MLG have this week stirred up controversy amongst their fans by announcing their Winter Arena event next weekend will be Pay Per View only. MLG have priced their content at $20 for the weekend, allowing access to 3 days of streaming from an event boasting some of the biggest names in Starcraft 2. The MLG Pro Circuit (the events they're most famous for) will remain a freeium mix of PPV & Free Streaming.
eSports is about as hippyish as it gets when it comes to money, the first sight that someone is trying to profit from gaming and they're vilified. However MLG are the first North American company to really try to build a corporation out of eSports. They had about 100+ staff most of whom resided at MLG's stunning Park Avenue offices in New York. Their historic competitors at The CPL and WSVG never really evolved from a rag tag bunch of work from homers and they couldn't boast the online critical mass that MLG have. MLG have already evolved the US model beyond "We need Intel or we're bust", they are not dependent upon any one revenue stream.
MLG's statement regarding PPV lead with "2012 is the year where we will push eSports even further and solidify it as a legitimate sustainable business, on par with the most successful leagues in the world. We need your help to make this happen"
However the eSports (Starcraft 2) community has reacted angrily on 3 fronts:
1) $20 is just too much for eSports content when there is so much free content already out there (Particularly that same weekend!)
2) MLG Gold Members who already pay MLG a subscription do not get the PPV content for free
3) There should be a free alternative, even at low quality.
MLG's CEO, Sundance Di Geovanni went onto Live On Three, a popular eSports talk show, to discuss the matter. (You can View it Here - skip to 45 minutes. However by the time he made it to the airwaves the community had already united against him, most notably Team EG's CEO, Alex Garfield who brilliantly articulated the debate Here on TeamLiquid.
So where do you stand? If Battle for Berlin 2 or Crossfire Challenge 8 were PPV only, no ETTV and no QuadV - would you riot?
Personally the cost of broadcasting these days has fallen dramatically. The evolution of TwitchTV and Own3d have meant that streaming isn't the dark art it was and bandwidth costs are all taken away. You may never make huge financial numbers from your streams but the critical mass is value alone.
However I do most certainly share MLG's viewpoint that if they don't try, they're never going to make any money. At some point a line does have to be drawn in the sand, gaming in 2011 reached new heights, new acceptance and most importantly new revenues. However the financial revenue is still not big enough to support a real industry. eSports will also have to face up to the challenge that Starcraft 2 is its current buzz, a general widespread effort has been made by fans to unite around one game. What about when that buzz has faded?
However they need not fear, MLG have dipped their toe in the water but failure is an option. ESL removed HLTV & Waagh TV from the IEM events and they lived to love again.
eSports is about as hippyish as it gets when it comes to money, the first sight that someone is trying to profit from gaming and they're vilified. However MLG are the first North American company to really try to build a corporation out of eSports. They had about 100+ staff most of whom resided at MLG's stunning Park Avenue offices in New York. Their historic competitors at The CPL and WSVG never really evolved from a rag tag bunch of work from homers and they couldn't boast the online critical mass that MLG have. MLG have already evolved the US model beyond "We need Intel or we're bust", they are not dependent upon any one revenue stream.
MLG's statement regarding PPV lead with "2012 is the year where we will push eSports even further and solidify it as a legitimate sustainable business, on par with the most successful leagues in the world. We need your help to make this happen"
However the eSports (Starcraft 2) community has reacted angrily on 3 fronts:
1) $20 is just too much for eSports content when there is so much free content already out there (Particularly that same weekend!)
2) MLG Gold Members who already pay MLG a subscription do not get the PPV content for free
3) There should be a free alternative, even at low quality.
MLG's CEO, Sundance Di Geovanni went onto Live On Three, a popular eSports talk show, to discuss the matter. (You can View it Here - skip to 45 minutes. However by the time he made it to the airwaves the community had already united against him, most notably Team EG's CEO, Alex Garfield who brilliantly articulated the debate Here on TeamLiquid.
So where do you stand? If Battle for Berlin 2 or Crossfire Challenge 8 were PPV only, no ETTV and no QuadV - would you riot?
Personally the cost of broadcasting these days has fallen dramatically. The evolution of TwitchTV and Own3d have meant that streaming isn't the dark art it was and bandwidth costs are all taken away. You may never make huge financial numbers from your streams but the critical mass is value alone.
However I do most certainly share MLG's viewpoint that if they don't try, they're never going to make any money. At some point a line does have to be drawn in the sand, gaming in 2011 reached new heights, new acceptance and most importantly new revenues. However the financial revenue is still not big enough to support a real industry. eSports will also have to face up to the challenge that Starcraft 2 is its current buzz, a general widespread effort has been made by fans to unite around one game. What about when that buzz has faded?
However they need not fear, MLG have dipped their toe in the water but failure is an option. ESL removed HLTV & Waagh TV from the IEM events and they lived to love again.
However, I know that SC2 is probably completely different. I am guessing its only te best of the best playing at these events so no one would share this point of view!
The way they've handled it has been horrible, especially for the gold pass members. Not to mention the fact that they're saying it's not a pro circuit event yet it's logo states pro circuit :D
if you would want payment for watching ettv or streams of et games, this would kill the competitive scene instantly. and this time for real.
sc2 is big enough to take taht step forward since theres still enough stuff to watch for free.
Part of the problem is that this had been free in the past, and it's hard to start charging for something you have been giving away for free, when you're not offering something that makes the jump from free to $20 worth it.
However I do agree that the PPV model is a necessity, and I probably wouldn't mind paying a bit of a money as long as it is for a quality service run by competent people.
The stuff that CrossCounter are doing for events in cooperation with Team Spooky right now comes to mind, for example: http://youtu.be/eI8hQ-V3hN8
I bought it even though I had already seen some of the matches previously. Let's say that this was a PPV live stream instead of a DLC, I'd probably pay for it. 20 bucks though? Probably not.
And i doubt it would work for ET as there is no way to actually make it work with ettv to start with and noone pays money to watch these horrible low quali streams this game offers.