Why the World Cyber Games got cancelled: it’s all Samsung’s fault
Last week, we learned that there will be no WCG finals in 2014. After 14 years of operation, WCG has shut down, although local partners can continue to use the WCG branding for local events if they so choose. It’s a tough blow for competitive gaming, especially competitive gaming in Asia, where nine of the 14 WCG finals have been held. But unfortunately, the email announcing the decision to stop WCG doesn’t really explain why the event had to be canceled.
To answer that question, Chinese gaming site 17173 has interviewed WCG organizer and Neo TV CEO Lin Yuxin. Lin began by shooting down two popular theories explaining the demise of WCG: increased competition from other events, and the failed move towards mobile gaming (our translation):
I don’t agree with either of these explanations. Regarding the first, in terms of global gaming competitions WCG doesn’t have any strong competition. There are game developers hosting fast-developing single-game global events that have diminished WCG’s influence, but this has no connection whatsoever with the canceling of WCG. With regard to the second, WCG has always focused on PC games as the main program; we tested adding in mobile games, but that doesn’t mean we we trying to become a mobile gaming competition.
So if those things didn’t kill WCG, what did?
There are three reasons why WCG was canceled. The first is that WCG owner and primary sponsor Samsung’s strategy has changed, it is now putting all of its effort into developing mobile products like mobile phones. WCG is a PC gaming competition; in a short period of time there’s no way to effectively combine it with Samsung mobile products, so Samsung has not actively continued its support for WCG.
Second, competitive gaming’s development across the world is imbalanced. WCG’s Olympics-style approach meant we had as many as 50 host countries, but because the esports market in most of those countries is very small, it meant that managing a huge competitive event, doing promotions and subsidy costs were not ideal, so instead of the WCG developing esports markets in those countries, it actually “overdrafted” WCG’s brand value.
Third, WCG headquarters missed the opportunity to find a new avenue for business during WCG’s golden age, so when WCG lost Samsung’s attention, although everyone tried their best, there was no way to continue WCG.
So there you have it: it’s all Samsung’s fault! Sort of. The question now is whether another comeptition like WCG will rise to take its place, or whether single-game competitions like Dota 2‘s The International and League of Legends‘s season finals will become the new norm.
A WCG replacement may already be coming to China:
China is getting a major new esports event
We're still spotty on the details, but China will be getting a new major esports event that hopes to fill the void left by WCG.
(via 17173)
The post Why the World Cyber Games got cancelled: it’s all Samsung’s fault appeared first on Games in Asia.
The post Why the World Cyber Games got cancelled: it’s all Samsung’s fault appeared first on Games in Asia.
