Will StarCraft II replace StarCraft I as the new esport?

[sandwich_bird]

No it's not.

Possible but highly improbable. In any case, maybe (a big maybe there) StarCraft II will rise as the new e-sport in another country before really hitting Korea. Blizzard has the money and seems to be willing to make the phenomenon grow here in North America. I would certainly enjoy watching StarCraft II match on the tv.

[Perfecttear]

No it's not.

And anyway, it depends on the Koreans. They already have the foundation set up for making SC the popular beast it is today. It just won't be the same if they drop SC2.

Yes it wouldn't be the same, but can starcraft2 survive without the koreans, damn well it can.The popularity of Esports has grown and evolved tremendosly over the past few years in the world.

[Wayward Meteor]

It's not going to be that fast. Unlike SF4, SC2 has two expansions slated for it, both of which will make changes to the multiplayer. Until that is done and Blizzard's balance patching settles down for a time, there can be no effective competitive community. And I seriously doubt that the current crop of SC1 pros are going to drop their current game in favor of SC2 until the game settles down.

Now, what you will probably get is some of the lesser-known players switching. That will automatically make them the big fish in the new pond, which is something that would be very attractive to them. Also, some of the "past-their-prime" players might also take up SC2, for similar reasons.

I don't keep up with everything, but... I thought the multiplayer was going to come whole, as is? So those who don't want to buy all 3 sets can still play on battle.net?

(not that it'll affect me - I'm getting all 3 no matter what)

[SpiderBrigade]

I don't keep up with everything, but... I thought the multiplayer was going to come whole, as is? So those who don't want to buy all 3 sets can still play on battle.net?

I think that's right, but even so the expansions are going to add new units and change the multiplayer. His point is that people might not switch over until SC2 is "done" in terms of multiplayer. In other words they wouldn't want to have to learn to be competitive in a new metagame 3 times, instead they would just wait for the final expansion before starting to train/learn/develop builds. That's what I understood anyway.

[Rizhall]

Unlike SF4, SC2 has two expansions slated for it, both of which will make changes to the multiplayer.

You do know that SF3 has 3 versions, and SF2 has at least 10 versions, all of them adding new characters and engine changes, right? I thought SF was famous for that.
But who knows, you could be right.
A lot of big names and corporations have a tendency to always switch to the "newest" iteration of something, and e-sports broadcasters could very well do this and switch to SC2 during the early stages of it's release. They might not see the first release as "incomplete", I know I won't, and according to Blizzard's word, they don't either.
Even so, even if they do bring changes to the multiplayer, that will be later. They could still just as easily pick it up now and accept the changes as they come, as a sort of metagame change, if you will. And if that happens, big players will have no choice but to switch if they want to keep their popularity (not to mention the money).

[Novasquadron]

No matter what happens i do believe SC. will still be played more than SC2.
Just because of the simplicity.

[Nicol Bolas]

I thought the multiplayer was going to come whole, as is? So those who don't want to buy all 3 sets can still play on battle.net?

Blizzard has also said that each expansion will have something new for multiplayer too. Just like Brood War added new units to SC1.

You do know that SF3 has 3 versions, and SF2 has at least 10 versions, all of them adding new characters and engine changes, right? I thought SF was famous for that.

Yes, but SF2 certainly didn't get a serious competitive scene until after they were all released. I don't know about SF3's versions, but they're all playing Third Strike, yes?

And if that happens, big players will have no choice but to switch if they want to keep their popularity (not to mention the money).

You're making an assumption, namely that the "big players" will go somewhere without named progamers.

If the important progamers of the day don't switch over, then the fans of those progamers will not switch over either. A member of Bisu nation isn't going to stop watching Bisu just because SC2 is out.

There will be a proscene for SC2, and it will evolve fairly early in the game's life. But it won't be as vibrant as SC1's is for quite some time. There will be a transitional period where the current SC1 greats do not shift to SC2, and SC2's proscene will be built on the next generation of players who would have been SC1 players if SC2 hadn't existent. Eventually, the greats of SC2 will emerge, and SC1 greats will be displaced by them.

One thing that SC2 will have going for it early-on is an evolving and (hopefully) dynamic metagame. In SC1, we're seeing some more dynamic shifts in TvZ, but the other matchups are pretty well standardized. SC2 will have no standard matchups. Players will be inventing new strategies frequently. Oddball builds and such will appear from nowhere. Someone, somewhere will go all-in Nullifiers and win with it. All of that stuff makes for good television.

[Wayward Meteor]

Blizzard has also said that each expansion will have something new for multiplayer too. Just like Brood War added new units to SC1.

Just to be absolutely clear then, do we know whether people will have to buy these expansions to get those units and be able to continue playing on bnet? Or will they be included automatically in a patch update?

I'm sure it's been discussed before but you can see the problems that would arise if someone had sets 1+3, and another person had 1+2, etc., etc., it would divide up the whole of bnet in weird ways.

[flabortast]

You have to get the other 2 products just like you got BroodWar for SC. I don't think the community will be split. I mean no one plays vanilla SC right? BW is staple

[DemolitionSquid]

I mean no one plays vanilla SC right? BW is staple

Wrong. There are still competitive SCV tournaments, although they are few.

The community will split. SC1 will remain for the older pros, and there will be a new SC2 community for younger players to try and achieve fame there. It is only once the older pros stop playing that SC:BW will die to the enhancements of SC2.