Following a recent press conference between Blizzard, KeSPA, Ongamenet, and GomTV, the aforementioned organizations agreed to a new partnership, one in which KeSPA, Ongamenet, and GomTV will all be able to broadcast StarCraft II matches to audiences everywhere.
What does the agreement mean? Specifically, KeSPA now has a license to host and organize StarCraft II Pro League events, while Ongamenet can now host, organize, and broadcast StarCraft II Star League events. KeSPA has also added StarCraft II to its lineup of officially sanctioned games! GomTV will continue to broadcast its Global StarCraft League and Global StarCraft Team League as before.
TeamLiquid is also covering the whole event, all the news being summed up on this page. Here is their bullet points about what this partnership means to each of the three Korean eSports organizations.
KeSPA
- Starcraft II has been officially recognized as a KeSPA game.
- SK Planet Proleague Season II (starting in May) will have both Starcraft II and Brood War. It's undetermined as to how they will be integrated, but KeSPA specifically mentioned they would look for a more interesting way than alternating sets of each game.
- The Proleague season after SK Planet Season II (starting on October) is planned to be completely Starcraft II.
- At this time, there are no details regarding the future participation of GSTL/GomTV teams.
- Spreading Korean eSports around the world is a goal, and KeSPA has been negotiating with various international organizations.
OnGameNet
- OnGameNet plans to hold an individual level Starcraft II league in July. They would like to make it as open as possible so that anyone can compete, whether they are KeSPA, GomTV, and even amateur players.
- OnGameNet plans to broadcast to foreign audiences, and they have experience doing this with their LOL league.
GomTV
- GomTV would welcome the Brood War professionals to compete against GSL players in a tournament or show match setting, and would facilitate it whenever the Brood War players were ready and desired it.
This is great news for StarCraft II and fans of eSports, as we could soon see more Brood War legends move on to StarCraft II, facing off against the GSL legends that have arisen. With more broadcasters coming on board to hold tournaments, the eSports scene will surely explode.
Sources:
Battle.net - A Historic Moment in eSports
TeamLiquid - StarCraft II eSports Transition Conference
