Cameron 'fams' Carson takes a look at the recent trend of western eSports organizations picking up Korean players.

Recently a debate has sparked in the Starcraft 2 eSports community involving Korean players joining what are widely regarded as "foreign teams".  Contrary to popular belief, Korean Real Time Strategy (RTS) professional gamers have been joining teams from the west for many years.  A good example of this is the professional Warcraft III scene.  Players from Korea have allied themselves with teams from all over the world such as Meet Your Makers, World Elite, SK Gaming and Fnatic for years.

This is a result of a lack of professional teams in Korea catering to that specific game.  In the past, few professional Starcraft teams in Korea also housed Warcraft III players.  After the leagues in Korea went away, so too did the support for the players.  Korean Warcraft III players were forced to join what the industry now refers to as "foreign teams".

Starcraft 2 is in a similar situation.  Very few professional teams in Korea have the means to support a professional players career.  Professional players require much more than a good practice environment, they require financial support, exposure and media training as well as opportunities for growth - as a player and as a person.  Currently, most Korean teams are only able to offer players an ideal practice environment; very few can support their players financially to travel abroad or sustain a suitable standard of living.

This is why Korean teams have been opening their doors to western teams in the form of partnerships.  The Korean teams will offer their top tier practice conditions, usually for money or representation of their players abroad.  Western teams are equally willing to participate in this arrangement in order to give their players the best practice conditions in hopes of turning them into the next foreign pride.  Additionally, foreign teams receive a positive boost in their popularity, a very welcome addition to their potential marketing strategy.

Recently, there have been many people in the community voicing concerns about Koreans leaving their current Korean based teams for western teams.  One of the reasons being that Korean players are replacing western players, slowly turning the international Starcraft 2 scene into Korean BroodWar 2.0.  The feeling is that we will only see successful Korean Starcraft 2 professionals, and no western professionals who are able to compete at a top level.

Additionally, there is a worry that larger western organizations who boast larger sponsors, will slowly edge out the under-funded Korean teams.  The result being a crippled Korean scene, developing fewer and fewer players, turning into another Warcraft III.

However, it is unlikely that either of these will come to pass.  First off, western players have already begun proving their worth.  We have seen an influx in the amount of western players who are able to compete with the Korean players.  Players such as Greg 'IdrA' Fields, Chris 'HuK' Loranger, Ilyes 'Stephano' Satouri, and others have proven to the world that non-Koreans cannot only compete, but win major tournaments as well. 

Adding to that is the increase in the number of players travelling to Korea in order to step up the level of their practice, and in some cases, compete in the GSL successfully.  Some of these players are travelling to Korea as part of the above mentioned partnerships of course; however, some are even travelling to Korean on their own in order to train and compete with the best.

Foreign teams are also limited in the number of players they can take on.  That is why you never see a western organization pick up an entire Korean team.  This would never lead to a Korean teams demise as they would still have numerous top tier players in their ranks.  Foreign teams can only afford to support a finite number of players.  The cost to send players from Korea to the US or Europe is incredibly high, adding to that is the their salary, equipment and miscellaneous expenses. 

Even western teams have their limits, housing a full team of salaried players who make enough to dedicate all of their time to professional gaming is not cheap.  Also, professional teams in the west come in many sizes, for some teams it is very easy to field a team of top tier players, for others, it becomes a battle of the budget.

One could argue that it is exactly this lack of funds to support a full roster that will lead to the decline of western players overall, and that teams will simply opt for a smaller roster comprised entirely of Korean players.  However, the likeliness of this happening is slim to none because of the marketing power western players hold.  For instance, if you are a highly skilled western player battling against mostly Korean professional gamers, chances are, the community knows and recognizes who you are.  Even players who have never won a major tournament are currently recognized within the community and boast large numbers of fans.  Korean players are mostly recognized based on their achievements or 'out of this world' personalities, like MC or in the past, FireBatHero.  

It is in a western team's best interest to house some western players due to the marketing power they possess.  If a western team recruits only Korean players, they will earn a reputation within the community as being a team that hires mercenaries.  The stigma being, if you are a western based team and hire teams out of Asia, particularly Korea, that you are just trying to buy titles through that player.  This is reinforced by the fact that most teams have, at least in the past, had a difficult time integrating their Korean players into the team.  The language barrier and sometimes skill gap, creates a rift between the Korean players and the rest of the team.  It comes to a point where the organization simply owns that players name and sends them around the world to compete, but there is little to no other interaction between the two parties. 

 

However, this situation has developed to a more suitable degree over the past few years.  There is an increase in the number of translators available for teams, and most teams recognize that they need to integrate the player into the team.  Therefore, they seek players who have at least a limited ability to speak English - this way they can communicate with not only management, but their fellow teammates.

eSports is a global entity, very few western teams are based out of a specific country.  Korean players joining western teams is nothing new, nor will it be likely to change in the future.  Western teams want highly skilled, disciplined, marketable players who they can develop long term relationships with, which is what the Korean players currently offer. 

It is in both parties best interests to work together.  It is also in western teams best interests to continue supporting the western players.  It is highly unlikely that teams in Korea will begin to go under because of a handful of players leaving to join western teams.  Korean players joining foreign teams is nothing new, and it is a positive, not a negative situation - for everyone involved.