In Response To: And herein lies MLG's downfall.... (RC Master)
: So popularity, more than just getting some awesome, competitive games of Halo
: in, is the key factor?
No. It is one of many factors. Actually, the reason is not popularity. It's about sustainable popularity.
Let me list a bunch of factors in no particular order for you:
- Starcraft Brood War had been a live e-sport in korea and across the world for 10 years. When Starcraft 2 came out, it was like crack for the scene. The popularity of a major release brought the attention of the average gamer to a game that epitomized esports. Halo did not and does not have that luxury.
- Halo never fully embraced esports. Half-measures do not make a competitive game. The concessions Staracraft 2 made in terms of accessibility are significant to the die-hard Brood War fan... but no where near as detrimental to the concessions Halo games have made.
Starcraft is mostly a game for gamers who enjoy measuring their skill against other gamers. Halo is mostly a game for gamers who enjoy hanging out on a virtual couch. You can't actively cater to both of these types (though, I'd argue you can please both by catering to one in earnest).
- At the end of the day, Starcraft requires more skill.
Honestly, it does. I've thought about this and discussed it at length on many occasions. Based on my usual measure of skill in a game, I'd argue that it has a higher skill ceiling due to the greater complexity in both the strategy and execution elements of the player experience.
- RTS games lend themselves to spectatorship more so than FPS games. Most of those who don't really know Starcraft can watch the game with greater ease. The third person perspective allows observers to view battles on multiple fronts. You can see everything at all times.
FPS games suffer from confusingly hopping from one player's perspective to another. The big picture is lost on the spectator. Without a properly functional spectator view, (i.e. like that in Counter Strike), the viewer is limited. Keeping track of the entire field is not reasonable.
- There is a thriving scene of players and teams in Starcraft. I've talked to other Halo fans about this. It's not something they can wrap their heads around easily at first.
The scene is huge. It generates money. Top players have earned upwards of 200k in winnings alone thus far. There is enough to support salaries not only for players, but to support those of an entire industry.
I'm currently employed part-time with a Starcraft news site to do their graphic design. We employ about 4 other part timers and have a maybe 6 or so full timers. We have a headquarters in New York. We have about 11 players of whom we fly out (all expenses paid) to various events (MLG is one of many). Oh, and we also have a volunteer staff of over 100 active contributors.
Even outside of teams which have become pseudo-corporations, individual players are making their living off of streaming their play. When you can draw 40k viewers nightly to your stream, you can sustain yourself off of ad revenue pretty well.
- The game has strong support from a developer whose aim was to make an "esport". Blizzard has invested a considerable amount of money in helping that along. They are always actively in talks and work closely with all of the major tournaments that run Starcraft 2 (GSL, MLG, IPL, IEM, ROG to name a few).
- Sponsors. They see how much the scene is thriving and they come to invest money in advertising. Pretty simple.
There are more but this is as many as I care to drop here for now. I'd suggest looking into Starcraft some more to understand how fundamentally different the communities are.
Popularity is the key factor? It's not that simple. There's a reason the game is popular.
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