money...

This war worries me because of how hard I think Blizzard will work to kill SC with SC2. If SC2 doesn't live up to expectations and only lasts for a few years the damage to SC will be really bad.

KESPA is the first organization with the power to actually spread professional gaming, and yet, they only care about current profit. Sucks for them, since SC2 will either be the death of KESPA, or potentially extreme damage to SC/SC2 in general. They lose, either way.

In some ways I understand them though. They built up much of the Korean Starcraft phenomenon and now Blizzard wants in on the profit, even though Blizzard already profits from increase game sales they have generated.

Yes, but to be fair, KESPA has not paid a single dime on the use of Starcraft in any way. None of the tournaments they run are even with Blizzard's permission, but Blizzard has had no luck in court so far.

Kespa has to see the damage that could be caused, if they don't work together. Blizzard has nothing to lose, but KESPA and the fans stand to lose everything. =/

Blizzard can lose quite a bit if SC2 isn't the game of choice for RTS progamers, however, as you bring up, KeSPA can lose everything if things go the wrong way.

And KeSPA did pay a price, they payed for the game.

If I was a shoe company and Real Madrid bought my shoes to use on their players, I wouldn't sue them for showing my shoes every day on TV, instead I would be glad for the extra attention. Basically every broadcasted Starcraft match also works as an ad for the game itself. In my opinion Blizzard are taking the greedy route on this and I think it would be a mistake to have both the tournaments and the game development in the hands of the same entity (Blizzard).

While KESPA might have bought the game, the EULA and TOS specifically prohibit them from making a profit without express permission from Blizzard. I'm not saying that Blizzard aren't being greedy here, as I totally agree, but KESPA are in no position to fight Blizzard over this.

With the new battle.net, Blizzard can easily block KESPA out of SC2 entirely, if they want. If KESPA bends over, Blizzard will end up with control over both SC and SC2, while KESPA get to be their bitch. If SC2 ends up replacing SC entirely, and KESPA decide to resist by supporting SC only, Blizzard could send them completely out of business. Even if SC2 fails horribly, Blizzard still sells millions of copies, and merely lose out on something that they already don't have now. However, that failure will damage the SC scene for sure, and may be a big enough hit to slowly destroy it.

Fighting Blizzard now is only going to make negotiations much more difficult later. If there was never going to be a SC2, this situation wouldn't really matter, and KESPA could try to go on like this forever, but gaming communities are very weak to splits.

Still, I think Blizzard should stick to what they do best (make games) instead of interfering with those that play the game. Blizzard may be the hottest game company now but if you make a poor game or two you can easily slip from that throne down to oblivion. See Micropose, Bullfrog, Westwood etc.

Going to war with your fans and hardcore players is likely the wrong route to take.

By the looks of how WoW has been handled, we still have much to fear by the new Blizzard. =/

http://www.geeks.co.uk/7282-activision%E2%80%...-games-you

The Activision merge certainly hurt the company, but they lost their talent a long time ago. The old developers from SC/D2 are now working on Guild Wars.

Micropose! Westwood!

still it is not just about the game but for pro players, tournaments, and broadcasts you need more than just the game. you can see that with the tournament gui blizzard is offering in WoW to the companies (ESL, GOMTV, MLG) with a license to hold tournaments with blizzard games. similar stuff is planned for sc2 and would be really interesting. i already liked what the NGL did to the maps to get a few overlay features for wc3 but that felt more like a preview of what would be needed.

Eula & Tos mean nothing. They can't go over national laws and usually they try to assume dictatorial powers.

They're still in court over it, so we'll see how it works.

It's not the same as shoes. If you were Real Madrid and I'd invented football then I'd feel I had the right to sue you for some of the profit made with my game. Shoes are peripheral to football which is what generates Real Madrid's income.

no ql no fun

DIE

NO
U

Now AGP look what should be your job as association.

Why can't blizzard simply threaten to deny kespa the use of their products?

They've taken it to court in Korea, but they have had no luck enforcing any sort of property rights.

it is still in court right? afaik this is not over yet

Evil american imperialists.

This is the point of a players association. It's nice to see unity somewhere in pro gaming...

if only all companies would be like iD-software

plz no :P

Terrible. Sounds like SC2 will be a battlefield not only in-game, and both SC2 and SC will suffer as a result. Here ends the last hope for PC gaming ever. :'-(

Blizzard makes me sick, fucking mongol retards trying to destroy everything so that they can get more money, no matter what the fuck happens , as long as they control everything and get more and more money, fucking stupid assholes

???

They want to make a tournament for their own game and throw money at gamers and gave up the best English speaking coverage to date.

guess I misunderstood then, yet blizzard deserves my flame since they are all money hungry bastards! :)) (who isnt though!)

Those evil fucks, wanting to profit from their product!

It's not only about doing a tournament, it's about control of the future SC2 scene in South Korea. Blizzard wants the Blizz-controlled GOM to be the main body of SC2 while KeSPA wants the SC2 pro scene under their wing.

KESPA denied players to play in GOM TV because it was backed by OMG LOL BLIZZARD the makers of the fucking game

what does that say about them?

That they don't want to lose a filed in this little fight. Once a King want to stay a King.

I'm just worried because Blizzard could easily make a battlenet must log on to play any multiplayer. LAN just like id - only with there equipment - and u know who fair is to play so fast paced game with battlenet average ping. Even if KesPa would do it by battlenet then they could be just banned for that court fight with SC.

Blizz can win it but for players cost.

GOMtv, you will be missed, I had some great hungover sundays with tasteless and super daniel :D

what about lil'susie?

the chick with the panda bear t-shirt? I hardly remember her. So no comment :D

She was cute, but had no friggin' clue about the game. All she ever did was 'uh-huh' Tasteless' monologues.

sif bliz cares with 10 mil wow zombies sucking on their tit

sif stalin or hitler cared

sif that made sense

The Cataclysm announcement brought some people back, but it's still in major decline. They'll milk it for as much as they can, but I think they're looking to the next big thing that they can exploit.

they already have it. 3 of them. SC2. Diablo3. And that next gen MMO game, whatever that is.

SC2 and Diablo 3 have major disagreements with the oldschool crowd. I do believe that they'll be putting the focus on the new MMO, though.

There are disagreements. But people will still buy it just to satisfy their curiosity. It will also attract new crowds.

On another note. Their milking concept works so well because all of their games were pretty damn good so far, each including that addiction factor.