoming

2025 ACS Season 2: Qualifier
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
2025 ACS Season 2
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
K-Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
SEL Season 2 Championship
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.