STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Players around the world are eligible to play in the Global StarCraft League preliminaries, held in Seoul, Korea.
- The prize money in 2010 alone sums up to $500,000 USD.
- The purpose of the 2010 leagues is to determine 32 S-class players and 64 A-class players to feature in the 2011 league.
- World Championship, ladder tournament and Blizzard Cup to further cater the fans.
- GomTV will broadcast from the league five days a week.
Blizzard Entertainment's chosen South Korean tournament partner GRETECH - the corporation behind GomTV - has announced the the Global StarCraft League (GSL), a tournament with half a million USD dollars in prize money only in 2010.- Players around the world are eligible to play in the Global StarCraft League preliminaries, held in Seoul, Korea.
- The prize money in 2010 alone sums up to $500,000 USD.
- The purpose of the 2010 leagues is to determine 32 S-class players and 64 A-class players to feature in the 2011 league.
- World Championship, ladder tournament and Blizzard Cup to further cater the fans.
- GomTV will broadcast from the league five days a week.
Open for everyone with a Battle.net account and in 12 years of age or above, the Global StarCraft League will feature monthly tournaments which will climax in a main championship event.
OPEN TOURNAMENT PRIZE MONEY
Winner: ~$85,700 USD
Runner-Up: ~$25,700 USD
Semi-Finalists: ~$8,600 USD
Quarter-Finalists: ~$3,400 USD
Round of 16: ~$1710 USD)
Round of 32: ~$430 USD
Round of 64: ~$260 USD
To further cement the event as a "global" event, the global broadcasting service from GomTV will be accessible for everyone around the world through internet.Winner: ~$85,700 USD
Runner-Up: ~$25,700 USD
Semi-Finalists: ~$8,600 USD
Quarter-Finalists: ~$3,400 USD
Round of 16: ~$1710 USD)
Round of 32: ~$430 USD
Round of 64: ~$260 USD
- "The former StarCraft Leagues ran 4 different leagues at once, so the players had hard time focusing," says the GomTV e-sports representative Oh Joo Yang. "Even the fans will be able to enjoy it more with many games a week. Before, only players in progaming teams were able to participate, but anyone can participate at a professional level in this league."
The league, abbreviated GSL, will have its first tournament starting on August 28. After an offline preliminary spanning over one week in Seoul, Korea, the playoffs will begin. The winner will walk home with an approximately $85,700 USD prize, runner-up will cash in $25,700 USD and the semi-finalists $8,600 USD respectively. See the full money listing to the right.
These tournaments will be held three times in 2010, which will stand groundwork for the next year's tournament's group stage.
Top 32 players, determined through a yet to be disclosed points system, will be marked "Code S" players, while 33rd-96 will be marked "Code A" players. The Code S and A players will have the right to participate in the GSL in 2011. A players will feature as stand-in players shuold any S players drop out.
Further information for 2011 tell there will be 12 tournaments in total. Aside from the five main leagues of GSL played out in upper (S) and lower (A) divisions, there will be a World Championship where four representatives from each region will come together in a 16-man tournament.
Add to that:
A ladder tournament with Top 200 from each region will be invited to take part in a preliminary to enter a 16-man double elimination tournament
A "Blizzard Cup", where the top eight, presumably from the GSL ranking, will be invited to decide the best player of the year.
GomTV are also said to plan on sponsoring skilled players plus adding other StarCraft 2 leagues including a clan league.
Links
TeamLiquid.net - Source