Korea’s Democratic Party proposed to change the laws governing esports. You might well ask: so what? Now, the CS.MONEY blog is going to tell you how laws in one country could help esports around the world.
What are the changes?
Of the several proposals, we’ll single out the key one: publishers of games will be required to report the cancellation of esports competitions in advance. A great initiative. But so far, it’s just a suggestion. The idea is very clear: if the amendments are made, players and organizations will be protected from the publisher’s spontaneous decisions.
A bit of history
As an example of such spontaneous decisions, politicians cited the situation with the cancellation of the Heroes of the Storm esports events. In 2018, Blizzard announced the cancellation of Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm.
An ordinary situation, where support for the game stopped, was sharply exacerbated by two factors. First, the announcement happened without any preconditions. One day, you’re packing your bags for the World Cup, and the next day, you’re sending out your resume in search of a job — that’s not fun.
The second factor is Blizzard’s traditionally strong position in Korea. StarCraft, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch are extremely popular with Korean players. Even the release of League of Legends didn’t compromise the hegemony of the company’s games. Such popularity affects the success rate of players from there. The top of any discipline from Blizzard is guaranteed to include Koreans. Perhaps only them, and no one else.
It makes perfect sense. It’s not only a good cause but also a smart political move to protect the native esportsmen.
What about the rest of us?
Okay, the Koreans protect their own, but what about us? Actually, there are a lot of things. Just remember the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in China, when the devs were forced to publish the odds of items dropping from cases. The published value coincided with those the community had assumed through empirical observations.
Any company that publishes games in Korea will have to reckon with these conditions. Considering that the country is the fourth-largest video game market in the world, this is big. Not to mention the fact that a similar initiative could be adopted by others: China, the US, or Canada, for example.
More than just a warning
The requirement to give advance warning about the cancellation of an esports track is interesting not only in terms of protecting esports players. Tournament operators and broadcast studios would also benefit from this decision. More importantly, this law would change the way video game publishers approach esports.
As of today, the publisher is the commanding entity. They can allow esports, ban players for any reason, or suspend tournament operators from holding competitions on a whim. That’s why we’re so interested in the Korean law we’re discussing. If such conditions can be imposed on publishers, esports will make the next step towards the stability characteristic of “classic” sports.
It’s still a work in progress, but considering how seriously esports is taken in South Korea, there’s a good chance that the Democratic Party’s initiative will grow and be approved.
Would you rather get another lottery spam or an informative news about CS:GO?
Subscribe to us. Give your mailbox a chance.
If you liked this text, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter. We’ve left an e-mail field above. The CS.MONEY blog posts not only about stickers and skins but also elaborates on other interesting things. For example, the development history of Mass Effect. Be sure to check out this fascinating read.
