"he's only got one bird left, can he do it? ...he loads at takes aim... and we see the red bird flying toward his destination, hitting the pig head on! amazing play!"
Can you -please- make Artosis cast this. I just want to see how depressed he will get after the third hour of casting something without being able to analyse any kind of strategy in the game.
I hope that this is a april fools day joke. Wouldn't SC2 be too much of an advertising/stream cash cow for them? i mean who the hell actually watches competitive mobile phone gaming o.0
Can you -please- make Artosis cast this. I just want to see how depressed he will get after the third hour of casting something without being able to analyse any kind of strategy in the game.
What are you talking about, it's a game that's entirely designed around knocking down Artosis pylons.
Just to clear up a few of the suggestions being made in here. Samsung isn't a sponsor of WCG; Samsung OWNS WCG.
I hope this helps you see how big of a deal the whole "we aren't paying your country" and other Samsung issues are. This was only a matter of time; and frankly it's a surprise to me that they are event trying mobile. I honestly thought WCG only had few years left in it regardless.
Today an old friend of ours, World Cyber Games, has all but died a somewhat expected death. There are people refusing to believe the story, and many others saying "good riddance", and these people could not be more wrong.
For years WCG was criticised by people who felt that the inclusion of lesser titles made the entire organisation a joke - what they did not realise was that these titles brought in the funding required for games such as Counter Strike 1.6, the games we love to see at events.
There are two facts that have failed to make it into the public eye, which perhaps help shed some light on this latest development - I do not have letters of the sort published earlier to back them up, but I am certainly in a position to know about them from multiple sources.
Samsung have been WCG's biggest sponsor since the very first event thanks to some family links, however recently (a year or two ago) this relationship changed. WCG is now owned by Samsung. You can see why this was not something they would want getting out, as it instantly changes the dynamic of their events from global professional tournaments with great sponsors to little more than in-house exhibitions with a focus on Samsung phones and a little gaming.
However, too much money was being lost, and the WCG organisation has never really known what direction to take. For example when the Championship Gaming Series appeared they were terrified, and hastily put together WCG Ultimate Gamer, a show to bring them equality in terms of airtime on real TV. This did little good in itself, and with the demise of the CGS, was all but worthless. Needless to say it was a financial sink-hole and with the global recession round the corner, it was a poorly timed one.
After budget problems in 2010, the final in Los Angeles was expected by some to be the last WCG event to be seen. A large number of staff either left of their own choice, or were made redundant in the first quarter of 2011 - I have heard this transition described as their getting rid of up to 80% of their full-time employees, however I do not have exact numbers so I cannot say whether this was exaggerated.
The 2011 Grand Finals event, which was originally planned to take place in one of two Chinese cities left in the bidding, was moved to WCG's homeland, South Korea, in a bid to save money - running an event abroad has a way of adding greatly to the cost. Meanwhile, national partners around the world were being given dramatically reduced budgets, and many were having to send less players to the finals than ever before.
All this leads us to 2012. Clearly the attempt at making 2011, if not profitable, at least revenue-neutral, was not a success, and there went the last chance for those within the WCG organisation who wanted to keep the brand going strong for years to come. The requirement to be revenue-neutral at best was strongly expressed internally but it was always going to be a tall order even at such a reduced scale.
Here comes a new era of WCG, a new era in which Samsung phones take centre stage, and national partners in the form of LAN events are replaced by qualifications in shopping centres and music festivals. This will not be a long era - without authentic competitive gaming, WCG will be little better than the cheapest and smallest of consumer exhibitions.
Today is a sad day for the news that broke. Thankfully there are people already replacing what WCG left behind. However, those who want to gloat should spare a thought to what WCG meant to a lot of e-sports fans and the tragedy of their recent failure.
It's a tragedy because they helped build e-sports and strengthen it as a serious pursuit, one that could match the grandeur of other sporting events. We all have our own WCG memories. Yet, just when it seems that e-sports is in a position to finally become a global phenomenon, one that can be profitable, they have to effectively close and walk away from something they helped build.
3D and EG weren't bad, but they still didn't really win anything afaik.
It's hard when you have LIONS, fnatic and SK all living in the same country (Sweden) when they are all top 6. So cutting out two of those...
It also gives the smaller countries a chance of competing, but there are other things like.
Do you know how much it costs to buy the rights to run a WCG?
Umm.. 3D Won WCG. Twice, if I remember correctly.. let me go check the wiki.
Yup. 04 and 05. I remember watching them, a freaking beastly story to follow.
In fact, 05 had 3D first and EG third.
Last edited by iM tgun; Wed, 28th-Mar-2012 at 4:19 PM.
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