StarCraft in esports

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The real time strategy (RTS) computer game StarCraft had an active professional competition circuit, particularly in South Korea. The two major game channels in South Korea, Ongamenet and MBCGame, each ran a Starleague (Ongamenet Starleague, MBCgame Starleague), viewed by millions of fans. Starting in about 2003, pro gamers started to become organized into teams, sponsored by large South Korean companies like Samsung, SK Telecom and KT. StarCraft is also the most popular computer game competition during the annual World Cyber Games thanks to its Korean fanbase, and it is overall one of the world's largest computer and video game competitions in terms of prize money, global coverage and participants. Over US$4,000,000 in prize money has been awarded in total, the vast majority of which comes from tournaments in South Korea. For several years after the release of StarCraft II, competitive StarCraft: Brood War was no longer televised. However, in early 2015, the game returned to Ongamenet's televised lineup. The game's professional competition has remained largely separate from that of StarCraft II, though both games' current largest Korean competitions, the Afreeca StarCraft League (ASL) and Global StarCraft II League (GSL), are organized by Afreeca TV. Players have transitioned between the two throughout the years, but outside of the transitional 2012 season of Proleague, none have competed professionally in both at the same time.

There have been several commercial attempts to bring televised professional StarCraft matches to audiences outside South Korea. GOM TV hired Nick "Tasteless" Plott, an American who previously cast StarCraft at the WCG and other international events, to provide English commentary for the 2008 GOM TV Star Invitational and the 2008 Averatec Intel Classic tournaments. According to GOM TV statistics, over 1 million viewers watched the GOM TV Star Invitational matches with English commentary. Many StarCraft fans outside South Korea download video files of the pro games to watch on their computer. This has spawned a small community wherein StarCraft fans post the files to video sharing sites such as YouTube, but with their own English commentaries dubbed alongside the original Korean commentary. Notable English speaking YouTube commentators include Day9, KlazartSC, Diggity, Moletrap, NukeTheStars, and Rise. The Collegiate Starleague is a seasonal intercollegiate league that is modeled after Korea's ProLeague. It was founded in 2009 by students at Princeton University. Its fourth season (Fall 2010) marks a shift from StarCraft: Brood War to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, and includes the participation of over 100 North American colleges including Harvard University, Yale University, Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and Case Western Reserve University. Notable contributors and players include Sean "Day[9]" Plott, Kevin "QXC" Riley, and Andre "Gretorp" Hengchua.

Despite the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, KeSPA, OGN and MBC Game decided to stick with Brood War for their competitions. KeSPA and OGN eventually came into talks with Blizzard and GomTV for broadcasting rights of StarCraft II. After discussions and negotiations were complete, it was announced that the SK Planet Proleague season would be a hybrid tournament featuring both Brood War and StarCraft II. Brood War professional competition was eventually phased out entirely in Proleague, although fan interest in the game continued.