Starcraft 2 – A Future TV Spectator Sport?

June 24th, 2009

I ran across a forum question on battle.net and the poster posed the question “Starcraft 2 as much of a spectator sport as Starcraft?”

Well, we Americans don’t have televised Starcraft matches, and I wondered what it would be like.

Hey, why not find out? So, off to Youtube I go, to check out Starcraft 2 videos, and how they might translate to television or maybe even a spectator sport. What follows is an older released Starcraft 2 battle report that to me demonstrated the spectator sport factor in Starcraft 2.

Okay, so I am impressed and excited because I play Starcraft, but what about other people? Good question, but how can I find out? Why, I will use one of my many friends and acquaintances as a lab rat of course, purely in the friendliest way possible, right? I found my victi… err, I mean, test subject easily.

Test subject:

Chris. He’s an avid sports fan, and loves his football, rugby, soccer, baseball, “any sport name here”. He has a wife and small child and he doesn’t get to indulge as much as he would like. He seemed to be a perfect subject.

Oh, and he is a very casual gamer sticking to his old PSP games, when he can find a minute alone. He knows nothing of Starcraft, but sports are his passion. Chris is a pretty smart guy, and plays chess and some strategy games.

I figured he could find the sports factor in Starcraft 2, if anyone could. I decided to see how he would react to the video battle I had found. This Starcraft 2 video got me excited and eager to see more of the match being played, and this was only an alpha battle what would it do for, or to, the uninitiated?

I invited Chris over (with his wife’s permission of course). I told him I wanted him to see a fascinating new sport that I felt would be on television soon, I could not let slip it was a game or his wife would have never agreed.

A full two minutes of gameplay passes as Chris watches the Starcraft 2 battle report raptly. He hasn’t said anything though, so I am a little deflated. I mean, he doesn’t know the game rules or even what a Terran or Protoss is. It might be he was the wrong test subject or maybe it would not become popular – at least that was what I was thinking right then.

“Oh hell YEAH” is the first thing he says, though it’s more of a shout than a comment. I see him rewind a section and replay it. The section was an amazing escape and scouting mission by a Protoss unit into the Terran base. The rest of the 9:56 second video of the Starcraft 2 battle report was punctuated by an occasional cheer or groan by Chris.

He finished the video and then fired a series of questions at me. “What’s this game? When will it be on television? Can I play? What is a Protoss? How do they win the game?”

To me, Chris’ reaction, and the fact he subsequently insisted on watching EVERY battle report he could find, indicates that it will indeed be a spectator sport when Starcraft 2 is released. I also am guessing that the term ‘Starcraft 2 widow’ may well replace ‘football widow’, at least among my circle of friends.