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Wulf Franke: Warcraft 3 lacked future on a global scale
The announcement of Extreme Masters III has made a big splash in the community, not least because of the removal of Warcraft 3. Michal "Carmac" Blicharz talks to ESL's EM Project Manager, Wulf Franke about all the details you might be curious about.
By Michal 'Carmac' Blicharz
Jun 19, 2008 22:38
The announcement of Extreme Masters III has made a big splash in the community, not least because of the removal of Warcraft 3. Michal "Carmac" Blicharz talks to ESL's EM Project Manager, Wulf Franke about all the details you might be curious about.The first two seasons of Extreme Masters were among the most lucrative events in the world for Counter-Strike 1.6 and Warcraft 3. While the first season took the community by surprise, the second became one of the most important titles to have, so expectations were high for the upcoming EM season.
Wulf Franke talks about the details of ESL's new flagship event.
Nine offline tournaments will be part of the Intel Extreme Masters season III. The first event will be at Games Convention in Leipzig and the season will culminate at CeBIT 2009. There will be continental finals on each participating continent as well as Global challenges where everyone has a chance to prove himself and gain a spot at the global finals. These continental finals and the global challenges are going to be held at large conventions around the world. In total we are looking for an even split with 3 events in Asia, Europe and North America.
EM started off like the UEFA Champions League for eSports - why break away from the format and structure?
In 2006 it started as a Champions League in Europe, but the concept was never limited to Europe. In 2007 it evolved to a global tournament where everyone had a shot at the prize money. Now we are taking the next step in this progression by holding Champions Leagues on three continents. Asia, America, and Europe will have a league of eSports champions. And taking our additional global challenges into account, every eSportsman on this planet has the chance to qualify for the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals at CeBIT 2009.
In addition the Global Challenges provide a perfect system to determine how many teams each continent should be sending to the global finals.
Could you explain the EM III structure? How can you qualify for the EM III final?
The Intel Extreme Masters need a multilayer structure to take the different continents and game preferences into account. There will be continental leagues in America and Europe. To qualify for these leagues you have to win your national ESL Pro Series or your national qualification cup if there is no ESL Pro Series in your country. For every team on these continents the continental Champions Leagues will be the only way to qualify for the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals. The structure of these leagues will be similar to the already known Intel Extreme Masters format. However in Asia the People´s Republic of China and South Korea will get country finals instead of one final for the whole continent.
So in total there will be at least three global challenges like the Intel Extreme Masters tournament in Los Angeles last year, four continental / country Champions Leagues and a the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals at CeBIT in 2009.
What is different in EM III to what you will be doing compared to the CPL World Tour or the World Series of Video Games?
The Intel Extreme Masters III will have a continuous online league in Europe, America and Asia. This guarantees exciting matches, rivalries and stories throughout the season. Additionally we have the benefit of appealing to all eSportsmen by implementing the global challenges. These challenges will also feature the world's top teams, as lots of prize money is at stake.
One downside to the system that I see is that there seems to be no "story" throughout the entire season. Nothing that would link the events together like in the CPL or WSVG. Do you see that as a problem?
The Intel Extreme Masters are a long story but a story that should be told. The events are linked by the qualification for the global final or securing another qualification spot for your continent. The Intel Extreme Masters III will be the most exciting eSports story this year.
Is this the final format of the EM, or will it evolve in the future?
The foundation of the Intel Extreme Masters is still the same as it was in 2006. It has evolved to other continents and we opened possibilities for everyone to participate, as well as delivering exciting eSports matches at Global Challenges around the world. Of course it might evolve in the future. We are always keeping a close look on the community and change our tournaments according to their demands. So changes in the number of games or the tournament structure and the disciplines are possible in the future.
The exact distribution will be revealed later with the details concerning the events. We will be offering a prize purse of 750,000 US Dollars, which we can deliver due to the ongoing support from Intel and Dell.
What was the logic behind the game choices for this season?
As the global league of eSports champions the Intel Extreme Masters III need to focus on the eSports game with the highest potential on three continents. That is why we decided to take World of Warcraft instead of Warcraft III, which is a great eSports game by all means.
Counter-Strike is still the competitive game to be played in Europe and North America. In Asia has its fair share of top teams proved by last seasons runner up from South Korea.
World of Warcraft is huge in Asia and North America and nearly all top European teams have a World of Warcraft teams as well. When we conducted the World of Warcraft tournament last season in Sweden it was very successful in terms of viewers on site, on the videostream and on the website.
We felt that Warcraft 3 lacked future on a global scale. In North America Warcraft 3 is dead. In Europe the remaining players are complaining that the only people still playing the game seriously are living in China. You could say outside China Warcraft 3 is pretty much going into a similar direction Starcraft took years ago outside South Korea. In China Warcraft 3 is without a doubt the hottest game there is. The Intel Extreme Masters events in China and Korea will have side competitions for RTS games, obviouly geared towards the local audiences.
World of Warcraft has a larger global community and Starcraft 2 is just around the corner.
What is the future of WC3 in ESL events in general?
Our Chinese ESL PGL just finished its third season last weekend. Once again it boosted records in concurrent viewers and overall sessions. ESL PGL is without a doubt the most successful Warcraft 3 1on1 tournament since the Intel Extreme Masters II Finals. Warcraft 3 is still a part of the European Nations Championship and it is the core of the ESL WC3L Series as well as several ESL Pro Series in multiple European countries. We will always offer tournaments and leagues for active game communities.
Wulf Franke talks about the details of ESL's new flagship event.
"Continental finals and the global challenges are going to be held at large conventions around the world."
How many tournaments will we see and where will they be held?Nine offline tournaments will be part of the Intel Extreme Masters season III. The first event will be at Games Convention in Leipzig and the season will culminate at CeBIT 2009. There will be continental finals on each participating continent as well as Global challenges where everyone has a chance to prove himself and gain a spot at the global finals. These continental finals and the global challenges are going to be held at large conventions around the world. In total we are looking for an even split with 3 events in Asia, Europe and North America.
EM started off like the UEFA Champions League for eSports - why break away from the format and structure?
In 2006 it started as a Champions League in Europe, but the concept was never limited to Europe. In 2007 it evolved to a global tournament where everyone had a shot at the prize money. Now we are taking the next step in this progression by holding Champions Leagues on three continents. Asia, America, and Europe will have a league of eSports champions. And taking our additional global challenges into account, every eSportsman on this planet has the chance to qualify for the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals at CeBIT 2009.
In addition the Global Challenges provide a perfect system to determine how many teams each continent should be sending to the global finals.
Could you explain the EM III structure? How can you qualify for the EM III final?
The Intel Extreme Masters need a multilayer structure to take the different continents and game preferences into account. There will be continental leagues in America and Europe. To qualify for these leagues you have to win your national ESL Pro Series or your national qualification cup if there is no ESL Pro Series in your country. For every team on these continents the continental Champions Leagues will be the only way to qualify for the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals. The structure of these leagues will be similar to the already known Intel Extreme Masters format. However in Asia the People´s Republic of China and South Korea will get country finals instead of one final for the whole continent.
"The Intel Extreme Masters III will be the most exciting eSports story this year."
Then there are the global challenges. If you are not eligible for the continental champions leagues they are your chance to qualify for the global final. However only the top teams will be rewarded with a berth for the global finals. If you are eligible for a continental league and manage to win a global challenge the berth to the global final will be awarded to the continental finals. So in total there will be at least three global challenges like the Intel Extreme Masters tournament in Los Angeles last year, four continental / country Champions Leagues and a the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals at CeBIT in 2009.
What is different in EM III to what you will be doing compared to the CPL World Tour or the World Series of Video Games?
The Intel Extreme Masters III will have a continuous online league in Europe, America and Asia. This guarantees exciting matches, rivalries and stories throughout the season. Additionally we have the benefit of appealing to all eSportsmen by implementing the global challenges. These challenges will also feature the world's top teams, as lots of prize money is at stake.
One downside to the system that I see is that there seems to be no "story" throughout the entire season. Nothing that would link the events together like in the CPL or WSVG. Do you see that as a problem?
The Intel Extreme Masters are a long story but a story that should be told. The events are linked by the qualification for the global final or securing another qualification spot for your continent. The Intel Extreme Masters III will be the most exciting eSports story this year.
Is this the final format of the EM, or will it evolve in the future?
The foundation of the Intel Extreme Masters is still the same as it was in 2006. It has evolved to other continents and we opened possibilities for everyone to participate, as well as delivering exciting eSports matches at Global Challenges around the world. Of course it might evolve in the future. We are always keeping a close look on the community and change our tournaments according to their demands. So changes in the number of games or the tournament structure and the disciplines are possible in the future.
"We are always keeping a close look on the community and change our tournaments according to their demands."
What is the prize distribution between games and between events? The exact distribution will be revealed later with the details concerning the events. We will be offering a prize purse of 750,000 US Dollars, which we can deliver due to the ongoing support from Intel and Dell.
What was the logic behind the game choices for this season?
As the global league of eSports champions the Intel Extreme Masters III need to focus on the eSports game with the highest potential on three continents. That is why we decided to take World of Warcraft instead of Warcraft III, which is a great eSports game by all means.
Counter-Strike is still the competitive game to be played in Europe and North America. In Asia has its fair share of top teams proved by last seasons runner up from South Korea.
World of Warcraft is huge in Asia and North America and nearly all top European teams have a World of Warcraft teams as well. When we conducted the World of Warcraft tournament last season in Sweden it was very successful in terms of viewers on site, on the videostream and on the website.
"We felt that Warcraft 3 lacked future on a global scale. In North America Warcraft 3 is dead. In Europe the remaining players are complaining that the only people still playing the game seriously are living in China."
Why was Warcraft 3 dropped? We felt that Warcraft 3 lacked future on a global scale. In North America Warcraft 3 is dead. In Europe the remaining players are complaining that the only people still playing the game seriously are living in China. You could say outside China Warcraft 3 is pretty much going into a similar direction Starcraft took years ago outside South Korea. In China Warcraft 3 is without a doubt the hottest game there is. The Intel Extreme Masters events in China and Korea will have side competitions for RTS games, obviouly geared towards the local audiences.
World of Warcraft has a larger global community and Starcraft 2 is just around the corner.
What is the future of WC3 in ESL events in general?
Our Chinese ESL PGL just finished its third season last weekend. Once again it boosted records in concurrent viewers and overall sessions. ESL PGL is without a doubt the most successful Warcraft 3 1on1 tournament since the Intel Extreme Masters II Finals. Warcraft 3 is still a part of the European Nations Championship and it is the core of the ESL WC3L Series as well as several ESL Pro Series in multiple European countries. We will always offer tournaments and leagues for active game communities.
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BUT if they "learn" to enjoy the EM matches, wow will became esports
WOW sucks!
Sure, you have MIBR and EG, but the same thing is true for WC3, exceptions are always there. WC3 is the best eSport title by far, abandoning it was not a wise call. I mean, WoW as a competative game, give me a break! 95% of the WoW community does not give a crap about WoW as an eSport game. When even the gamers themself complain it's boring as hell to watch a red flag should be raised in the head of the ones deciding titles for these events.
MAJOR mistake by ESL.
wc3 ain't really the best eSport game to watch atm. StarCraft is still way more fun to watch, though to old for the western world :< Wc3 > WoW anyway
Adding WoW would be fine, suit yourself. But removing wc3 to add WoW has the be the mistake of the year. CPL did the same thing when source wasn't ready. :|
It's like with football, everyone has their own opinion of who is the greatest player, who is better team etc. In both CS AND WoW you do not have the same thing, this makes for much less exciting tournaments because it's given in advance who is going to win. How fun is it to watch an event and you know in advance that you'll see SK\MYM\Fnatic\MTW getting top 4? i sure as hell do not find that interesting at all.
And yes, i have been following eSports for close to 9 years aswell now so i have a pretty good idea of what is fun to watch as a spectator.
So Asia is into CS cause of 1 or 2 teams but Europe is not into wc3?
This proves they know nothing about blizzard titles!
World of Warcraft PvP is really a joke. There will be maybe four different kinds of team setups, but they aren't balanced at all. One setup is perfect to beat the other setup, and so on. Like paper, rock, scissors. And there are freaking a lot of different spells that are very important for the result of the match, but the unexperienced viewers won't have a clue what the fuck is going on right there. You have to explain them a lot more than in Warcraft III for example, and even with WC3 a lot of people have big problems to understand the game.
It might be right that MMORPGs are having a lot of players (especially since WoW was released), but it doesn't fit really good to competitive E-Sports in my opinion.
Not to mention that the skillcap in World of Warcraft for example is reached after 2 weeks of intensive PvPing. The skillcap in Warcraft III is unreachable.
they play cs source and xbox.
xaxa
This idea that because it has 9million players means it will get 9million spectators is absurd. Look at a game like CS, and you can tell immdeiately what is going on, whether your a noob or a veteran. In WoW the exact opposite is true - even a veteran can struggle to follow a livestream. I just don't understand where ESL is going with this. Players does not automatically = spectators and WoW is definitely not a game that will bring in outsiders.
A poll on readmore for example won't change that. It shows that people who visit the page would like to watch WC3 but in terms of global competition etc... the game is not having that. It is a CN/KR Competition only.
WoW is either hated or loved. And most who see eSports only as CS and WC3 because they are so used to that will hate it. Arena is a good and successful concept to let players face each other under equal conditions. And there are so many who want to play it, plus if there would be something like WoW-TV there would also be so many who'd watch it.
So looking at his reasoning again, the idea behind the whole tournament and the fact, that the ESL also has to include business-related thoughts into such a decision, it is just understandable.
It's just like some random console games, Fifa for exemple, there is something like 4 millions Fifa player (I said it randomly), only 1 million know WCG.....It's just the same with WoW, and my brother is playing WoW I know what i'm talking about...
Blizzard want to compel us and I hate this idea.
WoW is an MMO, a genre that never had an affiliation with eSports so far. So it takes time to get this spirit into those who wants to compete and spectate and give them the tournaments and possibilities to do so.
Not every CS or WC3 player knows what eSport is for sure, but the fact that as soon as you play in a clan you also play in a league or in WC3 on the ladder is of course something that will get you faster in contact with eSports.
So do not mark every WoW player as someone who never has or will hear about eSport and who has no sense for it. It is a learning process for everyone involved. eSports IS MORE than CS and WC3. Those two games have been the foundation for years. eSports evolved around them. That is a huge difference.
I would prefer to watch some kind of games usually reserved to console come in e-sports, they are trying for several years now, games like PES, Fifa, DOA, Soul Calibur etc. The growth of e-WoW is just too quick.
eSports is and was more than CS and WC3, but those two games have been the foundation for almost all these years. Quake 3 was part for a long time, but since then no 1on1 shooter has really made it to the top, apart from the already mentioned Painkiller and the money that was involved.
WoW is big. WoW is the place to be for many. Arena is marketed by Blizzard as a serious eSport competition field. Let them do it and see how it evolves.
There are tons of other games, but none has, based on the company behind it and the incredible amount of players and followers, the chances and opportunities that WoW has. And with tournament realms and premade characters WoW is turned from an MMORPG to a pure team vs team based 3rd person fighting game. They could probably release a standalone version that just features the arenas and whats needed to log in, equip and play a character.
Give it a chance... w/o trying we won't know.
I read somewhere (esreality ranking gaming sites) that SK and Mousesports websites doubled their traffic when they added their WoW squads/guilds and SK ranking, we can discuss if WoW is a porper eSport game no but that Wc3 is goin downhill is a fact, not in the countries listed above.
10 million dont forget that number.
Even here at the SK site so few people care about their WoW team and WoW tournament related news, just as I said before, those people that watched the stream or whatever are just bypassers without clue or interest for esports.
I mean, you speak about WC3 as a dead game, but ESL has never really involved itself into it enough, aside from WC3L of course, which is the only "real" tournament for WC3 by ESL.
Considering that, I'm pretty sure that your big WoW esports project will fail, just as 80 % of your other projects. ESL admins all talk, but never act. And now you dare, yes, you DARE, affirm that WC3 is a dead game... Just another huge shame for your pityful league.
Of course, where certains fail, other success. So, when I see leagues as WPL, TGL, NGL and so on, I do not think WC3 is coming to its end, at least not lately.
Anyway, you're full of crap and you clearly do not know what you're talking about, just as most ESL admins.
why not use the chance to pick up a kinda new game with a different market segment like wow?
just see if it works, potential is so big its not a bad investure even if it fails.
wake up kids this isnt about what game you like but what gets in the cash
wow is here to stay, you will watch it and you will like it
wait.
oh shi-
you're from italia, not an important esports country anyway, lol
SC2 and CS:S are completely new games from their predesessors.
LOL
Joking!
I love you Germans really.
got my point?
I don't say, that being german makes my point valid but being italian makes his point some kind of invalid, since the italien scene isn't one of the main-scenes. it's different to germany/france/china/sweden/norway/the main scenes.
/the irony is iam actual german too, dude ;(
i played both games, wc3 an wow, its fun to play both games but watching replays or live-games of warcraft 3 is much more interesting than watching pvp-fights...
and thats not just my opinion!