Blizzard wants $$$ for televised matches.

[Dreadnought[dA]]

A war between Kespa and Blizzard has been going on for quite some time so sorry if this is old news. Kespa is the leader in eSports in Korea and runs most of the Starcraft teams/matches/tournaments. They televise most of the matches as well.

With Blizzard demanding money for SC2 televised matches, Kespa is getting nasty as well and forbidding anybody in their leagues from dealing with Blizzard (such as going to Blizzcon). They also dismantled GOM TV which Blizzard was supporting, by preventing teams from playing matches for GOM.

Who is in the right? Personally I believe Blizzard is. Even though it's rather greedy, they have every right to do so. Kespa is harming their own league and in the end I believe they will just self destruct. Currently Kespa has a monopoly and Blizzard is wanting a piece of the pie.

Discuss!

 

[takakenji]

sounds like kepsa is korean-krazy.

edit: that wasnt intentional to make kkk, fixed.

 

[Tyranid]

Well, it is their game so they should have a right to ask for some $$$ unless they have a contract which prevents that.

 

[PurplePoot]

I'm totally with Blizzard. Kespa is profiting off Blizzard's game and yet refuses to give credit where credit is due. It's not like Blizzard is even asking Kespa to start paying for SC or anything, so they aren't getting a worse deal than before.

 

[FlowerofSpeech]

I don't know if Blizzard is in the right legally, I mean, can a company sponsoring a tournament of a game created by a company be sued for not paying dues? You wouldn't expect this, with say, Pokemon tournaments, or any other kind of video game tournament, or any tournament using some sort of mechanical game (like a foosball tournament, or something) - how can Blizzard say it's right on this?

 

[PurplePoot]

I don't know if Blizzard is in the right legally, I mean, can a company sponsoring a tournament of a game created by a company be sued for not paying dues? You wouldn't expect this, with say, Pokemon tournaments, or any other kind of video game tournament, or any tournament using some sort of mechanical game (like a foosball tournament, or something) - how can Blizzard say it's right on this?

No, they're saying they won't let Kespa run Starcraft 2 eSports unless they get a cut. This isn't anything retroactive.

 

[DocDude]

the eSports thing in not just regular small tournaments, these tournaments are showen on tv, fill stadiums and roll alot of money. blizzard is right to want a peice of it.

 

[Toukichiro]

I am not sure if I agree with blizzard getting any funds from televised coverage of Starcraft. For one they did not actively prompt or invest a profit into prompting sc into the esport it become. That almost like Value asking for money from all the Pro's of CS and CSS and sites that are dedicated to offering a service or coverage of pro tournaments.

If blizzard decides in SC2 to market SC2 AS A SPORT SUCH AS NFL they would be allowed to charge funds for coverage and such. They also are investing their own money into promoting sc2 as such which is completely different in the case of sc. I doubt anyone would say blizzard took a truely active role in making sc as big as it got in korea and it was the companies putting forth the money to create that market demand. It actually a touchy subject because if they charge money for coverage of sc2/sc being televised than whats to stop more extreme cases. Fact is bungie nintendo microsoft value never charged money for having their games be televised and they have been.

 

[PurplePoot]

Please read the first post?

They are asking for a cut of Starcraft 2, not Starcraft, profits.

 

[BlackArmsShadow]

It's only natural that Blizzard wants to get their cut. It's their game, isn't it?
Or do they want all of the money?

 

[PurplePoot]

They evidently don't want all of the money; they wouldn't have a leg to stand on if they did.

 

[Dreadnought[dA]]

They want their fair share. I mean if they didn't make Starcraft 2, then what would Kespa have to complain about.

 

[BlackArmsShadow]

The goddamn Koreans are acting like they made the game...

Hopefully this problem sorts itself out.

 

[naitsirk]

Well... Is it In North Korea this is? or is it south korea? well I can see the HUGe porblem this is if it's North Korea cause they're just CRAZY! But Blizzard has their rights for a Share of the money because SC2 is their game, it's just like if an musican writes a song and records it and have Copyrights for it that stuff and some1 plays it as a Cover and sells it on an Album the covering Artist has to PAY the Real artist....

Ohh... and BTW, If this post is abit messy it's because ITS SO DAMN LATE!

 

[Dark.Revenant]

I doubt anyone is really going to be allowed to play something as American as StarCraft in North Korea.