Across the United States and Canada last month, thousands flocked to bars to watch their favorite teams compete at the highest level. They nervously clutched beers, screaming with joy and despair as they followed the play-by-play commentary.
But these dedicated fans weren’t watching college basketball. They were watching Major League Gaming, the largest electronic sports league in North America. The league’s teams played Starcraft II, a real-time sci-fi military strategy game, for a $25,000 prize in front of thousands in Columbus, Ohio.
Electronic sports, or esports, have long been the realm of South Korea, home to the masters of professional gaming. But over the last few years, esports have become more and more popular in North America. And now, Major League Gaming hopes to imitate South Korea’s success, seeking investors and sponsors to help it grow financially.
Jason Hall, currently an indie developer and former Blizzard employee, has been sharing some really interesting stories from his long career in the industry for a while now. Some of them are truly insightful, while others may seem depressing.
I’m a little shocked that StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty sold only around 6 million copies. The original StarCraft did over 11 million. Maybe Blizzard was too leisurely in releasing StarCraft 2? Starcraft 2 came out 12 years after it’s predecessor.
Im surprised too. Starcraft was still a huge name in 2010. It was kinda the only new RTS around and other genres like MOBAs hadn't really kicked off yet. I do remember at the time sentiment around the game was
pretty angry the game was being split into 3 but I doubt that would have impacted sales to that degree
For a long time I believed StarCraft II sold on par or better than its predecessor. There was so much hype for the game. Plus it had a pretty strong E-Sports scene for a few years.
Myself and half a dozen friends all bought StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and played it religiously for a full year. While I bought the expansions, most of my friends did not. RPGs seem to be a generally low selling genre.
I'm not shocked at all. This was an early example of Blizzard being greedy. Instead of releasing a complete experience, splitting Starcraft 2 in 3 parts so it could make us purchase it 3 times if we wanted to know the whole story and play story mode with the other races.
I originally had that stance. However, Wings of Liberty, was just as long, if not longer than StarCraft 1. The expansions were of decent length too and added a good amount of additional content.
and people wonder why we are having mtx in everything. i blame the people who actual buy them.
It's interesting he used Brazil as an example of the importance of regional pricing. Nowadays many companies on Steam are setting their prices in Brazil as high as, if not more than, their price in USA. I simply refused to buy a few games when I noticed that's the case.
COGconnected's Jacob Greenwood interviews Super Smash Brother's player MKLeo, the best player in the world, about Genesis 8.
It is time to start preparing for the BLAST Premier 2021 Fall Season. The big news today is the region expansion for the series.
Aaaaaahahaha. Good luck
MLG isn't an unified official pro gaming league, esports will never take off in comparison until then.
Korea is an anomaly for esports, it is seen as a way of life there, part of culture, not so much everywhere else in the world.