Region Locking in WCS: is it a good thing?

 

WCS was introduced by Blizzard in April this year. It’s a series that ties together every major tournament as well as providing 3 leagues throughout the year based in Europe, Korea and America. Players earn points in these leagues and major tournaments and the top 16 points earners compete at Blizzcon at the end of the year. At the moment players can compete in whichever region they want region locking would restrict this to players only being able to enter certain regions.

Region locking WCS is a hot topic in the community, at the time of writing Blizzard has yet to release any substantial information as to whether or not they will be region locking the biggest tournament in competitive Starcraft 2. This blog will weigh the pros and cons of region locking and, hopefully, make it easier for you to make an informed opinion on whether this is a good thing the the scene.

Firstly, one of the main reasons for region locking is more exposure for American players. The American scene is the weakest of the 3 regions and is currently full of Koreans. In season 1 and 2 the only non-Korean to qualify for Blizzcon was Scarlett in season 2. Region locking WCS would limit the amount of Koreans in WCS America to Polt (who lives in America), and get more exposure to the American players making it easier for them, and their teams to get sponsors.

WCS America season 1 bracket, the top 5 players (who qualified for the season 1 finals) were all Korean.

 

However, what if the reason people watch WCS America is for the Koreans, and a chance to see how good Americans are compared to some of the top Koreans. If the this is true then viewership will drastically fall if the big name Koreans competing in America leave. We have seen attempts at an American only tournaments do less well than expected (e.g. Shoutcraft Invitationals), but maybe this is ok, as the people still watching will be rooting for and supporting American players.

On the other hand, WCS Europe gets very good numbers and contains a much smaller amount of Koreans who are, arguably, at a slightly lower level of play than the top tier players competing in America such as Teaja and Jaedong. Lots of people tune in to watch a league largely consisting of Europeans but removing Koreans completely is a different matter. The extent of the effect this will have on the viewership is unpredictable, but it is fairly clear that if too many people stop watching WCS then the region lock was a bad thing.

Secondly, and this is a very opinionated point. Region locking WCS may increase the skill gap between foreigners and Koreans. By removing the Koreans from the American and European leagues the amount of tournament practice foreign players get against very skilled Koreans will be limited to large open tournaments such as Dreamhack. Personally, I find playing against better opponents the best way of practicing. It is also a good way of seeing testing your limits, we recently saw State, a top American player, almost take a series of Flash, the former god of Broodwar and current code S level player.

This argument boils down to whether or not the benefits of extra exposure for foreign players outweighs the cons such as potential fall in viewership and less opportunity to see Korean players abroad. Personally, I love seeing foreign players going up against the best Koreans making me against the idea of region locking, but this is an entirely opinionated point and any new points would be welcome in the comment section below.