GomTV gains full rights for Blizzard games

Mike Morhaime's letter to Korean e-Sports fans

To everyone in the Korean Starcraft community,

There have been several recent events regarding Blizzard’s involvement in Korean e-Sports. I’d like to take this opportunity to explain our stance on the current situation, and Blizzard’s position and vision for the future of e-Sports. But before I begin, I need to clearly explain the relationship between Blizzard and the Korea e-Sports association, and why we made the decision to stop trying to negotiate with the KeSPA office as a partner.

In 2007, we were shocked and disappointed to learn that KeSPA had illegally sold the broadcasting rights for Starcraft tournaments without our consent. With this clear violation of our intellectual property rights, we were forced to become more actively involved in the situation and make our voice be heard. Even so, we began talks with KeSPA in good faith so we could find a way to protect our intellectual property rights as well as help e-Sports to grow further.

For the following three years, we tried very hard to have negotiations where we could correct a skewed situation and reach mutual understanding. However, during this process, what we learned was that KeSPA did not recognize our intellectual property rights, and that our suggestions even up to this day, echoed unheard while KeSPA offered no solutions of their own. Furthermore, the KeSPA office prevented progame teams or progamers from contacting Blizzard by threatening ‘disadvantages.’ Unlike the negative rumors you might have heard, Blizzard’s intention towards e-Sports is not to ‘dominate’ it and create excessive profits from it. From the beginning of the negotiations up to now, the basic framework we have thought of is one where e-Sports can continue to grow, while we can protect our intellectual property rights.

With the release of “Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty” approaching, we decided we could not delay any further in finding a trustworthy partner who respected our intellectual property rights, and decided it was time to find a new way altogether. As a result of that decision, we signed a contract with GomTV which we announced today, which gives them the exclusive rights to hold and broadcast Blizzard game tournaments in Korea. We have cooperated closely with GomTV in the past, and discovered in the process that we have similar values and goals in e-Sports. Also, we believe that GomTV is a capable partner with whom we can not only advance e-Sports in Korea, but in the entire world as well.

We are very proud that Starcraft contributed greatly to Korea becoming a global forerunner in e-Sports. We eagerly await the day when we can support progamers, or GomTV in their efforts to cooperate with the other broadcast companies in the world of e-Sports. We will continue to do our best for the development of e-Sports, and to that end we will improve the quality of matches and add features that will create competitive factors for the enjoyment of the audience. As always, we are deeply thankful for your understanding and support, and we are always open to your thoughts opinions.

Thank you,

Mike Morhaime

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Personally I think this is great news as GomTV has been the only provider that's made an effort to broadcast these progames outside of Korea. Also, tasteless! <3

I am glad too. KeSPA is greedy, I dont see how people can not see this. They sold broadcasting rights for SC when they dont even own SC, how can that even work?

They're trying to make a profit, of course they're greedy. But I doubt Blizzard isn't greedy either just because they say they aren't. Either way, in the end I just hope everything turns out alright.

This should be intresting- and it was pretty clear it was going to happen from a while back anyway. I look forward to more games from GomTv, though I would like to hear what KeSPA has to say.

This Sounds like good news.

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I'm almost speechless, noob. If they were Korean subtitles I wouldn't know what to do with myself

lol yeah I noticed that too. Too bad it wasn't Korean :D

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Originally Posted by Maul

I'm almost speechless, noob. If they were Korean subtitles I wouldn't know what to do with myself

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Anyone care to enlighten, what would happen if they were Korean?

does this mean only GomTV can sponser or organize events?

Glad Blizzard is sticking it to Kespa.

This is good news but, really, ANYTHING is better than KeSPA.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7QTti3lCmz...about+time.jpg

I think they should have said intellectual property rights a couple more times.


For anyone wondering what the truth in all this is I have news for you. Both sides want money. Your money. And ironically the person who ultimately loses out in all this is you (no lan etc...)

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Originally Posted by ArcherofAiur

I think they should have said intellectual property rights a couple more times.

For anyone wondering what the truth in all this is I have news for you. Both sides want money. Your money. And ironically the person who loses out in the end is you.

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I'm pretty sure Kespa lost out...

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Originally Posted by DemolitionSquid

I'm pretty sure Kespa lost out...

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Im not completly sure of the details but from what I understand they might have a good chance of beating Blizzard in the Korean law system. Never underestimate a countries ability to self regulate Blizzards games *cough* china.

Blizzard has already made a separate SC2 build for Korea with black blood and no swearing that passed with a lower rating than the one we'll get in NA.

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Originally Posted by n00bonicPlague

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Quite possibly the grooviest thing of all time. Is it available on 8-track?

This is great news though. As far as I can tell based on their website, you can get most of their programs online, for those of us whose TV providers don't have Gom. They already have a certified by Blizzard tag on there. I think you can also download a program that lets you watch it live online, very handy.

string Sparta = "Blizzard"

What hapened to squid ?

Umm . . . yeah, that's kinda freaky.

What happened? D:

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Originally Posted by ArcherofAiur

I think they should have said intellectual property rights a couple more times.


For anyone wondering what the truth in all this is I have news for you. Both sides want money. Your money. And ironically the person who ultimately loses out in all this is you (no lan etc...)

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Congratulations, Archer. That's what a business is. Because they've got to feed their families too.

Now, we have two companies here. One of them tried to profit off the hard work of the other, with no legal basis to do so. So, you think Blizzard is going to roll over and take it?

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Originally Posted by Perfecttear

What hapened to squid ?

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[Voice="Roger Waters"] Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! [/voice]

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Originally Posted by Perfecttear

What hapened to squid ?

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Yeah...Mods, what did he do?

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Originally Posted by Quirel

Congratulations, Archer. That's what a business is. Because they've got to feed their families too.
[/voice]

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Why are you telling me this like I should be surprised? I just told you the same thing. Also just because it is companies are acting this way doesnt mean they have to act this way. Blizzard built itself on continually making decisions that were against the standard buisness thought lines. That was the difference between Blizzard and say EA. But apparently that era is over. They are just a company now. At least we still have Valve.

Yeah, I was lookin' through the past few posts of his, and I didn't see anything that called for a ban. Plus, I'm pretty sure he had been sitting in this thread for the time being, so . . . idkwtflulz . . . frazzlewah?

About Dsquid: accumulation of infractions points over time.

Please stay on topic.

Didn't Blizzard tried to sue KeSpA? How did that goes? I'm also curious to know what Koreans think about all this.

Me and my friend have already talked to Blizzard before about hosting games of theirs. And from what he said it was not all that hard to do, just like put a poster of theirs up in the store or something like that. The Blizzard people are a lot more chillaxed than people give them credit for. Yes they are a business but I would be most of the people that have said something about them not letting small tournaments happen haven't even really asked them. I bet the people that did the HDH Invitational asked them, and if you look at the fansite q&a vids on the sc:l youtube they are even asked about small tournaments. Maybe they have changed the position since we asked them, and maybe they are more strict cuz of the KeSPA thing, but I bet if someone just asked if they could hold a "community" tourney they would not care. Just tell them to make sure that everyone knows it is a Blizzard game. But, no one will know if no one asks.

So just wondering, how many points can you have before you get banned:o?

And good news, kespa deserved it.

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Originally Posted by Perfecttear

What hapened to squid ?

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some people like to report silly and funny things as offencive
censorship is worst than nazis
@PT
you can have 9, 10 means ban

The big issue is going to be if the organizations are making a profit and not cutting Blizzard into the deal...a little bit.

Blizzard should be able to receive a small kick-back for larger tournaments and privately maintained organizations (i.e. pro e-sports teams) that profit from Blizzard's property. It's not really much different then Coca Cola wanting a share of profits if it's drink is featured in a movie or TV show.

I work in advertising and brand equity is a powerful thing.

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Originally Posted by Perfecttear

So just wondering, how many points can you have before you get banned:o?

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If you get 10 points, it's an automatic ban.

But back on topic please.

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Originally Posted by Sarov

If you get 10 points, it's an automatic ban.

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[Deviating from topic]

...don't shoot me, please...

How do we know how many points we have, if any? Is there a counter somewhere?

[Returning to topic]

Gifted: You will know if you have infractions cause it's openly communicated to you by PM. If you have further questions, shoot me a PM and I'll answer any questions.

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Originally Posted by Perfecttear

Ty, just one more thing ,10 points on one acount, or 10 points in total?

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10 non expired points per account

I applaud Blizzard for moving on so quickly and efficiently with the Korean esports scene situation. As has been stated in more general terms, businesses are in business to make money. The profit motive is not necessarily greed. The difference is when the profit motive can be seen to be pushed so far that ethics and morality begin to erode. They overlap but are not the same critter; ethics can be just as amoral as morality can be unethical, it's a situational thing. In this case, I sense no greed on Blizz's part, merely an optimization of IP exposure within legal bounds. :)

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Originally Posted by ArcherofAiur

Tremble and fear mortals. With Dsquid gone the balance is finally distrubed. You shall all soon know the power of Archer!

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Oh holy frazzlewah!

Wait... how do you distrube a balance? Lol.

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Originally Posted by //MavericK\\

[Deviating from topic]

...don't shoot me, please...

How do we know how many points we have, if any? Is there a counter somewhere?

[Returning to topic]

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I'm not entirely sure. I know if you are a mod you can see how many infractions and infraction points someone has. If I remember correctly, the infraction(s) show(s) up on your User CP.

If you want to further discuss infractions and bans, please PM one of the mods.

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Originally Posted by flak4321

I applaud Blizzard for moving on so quickly and efficiently with the Korean esports scene situation. As has been stated in more general terms, businesses are in business to make money. The profit motive is not necessarily greed. The difference is when the profit motive can be seen to be pushed so far that ethics and morality begin to erode. They overlap but are not the same critter; ethics can be just as amoral as morality can be unethical, it's a situational thing. In this case, I sense no greed on Blizz's part, merely an optimization of IP exposure within legal bounds. :)

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How about when the profit motive results in things like no lan, no cross realm play, no offline multiplayer or custom game play and facebook integration? We should still applaud that right?

I understand the need of profit, but I don't understand the need to be a Tyrant Developer and Blizzard shows lately more signs of it
from great to bad...
@ upper post
as Archer pointed few things out, we are given two choices not to buy the game with some retarded features but without key things like LAN (for example) or buy the game and pray for change

while lately "change" means well...

http://therealgunguys.com/blog/wp-co...ama-change.jpg

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Originally Posted by ArcherofAiur

Tremble and fear mortals. With Dsquid gone the balance is finally distrubed. You shall all soon know the power of Archer!

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Gosh darnit! With the Legion of Demo finally destroyed, there's no reason to watch the StarCraft Legacy version of the Super Friends. It's boring watching Archer's Allies sit around a forum all day with no crime or super villains to fight.

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Originally Posted by spychi

some people like to report silly and funny things as offencive
censorship is worst than nazis
@PT
you can have 9, 10 means ban

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What's your real name, mister!?

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Originally Posted by ArcherofAiur

How about when the profit motive results in things like no lan and facebook integration?

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I'm soooo over the LAN thing. Really. We're never going back to that type of system. I've come to terms with it. Big companies like Blizzard, with games that sell really well, just aren't going to let people play their games without a Big Brother element.

And now that Blizzard will have more control, they will be able to set better terms with the entire community and combat piracy. It puts Blizzard in a position of power over their own properties and gives them exclusive authority. Its a Win Win for them and a Lose Win for us.

Forget about LAN. We should be thankful they haven't decided to charge for regular access to the multiplayer component of bnet.

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Originally Posted by ArcherofAiur

How about when the profit motive results in things like no lan, no cross realm play, no offline multiplayer or custom game play and facebook integration? We should still applaud that right?

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All horrible features really, i was playing a custom game with an AI to test a build out, and because of the bnet lag... i lagged!!! this will be really weird to play starcraft 2, its gonna be like Assassin Creed, if the servers die, you CANT play starcraft 2 at all or that you affected by lag even when solo playing... =\ and in the future, maybe 10 years down the road, they will shut down the servers and then you cant play starcraft 2 anymore :( given that maybe 3 or 4 will pop up by then, it does feel kinda bad when you cant play older games.