14 DAY TRIAL // There are some new developments to report in the Starcraft match-fixing scandal that goes on right now in the Korean professional gaming leagues. The Korean e-Sports Players Association has banned all the 11 players who were involved from the official competitions and leagues and will also erase them from its records, that is remove any title they have ever won.
These players have been accused of deliberately losing matches for betting profits. The three booking agents that got these players to cooperate in their rigging schemes won up to 140,000 dollars. The list of guilty parties consists of some of the best Zerg and Terran pro-gamers in Korea.
Ma Jae-Yoon, also known as sAviOr, was one of most successful Zerg players in the history of KeSPA. He also facilitated access to the other ten pro-gamers for the three booking agents and was subsequently banned and erased from the Association's records. YellOw, Hong Jin-Ho, is another well-known Zerg and he has also participated in this criminal scheme, as well Hwasin, one of the currently leading Terrans in the league.
This is yet another blow to the KeSPA, after Blizzard denied its involvement in future professional Starcraft 2 matches. Blizzard was unhappy that it had been left out of the profit loop by the Korean association and it decided to retain its control over any kind of leagues and TV broadcasts that could come up for Starcraft 2. The developer is even trying to start its own league in Korea. The Korean government has taken KeSPA's side, awarding Starcraft 2 an Adults Only rating, but Blizzard has managed to solve this problem by editing the game. This match-fixing scandal and the conflict with Starcraft 2's developer are putting KeSPA in a hard situation, where it might lose the tight grip it has on Korean pro-gaming.