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Kespa VS. Blizzard: The Battle of GOM

Posted by Simon "Go0g3n" 2 years ago

Remember a month ago or so we wrote about the behind the scenes battle going on between Kespa and Blizzard. Back then, in order to go around Kespa and it's broadcasting partners MBC and OGN, Blizzard started sponsoring GOM with a general idea to bring all StarCraft 2 events on GOM, with SCBW, Warcraft III and WoW tournaments already being broadcast via means of GOM.

Well, you can wave goodbye to GOM StarCraft matches. Super Daniel Man posted this on his twitter page:

SuperDanielMan:
As of now I can safely say there won't be any more GOMTV leagues with Progamers in it.
Well, to make the long story short, under kespa there are 12 teams and most of them decided not to participate.

Now for the interesting part. Under exactly the same circumstances all current Progamers can and probably will be forbidden to participate in any televised StarCraft II matches, unless they are willing to leave their team(s), therefore breaking ties with Kespa and losing the Progamer status altogether.

A second, although quite outdated, punch from Kespa comes in a way that JulyZerg was forbidden, by his team STX, to go to Blizzcon, as STX is in close ties with Kespa, being one of the most popular teams and the host of their own tournament STX Masters Cup.

Although the situation gets more and more complicated, the goals are quite clear. Blizzard wants more money, much more, royalties from every single commercial broadcast, OGN and MBC clearly don't want to pay, as StarCraft is simply the most watched sport in Korea, especially among young adults, the most profitable and expensive ratings group of them all. Kespa, on the other hand, wants to keep control over the whole scene.

Your initial position might be all in favor of Blizzard, but, don't forget, that Kespa built what is now a StarCraft scene, made deals with broadcasters, to provide tv coverage, formed a ruling board over the whole thing, giving the teams decision making powers, made financial deals with professional map makers and a lot more.

Links

Teamliquid - (Source)

SuperDanielMan - Twitter

Comments \ Paging

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comments

#51

iCCup.Spec 2 years ago

??? Julyzerg imba now? lol
:( *uninstall gomplayer*

#52

ipe 2 years ago

Omg. I can't believe that kespa can actually do that. Im on blizzard's side too, because they fucking made the games... It's like cold war all over again.
And like always the innocent player suffer most...

#53

ZenSierT 2 years ago

ban all leagues and make ONE commercial esport league allover the several scenes!

#54

LML (Division Leader SC) 2 years ago

so many talking about no longer work for Tasteless and SDM .. don't forget what it said: no PROGAMERS! might be semi-progamers or foreigners, let's just hope they will keep on going!

#55

beggarterran1 2 years ago

fuck kespa and fuck blizzard too, fuck starcraft

LOL JK

WTF WE DO?

#56

Vis 2 years ago

#2 no one cares about shitty WoW, jesus.

#57

TD)LiquiD 2 years ago

kespa is being retarded, blizzard created this game, without them we wouldnt have this entertainment. If blizzard decided to sponsor gomTV and have them host special matches and kespa gets mad about it, then fuck them lol...who cares, we are foriegners anyways and to be honest as long as we have iccup we should all be happy. What does kespa do for us foriegners anyways? the koreans are the ones who will suffer, not us..So all can relax and count on ICCup untill SC2 is released.

#58

ostojiy 2 years ago

This is ridiculous. They can have they're arguments and disagreements but when it is affecting the users and the people that really give Blizzard AND Kespa in a negative fashion its downright fucking stupid. They are both in the wrong and they should sit down and figure it out rather than doing stupid immature shit like this.

#59

AfghanistanHope 2 years ago

let me point something out:

- StarCraft is a Blizzard product. If it wasn't Blizzard there wouldnt be a game called StarCraft so be greatful for once in your stupid life.

#60

eventual 2 years ago

blizzard will win this i am 100%
koreans will get bored of bw in 2-3 years

and if kespa wont let they progamers play sc2 at TV who matters LOL

= you will buy sc2 the 3 versions like 100 $$
and blizzard will have a lot of money ^^

and kespa bw will die LOL!!!

#61

lostninja 2 years ago

fucking greedy blizzard. How much money do they need..........

#62

bOrN4yOu 2 years ago

They only need 4 more billion

#63

dobbersp 2 years ago

@58 - Agree whole heartedly. This is juvenile.

I respect both blizzard and kespa. I sincerely hope they can come to an arrangement which will allow us to have professional english casted games of both SC:BW and SC2. I'm sure they're all working feverishly to continue negotiations.

BlizzPA Hwaighting!

#64

mighty 2 years ago

basicly blizzard n kespa going to ruin sc/sc2 esports i am to blaim blizzard for this bunch of fuckups

#65

moebius_string 2 years ago

If Blizzard had looked at Kespa as an opportunity instead of as an obstacle, by hiring some Korean negotiators, and proposing a business deal, I bet none of this would have happened.

Now it looks like we are going to get some kind of post Brood War world with some two-bit Blizzard league-WC3 on steroids...yawn.

#66

hyouro 2 years ago

Someone translate for #50 haha

#57 For president.... He covered it all, especially what has kespa done for us? ^^ not a whole lot

#67

MrOw 2 years ago

why do they need kespa lol...??? u think blizzard's revenue will increase if they somehow struck a deal with a company in south korea??? even if the entire south korean popolation participated in playing sc2/bw or wuteva...it's not a whole lot of money to bother with a party who is clearly butthurt on something they didn't make or create...if blizzard really decided to be gay they can stop all korean broadcasts simply by putting a patent on it...fkin gg

OH, i just read the thing and saw it only applies to bw...

ALL G!

#68

uggeh 2 years ago

I would prefer Blizzard having more control in the progaming sector. They could adapt the software(SC2) to the needs of the progaming sceen in a much more efficient way than Kespa, or any other company for that matter, ever could.

I also believe that with blizzard having more influence in the progaming sector, more and more great players outside Korea will emerge. This will make the level of competition even higher, since everything will be more global.

If no deal between Blizzard and Kespa will be made, Blizzar should start their own pro-league. They have more money than kespa and they will attract the best progamers.

Maybe they are greedy, but that doesn't mean that they will run the "progaming-process" in a way worse than Kespa.

Blizzard > Kespa. :)

#69

xealot 2 years ago

I always feel that one point is soooo overlooked, that is Korea already has many great gaming companies within their own country. Honestly, you need to know what those games are like in terms of performance and graphics and the number of them, to truly understand that Korea doesnt really need Blizzard.

#70

GooseBoy 2 years ago

If you guys were game makers, you would understand how HARD and frustrating it is to create such a complex and (almost) perfect game as Sc/Sc2 is (or will be). So blizzard already needs to have a LOT of advantage over this.

Tho I agree they need to talk this over, instead of saying "fuck you" to the other side just like that.

#71

moebius_string 2 years ago

Chill

We can speculate all we want. Being nice and letting Blizzard into the Korean market now isn't going to affect Blizzard's actions with SC2. Business isn't nice. If they're going to get muscled out of SC2, they need ground to stand on, which they've maintained.

Situation 1: KeSPA works with Blizzard now. Blizzard takes some of their market. SC2 comes out and Blizzard takes the remaining majority of their market.

Situation 2: KeSPA denies Blizzard. SC2 comes out and progamers have to make a choice of being on an SC1 team or a completely separate SC2 team.

Situation 2 is way better for KeSPA, which is what they've done. Why would you expect them to lie down when Blizzard has done nothing to get these leagues going, and is only now showing up trying to capitalize.

#72

Cyrox 2 years ago

#50 word. Since Activision + Blizzard = True they became Uncle McScrooge.
Hopefully the games will be even more awesome (but more expensive) in the future.

#73

TD)LiquiD 2 years ago

For those of you who have denial in Blizzard, you should really know that blizzard has control of everything in the aspec of starcraft:broodwar even though it doesnt seem that way. If you guys review the TOU (Terms of Use) by Blizzard, it simply says profit from any blizzard game is prohibited. Kespa makes a lot of profit from starcraft, and if blizzard wants they can shutdown entire korean progaming scene with a snap of two fingers and a bunch of lawyers. Blizzard can even shut down iccup if they wanted but they see how good it is for the gaming scene so they leave it for us. But if ICCup charges any starcraft player for gaming on their server, iccup will be dissapeared in a blink of an eye. So kespa should really consider what they are going up against, because there is no way they can win this.

And to be honest after kespa's greedy actions, i surely hope blizzard denies the release of SC2 in korea unless kespa agrees that blizzard has 100% control of everything.

Of course kespa did a lot of work in making starcraft what it is today..but lets face it, when you load the game, it has a Blizzard Entertainment logo...not KESPA logo. so gg for south korea.

#74

XATMO8G 2 years ago

Fuck Kespa as usual. Honestly when SC2 comes out teams should just break ties with them. I don't know who created Kespa or how it works but thats my suggestion.

#75

mR.bONG789 2 years ago

wow that sucks

#76

hyouro 2 years ago

#73 for president as usual

#77

PokkiTeam 2 years ago

Totally agree.

#78

Z0kal 2 years ago

you should really know that blizzard has control of everything in the aspec of starcraft:broodwar even though it doesnt seem that way. If you guys review the TOU (Terms of Use) by Blizzard, it simply says profit from any blizzard game is prohibited. Kespa makes a lot of profit from starcraft, and if blizzard wants they can shutdown entire korean progaming scene with a snap of two fingers and a bunch of lawyers

Blizzard would have absolutely no chance of shutting it down. They have to go to a korean court and chances are near 0% any korean court would agree to shut down a very important industries of their country. No matter what lawyers blizzard brings there, no chance at all.
I'll have to blame blizzard for this. Greedy bastards, they didnt support korean sc leagues at all since wc3 and they did nothing for the korean scene. And now with sc2 they think they can just rebuy themselves into the korean market, sad.

#79

Vangens 2 years ago

This SUCKS i was looking forward for televised SC2 progamer matches, the OSL and MSL exitment in form of sc2.. But i don't think it will happen. ;( BUT FUC*!!!

#80

hyouro 2 years ago

#78 you want to make a bet on that? ^^

blizzard owns ALL rights to SC... they can disable bnet and all other things if they want to.

Its just naive to think blizzard cant do anything about it

#81

LUx 2 years ago

i dont like this development either. blizzard should concentrate on making the game great before just looking for ways to accumulate money from it!

i cant think of any sport (be it esport or casual sport) where the developer/inventor is at the same time the only one allowed to report games on pro level. what people do with the game is none of blizzards business. they can make enough money by providing the platform (battle.net)

imo its a bit like a violation of freedom of the press when everything is controlled by blizzard. there will be less controversary and competition. less improvement in reporting and less interest from public if everything that is reported is controlled by the company that developed the game.

COMPETITION is nothing to be afraid of!
blizzard should try to COMPETE with others, instead of trying to CONTROL everything themselves. COMPETITION leads to improvements in the way we all perceive eSports.

#82

Terran_Messiah 2 years ago

Blizzard needs to stop fuckin around because where starcraft is at right now is all due to KESPA and the whole Korean scene. Blizzard money greedy frenches. FUCK i'm glad i retired lmao!!!!

#83

Zorpo 2 years ago

"GREED" - one of he seven deadly sins

#84

nsoul 2 years ago

KeSPA >> Blizzard

#81 +1 :)

#85

Jo-Ho 2 years ago

"GREED" - one of he seven deadly sins

Nice one!

It`s really weird. I really liked sc matches on gomtv with Tasteless and SuperDanielMam comments to it.

#81 + 10. True, true and once more true.
I`m for KeSPA.

#86

ishinken 2 years ago

absolutely ridiculous. blasphemy! my interest to keep following ol good starcraft just went down 50%

#87

ishinken 2 years ago

#49
And football is just grass and leather balls too?
Come back when you have something of any relation to anything to say

#88

daarkside 2 years ago

a typical fail fail fail situation, kespa blizzard and we the fans loose more then anyone win

#89

drewbie 2 years ago

kespa is gonna get owned by sc2 ;P

#90

B10h4z4rd 2 years ago

I honestly dont know. But i think that the best will be to get understanding between Kespa and Blizzard, for us, the gamers

#91

anotherone 2 years ago

fuck blizzard, they want too much now
blizz has stop carring about people since WoW great success and everything they say its not like that is imo lie
sc2 will be their new money-making machine for sure so they preparing ground for it by killing old sc1 so people will be forced to change to sc2
fuck you blizzard

#92

{88}nataL 2 years ago

It's funny because none of you have even realized that SC2 isn't going to have LANs anymore. Which means leagues like MSL/OSL will have to be played on B.Net. AKA Blizzard can just ban/suspend players that participate in any non-Blizzard league. Kespa should just be happy with what they have done, and with the money they've made thus far. Their best move is to just sell KESPA as is to Blizzard and make more money. If they play the "over my dead body" card, they're only going to end up hurting Koreas economy when Blizzard finally wins and moves the competition to another country. Blizzard should absorb most of it (commentators, leagues etc..) so Korea doesn't suffer at the hands of some greedy fucks.

The only people that KESPA are hurting is the people who have given up schooling, relationships, opportunities etc... to become an SC:BW progamer only to be told their dream of playing video games for a living ends due to them not making more money, so you're not allowed to play SC2. All you morons out there that are spouting this bullshit about how "it hurts the fans" need to shut up. Realize that you don't know 100% if Jaedong or NaDa or SlayerS`_Boxer` will be any good at SC2. Out of those 3, I'd say Boxer has the best shot out of the gates, because he thinks outside the box(er). He is the one that comes up with strategies. Kids like Jaedong may have amazing micro and macro, but in a new game, what good does that do you if you are getting countered because you're only capable of being the best at a game that's spent the last 10 years being refined. I'm not saying Jaedong isn't smart, I'm saying none of us know how SC2 will turn out, so you can't just immediately say "SC2 will suck without SC1 progamers", as new progamers from different countries will deffinitely show up.

Too bad none of you are thinking logically.

Blizzard has all the rights, period.
It's THEIR game, it's in the Terms Of Use.
KESPA has NO right to anything, whether Korean courts would side with them or not, period.

#93

lu_cid 2 years ago

#81

Broodwar isn't simply a game though, it's a software application, which constitutes intellectual property. When you hit "Accept" when you install the game, you relinquish certain rights in agreeing to their terms. So, while life is too short to read end-user license agreements, it's still laid out legally in that document.

Basically, Blizzard could stomp kespa into the ground if they wanted to, but they won't. That would do terrible, terrible damage to their reputation among competetive gamers for ruining pro starcraft, as well as severely hamper their chances of succeeding with SC2.

More than likely, they will reach an agreement, a bunch of greedy bastards will make slightly less money than they would have liked, and all will be right in the world.

PS: The whole concept of proprietary software is utterly retarded.

#94

Aiur 2 years ago

Basicly it means that for them to focus like ALOT on sc2 they want something in return. We want videos of progamers playing 24/7 and updated patches etc for sc2 making it better year after year. Well what is wrong with paying for that good work. KESPA should sell their company to Blizzard and if Blizzard is in a good mood they will buy it, otherwise they could just take it all in exchange for not sue them upon millions.

#95

memo 2 years ago

its time to let starcraft die as an epic game

#96

LotuSky.SpeaR 2 years ago

SC2 will be a steal in our pocket as well as being split into 3 parts will not get on ip, lan championships Bnet house.Talvez still be paid out and that Blizzard wants to control the professional league they created the game but not without Kespa SC2 and even there, because the profit would be minimal.

#97

moriendi 2 years ago

now i gotta make a comment, blizzard surely wants to make more money with this if the proleagues would pay about having progamers in their television. But main reason would be that blizzard dont want to make SC2 for money but for fun imo, make your comment up :P

They shouldnt make even more money from fun games let the korean do that and WCG + tournaments, make them money via WOW that people buy and pay, dont allow them make money with STARCRAFT same way!!

#98

johii 2 years ago

I'm sorry Kespa, there are greedy corporation in the world and one of them is blizzard they make the best games and they know it. I'm not sure about south Korean laws, but my novice opinion is that Kespa have bad if any odds of "winning" this war. Since according to American law all blizzard has to do is write something stupid in the EULA and $mack even more money in the Swiss Blizz account. And since Kespa can't effectively change to a different game they would either have to broadcast in a different country or stop broadcasting.