Kespa VS. Blizzard 1:0

No GomTV Classic Season 4! That's right, contrary to the rumors and hints promising the return of the event - it's not going to. Fomos, a Korean news agency, reported that GOM will not be hosting season four of it's GomTV StarCraft Intel Classic tournament.

Reasons behind this decision are as transparent and 'unquestionable' as ever:

1. Seven teams: Air Force, Estro, MBC, KT, OGN, STX, SKT1 decided not to participate in the event.

2. Workload and general preparation or practice for players is just too much, with more than enough tournaments currently under KeSPA's wing and even more coming up in the nearest future.

3. GOM is not interested in hosting a tour for just five remaining teams, among them: Oz, Samsung Khan, Stars, CJ, Wemade FOX.

It's yet unknown whether GOM will be announcing a new tournament or a series featuring foreigners or a mix of Korean and foreign StarCraft professionals, but one thing is clear: KeSPA won this round. Perhaps Blizzard needs to rethink their position on dealing with Korean authorities, otherwise the long awaited StarCraft II may end up with the community the size of kinder-garden sandpit.

If you don't know the whole story, here's a round-up of what's been going on:

1. KeSPA, Korea e-Sports regulator got in a fight with Blizzard over control of the future StarCraft II scene in South Korea.

2. Korean authorities sent Blizzard to deal with KeSPA or "die", basically.

3. Blizzard tried to negotiate with OGN and MBC, the two broadcasters of StarCraft in Korea, - negotiations went nowhere.

4. Blizzard replied by sponsoring GOM, a popular independent StarCraft broadcaster.

5. Over the course of three years GOM was becoming more and more popular, due it it's greater amounts of matches per broadcast, English commentary (by Tasteless), bigger prize pool and an overall more relaxing atmosphere for players.

6. Blizzard injected a considerable sum of cash into GOM, basically doubling it's prize pool and an overall budget, with a general idea of GOM becoming a main broadcaster of StarCraft and more importantly StarCraft II in Korea, whilst GOM was already televising StarCraft, WarCraft III and WoW tournaments.

7. KeSPA replied by denying certain teams they have influence over to participate in GOM events.

What's next? We've no idea. It's been reported that some sort of negotiations between Blizzard and KeSPA will be taking place in December. No matter what comes out of that we'll of course "red flag" report it.

Links
Fomos - Source
Teamliquid - Source