Most Starcraft fans will be aware of the big announcement that happened on Tuesday Morning. The biggest forces in Korean eSports came together to announce their future plans regarding the long anticipated switch from Brood War to Starcraft 2.

The details announced will certainly shape the future of Starcraft 2, but what exactly does it all mean for us as viewers? I will start off with a brief introduction to the parties involved for anyone who is not familiar with them;

SC: Brood War is still a well loved esport with a rich and interesting history.

Ongamenet (OGN): the biggest televised gaming network in Korea, most famous for its Starcraft: Brood War Starleagues. In recent months the slow decline in the Brood War scene saw OGN branching out and acquiring League of Legends, to great success. The Starleagues OGN runs are the most popular Brood War tournaments in Korea, pulling ahead of those run and televised by the now closed MBC game.

Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA): This is the body that governs e-sports in South Korea. It was originally established to aid the growth of e-sports, manage how and where e-sports are broadcast and manage the formation of new tournaments.

GOMtv: GOM is a name that is already well established in the world of Starcraft 2 as they run and broadcast the GSL and GSTL tournaments. With the demise of MBC game, GOM would have been the greatest competitor to OGN If they had tried to enter the world of Starcraft 2 without a collaborative arrangement such as this.

Blizzard: Blizzard Entertainment, as the developer of StarCraft 2, plays a vital role in these negotiations. As there is no LAN support for Starcraft 2 Blizzard has the ability to blacklist tournaments that go on without it’s permission. It is widely speculated that this was a calculated choice to give Blizzard a more central role in the future of their game as an e-sport, which was not the case with Brood War.

The GSL code S is currently regarded as the most prestigious SC2 tournament to win. Whether that will stay the same, with OGN and KeSPA around, remains to be seen.

Official announcements from the press conference were as follows:

- All parties involved were given licences by Blizzard to create, host and manage SC2 tournaments.

- The transition from Brood War to Starcraft 2 is in full swing with the next season of KeSPA’s Proleague being a hybrid of SC2 and BW, starting in the third week of May.

- OGN’s individual Starleague for SC2 will begin in July.

- Famous BW pros such as Flash and Bisu will be making the transition over to SC2.

- Whilst this does mark a shift away from Brood War, it is not explicitly the final BW Starleague.

- GSTL teams will be integrated into the all-SC2 October Proleague operated by KeSPA.

- Foreign broadcasts including English casting will be provided for the aforementioned tournaments, possibly explaining the surprise departure of Moletrap from GOM to go to OGN.

- All 4 parties will be working together into the future to ensure the growth of eSports in Korea as well as overseas.



So what does that mean for us? Well if you are into Starcraft 2 it is fantastic news. Not only is the most prestigious BW tournament shifting to SC2, but some of the most feared and respected pro gamers in the world are shifting over to the game. The OGN Starleagues are a huge deal, the visual experience is great and the prestige of winning is colossal. This, paired with the arrival of new top level players, should give us something very different and exciting to look forwards to in the future.

For fans of Brood War this is not such good news. Whilst the game’s decline has been slow and gradual in Korea, this is a giant nail in its coffin. Whilst this announcement is huge for the future of SC2, it will likely be bittersweet for many long-term Starcraft fans that have anything up to 11 years of fond memories of Brood War. The game still has thousands of diehard fans, especially in Korea, who will have likely not taken well to this announcement.

Time will tell what level of foreign involvement we see in the new tournaments.

One Big question on everyone’s minds is how foreign players will interact with these tournaments, and in turn, how KeSPA players will interact with foreign tournaments. SlayerS Boxer raised this point during the press conference to which the KeSPA representative said that they would fully support any players who wished to compete in overseas events.

Even with that being said, I am still somewhat nervous that this could be the start of the Korean SC2 scene becoming more nationally inverted, as the Brood War scene has been. With more on offer in Korea, players may find less need or desire to go overseas and foreign players may start finding it more difficult to get involved with the Korean Leagues. Hopefully partnerships between foreign and Korean tournaments can be maintained and we can continue to see players from both groups meeting in the biggest events.

Whatever comes from it, more top level Starcraft 2 is certain. It is very exciting to see some big announcements coming from Korean organisations, as we have recently seen a lot of interesting changes from the major foreign tournaments. The future of Starcraft 2 is looking very promising indeed.