The Death of Korean SC2, and Where We Go From Here
As many of you know, GSL and Korean Starcraft 2 as we knew it, has come to end. While GSL will continue, the tournament is a hollow shell of what it once was. The number of broadcast days has been cut dramatically, the prize pool fell 80%, and a player will now have to reach the Semi-Finals to even make an appearance on a live stage. The days of auditorium’s packed full of Korean Starcraft 2 fans in the “Mecca of Esports”, seems to be just about over. The question is though, why did the most prestigious and historic region of SC2 see a collapse before the rest of the world?
There are a myriad of different reasons the Korean SC2 scene has struggled over the years, so let's address the most well known and discussed issues first:
1. Poor Relations between KESPA and Blizzard - KESPA (The Korean Esports Association) was the undisputed power in South Korea when it came to professional Starcraft play during the Brood War Era. Blizzard was mostly hands off with the Korean scene before the release of Starcraft II, and that was how KESPA wanted it to remain. KESPA, as the tournament organizer, looked to continue to own the intellectual property of the broadcasts as they had in the past. Blizzard chose to exercise their broadcast rights this time around, as it was their game being played. This IP dispute resulted in the two companies not being able to come to a deal. Lack of LAN support in SC2, meant that Blizzard had a lot more leverage with their sequel. Blizzard refused to back down, and this resulted in a KESPA holdout from transitioning to SC2 at the beginning of the game's life. The most famous Korean Progamers weren’t playing Blizzard’s new title, and the game therefore had poor public relations in Korea from the get go.
2. 2015 Match Fixing Scandal - This topic has been discussed to death, if you want to learn about it you can start here. By 2015 the Starcraft II scene was losing steam globally, and even more so in Korea. Life’s match fixing scandal dealt further damage to an already collapsing scene, and was a huge blow to the morale of the community at large. With so little Korean support for SC2, Proleague surely would have collapsed sooner or later regardless of this scandal, which would have led to the disbanding of the teams anyway. (I think sooner rather than later)
3. The Failure of SC2 to Replicate The Magic That Brood War Was in Korea - This is the biggest fundamental reason Starcraft 2 was destined to fail in Korea before the rest of the world. When Starcraft II was announced, no region in the world was more excited than Korea. Brood War was a cultural phenomenon in South Korea and many people expected Starcraft 2 to have a similar reception.
Actual Quote From The K-Drama "I'm Sorry, I Love You"
To call Starcraft II in Korea a failure though is quite far off from the mark. A scene with multiple Starleague’s (GSL, OSL, SSL), and professional team league’s (Proleague, GSTL) is obviously a resounding success, but the fact of the matter is, SC2 was a fad in Korea, not a mainstay like Brood War still is. (SC2 also made it's cultural mark on South Korea, as can be seen in clips like this from the K-Drama "A Gentleman's Dignity")
As the Korean SC2 player/viewer base dried up, so did the investments in SC2 from Korean sponsors. The only reason we saw GSL continue the way it did is from artificial cash infusions from Blizzard. Now that Blizzard’s coffers (for Starcraft) have been exhausted, we’ve seen what the Korean scene can justify from a business perspective, a mostly online 16 player tournament, with a ~$25K prize pool, and 2-3 days of play in front of an audience per season, of which there are 3 a year. The average income in Seoul (where most Korean SC2 pros live) is about $40k a year, so $75k in total prize pool for the year is obviously completely unsustainable at this point.
The untold story here though, is that Korean SC2 was never properly monetized from the start. The foreign viewership for Starcraft 2 is, and has always been greater than that of South Korea. The Korean companies who have been in charge of Korean Starcraft have always more or less ignored foreign fans (as it relates to monetization) though, in order to focus on the domestic market. Which was fine when there was a big domestic market for SC2, but stopped being fine years ago.
GSL like any other Esports company secured tons of corporate sponsors over the years, including the likes of: Hot6ix, LG Ultra Gear, SBENU, JOGUNSHOP, and more. What do all of these sponsors have in common? They are exclusively focused on the South Korean domestic market. When a business’s primary audience is foreign eyeballs, it's confounding that it would only work to attract sponsors who care only about their worst metric, domestic viewership. It stands to reason then that the sponsorship budget for these Korean companies would have been less than that of international organizations, less viewers means less dollars right?
What feels like even more of a missed opportunity though is the failure to orchestrate sponsorship deals with the international arms of companies that are Korean based. If a deal was going to be struck with LG, wouldn’t it have made more business sense to be working with LG America/EU, where the sponsor would be more likely to see a return on their investment? With companies like Samsung and CJ foods seeing huge growth outside of the Korean domestic market, why did we never see ad campaigns directed at foreign viewers? Why were there not affiliate links/codes to have a portion of the proceeds go to the GSL when you got a new Samsung Phone, or LG OLED? Why was there not an online GSL store where foreign fans could have purchased merchandise? I don’t know the answers to those questions, and I’m not sure we ever will.
So that’s where we are, the Korean scene is dead and there’s no saving it right? Wrong. The Starcraft II scene has shown its resilience time and time again, and this situation is no different. Community organizers like Wardi, PiG, Dave Testa, and ChickenMan have stepped up to the plate and proved that the foreign scene is, and always has been capable of supporting Korean SC2. In less than 3 weeks from the announcement that GSL had been gutted, the SC2 community has raised/committed to providing over $65,000 in funds throughout 2023, mostly directed towards supporting the Korean scene. (Over $3,000 a month committed to KSL Organized by DaveTesta and Chickenman , Over $21,000 committed to Wardi’s Korean Royale, and over $10,000 toward PiG’s Pigfest) GSL has announced that they’re considering accepting crowdfunding as well, and while I hope they start a campaign, I worry that the money raised by them would only be paid out to the 16 players who qualify for Code S. If a substantial sum of money ends up getting raised by AfreecaTV, I’d like to see some of it appropriated to GSL Code A type event, to support the Koreans who are a few rungs down from the Maru’s and herO’s of the world.
SC2 is an old game, and with StormGate on the horizon, it seems unlikely that we will have a high profile professional scene for too many more years, especially in Korea. However, with the return of pros like INnoVation, TY, and sOs, and the overwhelming support of the SC2 community, it seems there is still a little gas left in the tank. What the future holds, nobody can say, but I’m here for whatever comes next.
