14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard Entertainment has announced that it has entered into an agreement with GomTV, one of the leading online television networks in South Korea, dealing with the rights to broadcast shows based around the games of the company.
For the next three years, all matches of Starcraft, Warcraft III, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and the World of Warcraft MMO will be only viewable on GomTV. Unofficial broadcast will probably flare up in the coming months, especially with the impending launch of the Starcraft II sequel on July 27.
Mike Morhaime, who is serving as the president of Blizzard and was one of the original founders of the company, issued a statement saying, “With the release of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty approaching, we decided we could not delay any further in finding a trustworthy partner who respected our intellectual property rights. As a result of that decision, we signed a contract with GomTV which we announced today, which gives them the exclusive rights to hold and broadcast Blizzard game tournaments in Korea. We have cooperated closely with GomTV in the past, and discovered in the process that we have similar values and goals in e-Sports.”
It seems that other outlets like MBCGame and OnGameNet are allowed to continue broadcasting tournaments until August of this year, in order to allow their current competitions to come to an end. The move from Blizzard basically means the Korea eSports Players Association currently has no outlet on which to show off its own Starcraft tournament. Rumors about conflicts between the organization and the maker of Starcraft flared up in the last few months, with some saying that the KeSPA was not at all satisfied with the upcoming launch.
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is just the first chapter in Blizzard’s effort to continue the real time universe it created ten years ago. Two other chapters are set to arrive about 18 months apart.