Posts Tagged ‘Starcraft 2’

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Starcraft II becomes an official e-Sports event of KESPA

May 2nd, 2012

Starcraft II e-Sports Transition Celebration was held at COEX Intercontinental hotel in Seoul on the 2nd of May. Paul Sams, COO of Blizzard Entertainment, joined the event with people from KESPA(Korean e-Sports Association), Gretech(GomTV), Ongamenet. Progamers from Starcraft 1,2 and staffs were there, too.

KESPA(Korean e-Sports Association) acquired the right to host team based Starcraft II league while Ongamenet ) acquired the right to host individual Starcraft II league and broadcast it. Starcraft II becomes one of KESPA’s official events after it released a year and half ago.

As a result, there will be 4 Starcraft II leagues – two for Team based and other two for Individual.

Paul Sams, Blizzard COO, said “Blizzard will devote to the future of Korean e-Sports. Korea is a leader of pro-gaming business. We are pleasure to watch matches among Korean gamers.”

The detail about the team league and the individual league from KESPA and Ongamenet will be announced sometimes in the future.

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Blizzard to Hold Korean e-Sports in Las Vegas

March 5th, 2012

 

Final match of 2011 Sony Ericsson GSL Season 6 took place in Blizzcon last year

Blizzard Entertainment and its Korean e-Sports broadcasting partner GomTV are going to hold a final match of 2012 Global <Starcraft 2> Team League(GSTL) season 1 on stage of IGN Pro League(IPL) 4 taking place in Las Vegas, the U.S. on the 7th of April.

IGN has asked GomTV to produce a <Starcraft 2> program for the IPL 4 and hold the final match of 2012 GSTL season 1 at the site. This would be the second time for Korean e-Sports holding the final match abroad following Sony Ericsson GSL season 6 took place in Blizzcon last year.

“It’s honor to land GomTV’s technology and GSTL in Las Vegas where is a mecca of global sports. We will do our best to uphold the name of home of e-Sports,” said InSik Bae the CEO of GomTV.

All the GSTL matches are available at GSL official homepage and GomTV channel.

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Alt1 Sponsors Starcraft 2 eSports Team SlayerS

February 10th, 2012

Alt1 announced that it is going to sponsor a <Starcraft 2> eSports team SlayerS.

SlayerS is a team of YoHwan Lim, a.k.a. SlayerS_BoxeR, owned by KaYun Kim, an actress and a girlfriend of Lim.

“I am so glad that my ex-company Alt1 decided to sponsor my team. We will help each other to create a synergy effect and will repay it with great games,” said Kim.

“I hope to build a great relationship with SlayerS and provide reasonable service for fans with diverse marketing,” said SukChun Kang the director of Alt1.

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League of Legends to Invade 2012 Korean E-sports

December 29th, 2011

Riot Games’ <League of Legends>(<LoL>) is getting spotlighted from Korean e-sports industry.

The Korean e-sports industry actually went through hard times this year. It failed to make <Starcraft 2> a new driver for further growth after the legal battle against Blizzard Entertainment. Moreover, as one of only two gaming broadcasters, MBC Game, abandoned its gaming channel it has formed unilateral regime with OnGameNet. Professional game teams of MBC Game and WeMade are also disbanded.

Amid such situation, <LoL> surfaced as new prospective growth engine for Korean e-sports industry. Riot Games has likewise expressed high interest in the e-sports market for a long time and has aggressively entered the Korean market in order to establish a solid foothold in home of the e-sports. OnGameNet would also likely to launch a <LoL> league next year in earnest since they are hesitating over <Starcraft 2> league today.

Riot Games is striving to refine the game to befit today’s e-sports environment by updating the observer mode and kicking off a small tournament among internet cafes in Korea.

Startale, a professional <Starcraft 2> team, already founded a <LoL> team consisted of named players of <Chaos>, another <DotA> like game in Korea, while other <Starcraft> teams show their high interests in founding one and <Starcraft 2> teams who often play abroad consider it as an opportunity to pioneer the global market.

Therefore the year 2012 seems to be an important for Riot Games who challenges the Korean e-sports market. Led by OnGameNet, many internet based broadcasters including NiceGameTV are taking an aggressive attitude. Thus successfully held first season would eventually trigger a rush on founding <LoL> pro-game teams in Korea.

Yet all is not as good as above. <LoL> has to overcome a characteristic entry barrier that all AOS genre games have and the difficulty in broadcasting compared to which of RTS games. Better broadcasting system and entertaining manpower with understandable expertise are essential so as to approach fresh gamers.

Despite number of obstacles not a few industry experts view that <LoL> would play a significant axis of the e-sports sooner or later. <Starcraft> is on the decline and <Starcraft 2: Heart of Swarm> needs more time till its release. In other words, it might be the best time for <LoL> to get into the Korean e-sports market.

Hope, as a gamer and a big fan of e-sports, the Korean e-sports prosper next year with <LoL> as well as others.

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CEO of WeMade Resigned for Personal Reasons

July 4th, 2011

SooKil Seo(right picture), the CEO of WeMade Entertainment, resigned from his position for personal reasons.

WeMade announced it on June 30.

There has actually been a rumor that Mr. Seo would sell all his stocks including ordinary shares and stock options which worth 6% of entire WeMade stocks since last April.

Therefore WeMade will be led by KwanHo Park, the co-CEO of WeMade and owns 54.26% of WeMade stocks, alone ever since he resigned.

In addition to his resignation, his e-sports team, WeMade Fox, would likely be dismissed as well. The team is currently taken to KeSPA’s arbitration for either sales or management in trust after the Shinhan bank pro league 10-11 season. Its <Warcraft 3> players are already leaving to <Starcraft 2> league.

WeMade said many things could be done with the e-sports team but nothing has not been done yet.

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