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Episode 322 – Me Too, I'll See It Too! (1)
Late at night, a large number of fighting gamers gathered at Metal Punch Meta.
[Wow, f*ck, Godple is really amazing]
[Community Metal Punch's strengths lol]
[Are the trucks going crazy?]
[It really spread to all sorts of communities lol]
Fighting gamers were both bewildered and delighted. Posts captured from today's raffle broadcast were spreading like wildfire through the community.
[Why are you guys spreading Metal Punch in the cooking community? LOL]
[Imariya, I've been to every humor board there is]
[But it's definitely more about the god-like aspect than the shoulder]
[It can't be helped that recognition is pushed back]
[But lol I can't stand the perfect penguin]
Particularly widespread were the penguin sliding and gliding scenes shown during the ice-breaking competition.
[Why did BBS make such a fake documentary? LOL]
[This is an April Fool's video lol]
[But did Godple really fly away?]
[It's not fake, it's a real documentary lol]
The post, which was uploaded along with a penguin video made as an April Fool's joke on the British public broadcaster, BBS, quickly gained recommendations.
Thanks to this, the scene was posted on the humor bulletin boards of most communities.
[Glizen's speed is crazy lol]
[Is this the place where I can learn how to fly?]
[There are only crazy people here! Newbies, hurry up and go to Dom Hwang Cha!]
[If you really want to see the information, I recommend only looking at the best]
As Metal Punch became a hot topic, the number of people coming into the community also increased.
[Metal Punch enters the top 5 of the real-time popularity meta!]
[If you keep going like this, you'll become popular!]
[All my peers play Metal Punch, Imari]
[F*ck, I didn't even win the shoulder world championships lol]
[The purple coin effect comes out right away?]
[I'm starting to realize why I need Gemalcon lol]
As the community became more active, the fighting gamers were also satisfied. Soon, the gathered people naturally began talking about competitions.
[Where is the best place to watch the competition?]
[Of course I have to go to Serengeti lol]
[Isn't it right to go to Try?]
[What's right? What's right? Do you think you're right?]
[What the f*ck are you thinking about this?]
The most important topic of all was platform selection.
The majority of fighting gamers, and not just those who watch internet broadcasts, do not have much loyalty to a 'platform'.
[Are you abandoning the godfather who works hard for the game board?]
[If you're a serious fighting gamer, then shoulder cheering is the obvious answer, right?]
[This competition wouldn't have happened if my shoulders hadn't pushed me, but I'm going to try it out lol]
[Ah haha this is an influx]
Depending on the convenience of the platform, opinions may differ.
Some people feel a sense of belonging to the platform and ignore viewers from other platforms, but this is only a minority.
[If you're a true fighting gamer, wouldn't it be right to think about going over the shoulder?]
[Really lol, there's no need to go that far to cheer on your shoulders]
[It's definitely fun to cheer up, but the try is definitely the best ㅋㅋㅋ]
[If it weren't for Godple, I wouldn't have gotten this much attention]
What was most important to viewers was not ‘where’ the broadcast was being done, but ‘who’ was doing it.
They sought out platforms not because they had any affection for the platform itself, but because their favorite streamers and BJs were there.
Especially in non-mainstream genres, there were fewer broadcasters who enjoyed the game, so fighting gamers had even lower loyalty to the platform.
[Wow haha this is the first time I've had these worries]
[Before, I just had to look at the Serengeti lol]
[Really lol I've seen skull skiing competitions at Tri sometimes]
[I only saw Tri at the IVO World Championships]
[This time, I have to make a decision based on intuition…]
Accordingly, although fighters mainly used Serengeti, they were more like migratory birds that moved depending on the event rather than preferring a specific platform.
But this time, I had to choose between the two since I had to watch the competition in person at the stadium.
[Godple is going to leave soon anyway since it's a final game, right?]
[Ah haha just cheer for the team that seems like they'll win]
[Try has to buy a group uniform so I'm going to Serengeti lol]
[You could have just worn purple clothes, but you're making up an excuse lol]
[I'm going to try it because I'm confident I can play with people I don't know lol]
[Is the Serengeti popular and the Triangle popular?]
[ㅁㅊ They're splitting this into an outsider and an insider again ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Okay, let's decide on the top 10! The one who beats me gets the Serengeti.]
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[What the hell are these 10 lines, you crazy guys lol]
Some even used this as an excuse to enjoy the game, and the community was in an uproar.
[Amazing lol. This tournament isn't just for Korean fighting gamers]
One post changed the mood.
* * *
North American Community Reddit.
Fighting games were a relatively minor genre worldwide. Consequently, related events were scarce, and gamers worldwide were desperate for them.
There were often stories about the Serengeti race hosted by Shoulder, but they didn't receive much attention.
This was because it was a local competition limited to Korea, and the participants were not professional gamers but individual broadcasters, so most of them were unfamiliar to North American fighting gamers.
But this time, things were different.
Shoulders Hold the Largest Competition Ever
The posts listed on Reddit's popular posts initially did not receive as much attention as before.
[-Wow, Shoulder is having another charity event?]
[-Shoulders are truly amazing. You're investing your own money to grow the genre. Why aren't there influencers like you in the US?]
[-Korea is a blessed country for fighting game users. Just having shoulders is enough, lol]
The first comments were also based on guesswork, without even reading the post's content. However, after reviewing the content, the tone of the comments changed.
[-WTF? Perfect play? Aren't you the player who started Mimic Critical?]
[-Same name as written in the IVO guide. This is the right person!]
[Guys, guys! That's not all! Purple is the super rookie who defeated Japan's champion Triple!]
[-Damn! Shoulders has recruited a big shot this time!]
Even if the other contestants weren't aware of it, Lee Kyung-bok was famous among North American fighting gamers.
Those interested in his participation in the war have found out more details.
[-OMG! Is Shoulder finally broadcasting on Try?!]
[-Nah, I need to watch it carefully. They're broadcasting on local platforms, but they're expanding this time.]
[-If it's broadcast on Try, we can watch it too, right?]
[-Fxxking Awesome! You can see it live at the stadium? This is totally crazy!]
[-What? Is this an official IVO competition? What the heck is going on?]
[-Ahh! What's the time difference between Korea and the US? Damn, is the time correct?]
As the story progressed, people became more and more excited. The match between Kyungbok Lee and Kyungbok alone made the event worth watching, but the fact that they could also watch it live at the stadium made it even more worthwhile.
[-There is no notice on IVO?]
[This event has absolutely nothing to do with IVO. It's simply sponsored by a Korean broadcasting platform.]
[-Wait, what about the commentary? What about the broadcast?]
[-God plz no…! This event is said to be held only in Korean]
Soon, the excitement gradually subsided. The fact that it was a Korea-only event was a source of discomfort for many foreigners.
[-Anyway, I'm going to go watch it. If I'm just going to watch the match, I don't need to know Korean, right?]
[-I totally agree with that. There's no need for words in a showdown!]
[-I heard there's a cheering squad prepared? I think we'll need to prepare purple uniforms.]
[Guys! I found this picture on the Korean community! This is the official uniform!]
[-Oh? The hoodie design is cool. As expected, Koreans really care about fashion.]
[-Wow, what on earth does this 'Pefecet-common sense' mean?]
When someone posted a photo of the perfect goods, people laughed because the caption on it seemed awkward if you didn't know the meme.
[-That means it's common sense that only applies to Purple. It's a meme similar to 'CCBH']
[-lol, if someone who doesn't know me sees me, I might seem like a fundamentalist?]
[-Agree. Having 'perfect common sense'? Of course it's necessary.]
[-Oh no… I found the shopping mall, but unfortunately, they don’t ship internationally]
[-I knew it! Koreans always get special treatment! :(]
[-I'm a fan of shoulders, so I'll go with a local platform called Serengeti!]
[-Yup! There's no reason to insist on trying]
Some of them tried to join the Serengeti, but were soon forced to return.
[-OMG, is it because I'm overseas? I go to any channel and the lag is crazy!]
[-I only saw it on screen, but I guess they'll time travel in the stadium at this point? XD]
[-Shit, if you're just going to watch it on screen, it's better to use try!]
[-Local platforms are local for a reason lol]
[-The limitations of overseas access are unavoidable]
The delay in watching Serengeti broadcasts from overseas was significant, and ultimately, people had no choice but to abandon their Serengeti choice.
[-How many people did you see when Shoulder won?]
[-Are you talking about the IVO World Championship?]
[-There are more than one or two competitions where Shoulder has won lol]
[-If that's the case, I think it's around 90,000 people]
[-This time, it will be more than that, as it will include general Korean viewers as well]
[-Yeah, considering the number of viewers, Try is the only answer]
The event was expected to attract even more people than the World Championships. Considering this, choosing a global platform over a local one was the smartest option.
* * *
Around the same time, at the Serengeti headquarters.
It was late at night, but Bang Han-ul was sitting in the CEO's office.
He had been on the phone for a long time after monitoring the draw broadcast.
"Okay. Let's hold a meeting with the executives and then give you an official response."
The opponent was a representative of Try Korea.
After finishing the call, Bang Han-ul clicked his tongue briefly.
'I can definitely feel the difference.'
The original terms of the agreement were for both sides to broadcast on official channels.
But this time, there was talk that a request for mediation had come in from Try North America headquarters and the Japanese branch.
The contract clearly stated that 'Korea' was the official channel, so Try Korea contacted us because they could not handle it alone.
‘It feels good to bow my head over there…’
Bang Han-ul felt satisfied with the fact that the request had been made by Try, but on the other hand, he also felt a sense of bitterness.
'In the end, we're just a Korean-only platform.'
Regardless of those feelings, it was something that couldn't be helped.
As a global company, Try had servers located around the world, so it faced a small traffic burden. However, the situation was different for Serengeti.
'If we force it to be broadcast overseas, domestic viewers will inevitably experience delays.'
As Serengeti only uses Korean servers, there was concern that handling overseas traffic would have negative consequences.
This was exactly the situation where you chase two rabbits and end up catching neither.
'If we allow it, it'll only end up being a good thing for Try.'
It would have been foolish to make a choice that would have benefited a competitor. But there was a reason I didn't reject it outright.
'It's definitely a different scale this time.'
This never happened when the previous shoulder hosted the competition alone.
There was one thing that was different from before.
'Purple, it's because I have that friend.'
Why would overseas people show interest in the first place? They couldn't possibly know Korean streamers intimately.
Among the participants this time, there was only one streamer who was known overseas, excluding Shoulder.
'Management shouldn't just chase immediate profits.'
Bang Han-ul tapped the sofa lightly with his finger. Calculations of profit and loss were rapidly running through his head.
'The reason we sponsor competitions isn't simply to secure viewers.'
Increasing viewership was only a short-term gain. The fundamental reason for sponsoring the event was to promote the brand and enhance its image.
'Anyway, everyone who is going to see it will see it.'
Even if you tried to stop overseas broadcasting, you couldn't.
'It's already a small fighting game world. Fighting gamers won't mind the language barrier.'
It was a request from Tri for the convenience of overseas viewers. Viewers wouldn't give up watching the competition if it was refused.
'Then it would be better to take advantage of our own interests.'
Serengeti's "permission" made overseas broadcasting possible. If this fact were shared with international viewers, it would help improve the show's international recognition and image.
It was clear that Representative Try had also made that calculation and made his proposal.
'Even though the conditions aren't right right now.'
The fingers that had been tapping the sofa soon stopped. Bang Han-ul stroked his chin and nodded.
'You have to maintain your brand image and build awareness like this to attract investment and opportunities.'
He finished organizing his thoughts. He would have to work out the details during a meeting with his executives.
Soon, Bang Han-ul burst into laughter.
“This is…”
He realized the value of Lee Gyeong-bok anew.
'I'll have to do the math again.'
Originally, we were planning to actively recruit Try and Lee Kyung-bok when their contracts ended, but our thoughts changed.
'I don't know if we'll be able to handle it when that time comes.'
Lee Kyung-bok's growth was more dramatic than expected. At this rate, the platform wasn't "recruiting" him.
'It seems more promising to focus more on image management.'
The choice was always up to the strong. And in the future, Lee Kyung-bok.
'Then they will choose us.'
I was going to be in a position to choose a platform.