Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

By the time you read this article, "World of Warcraft", "hearthstone Legend", "Watch Pioneer", "Diablo Ⅲ", "Warcraft Ⅲ: remaking", "Storm Hero" and "StarCraft" series of products represented by NetZhiyi have officially terminated all operations in Chinese mainland market.

Now, Blizzard has shut down the Battle.net client function and all game servers in the national zone. NetEase officially also released a farewell letter to Blizzard players on the afternoon of the 23rd, thanking the players for their support over the past 14 years. "We sincerely hope that this suspension is not the end of the players."

When this long-span storm comes to an end, not all games that bid farewell to Chinese players are in the spotlight, such as World of Warcraft or hearthstone legends. In the whole Blizzard family bucket, there are games preparing for their second death quietly.

For example, StarCraft II has already reached the finish line once.

The two deaths of StarCraft II give players the feeling of riding a roller coaster.

In 2020, StarCraft II celebrates its 10th anniversary. In this memorable moment, Blizzard released a series of content updates.

This was supposed to be a good sign, but the joy didn't last long, and just three months later, another announcement brought about the beginning of a "dark era", putting aside all kinds of polite words and just "there will be no more paid updates." it dealt a heavy blow to the enthusiasm and confidence of the players.

Amid all kinds of worries, StarCraft II staggered through two years, not much better, nor completely desperate, but accelerated its own gloom and became the number one evidence of the decline of RTS.

Until last year, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard opened up new possibilities. Compared with the anecdote that the acquisition costs a sky-high price, the hope that StarCraft players see is Microsoft's positive attitude towards RTS games.

In 2021, Microsoft not only released Age of Empire 4, but also announced that it would reproduce the Age of Myth. Microsoft game CEO Phil Spencer praised Blizzard's RTS game in a recent interview, all of which were seen by StarCraft players.

The number of visitors and reviews of Empire 4 are also good. Whether a top RTS-friendly company can reinvigorate StarCraft II, or even the more extravagant wish of StarCraft III, either way, will give this backwater a chance to come back to life.

It's a pity that reality doesn't give people a chance to fantasize. After Blizzard unilaterally announced that it would not renew its contract with NetEase at the end of last year, the final countdown began to float in the line of sight of every national service player.

After countless abuse of Blizzard and Activision CEO Bobby Codick, players began to face the death of StarCraft II again.

2 an important part of a gamer community, including its content creators. "Glass ZCL between the Wind" is a "StarCraft" UP owner of bilibili, who devotes most of his time to StarCraft. In addition to making StarCraft-themed videos, he is also one of the few people who insist on broadcasting and explaining StarCraft.

When asked about the impact on interstellar players, he replied: "StarCraft ladders are relatively few, but most of them have foreign service accounts, so it has no impact on them." but for those players who are keen on 'cooperation mode' and 'game hall', the impact is very big. "

According to third-party websites, more than 20,000 players in National Service have played ladder games this season. In the past, the number was often less than 10,000, just like space immigrants in science fiction. Moving to foreign service is indeed a choice for players, despite the network delay. but at least there are games to play.

"spiritual Argentines" is still affordable, but it is easy to be blocked after the arrival of the news of Guanfu, Fengjian Glass immediately released a video to teach everyone how to go to foreign service to play games. Like the popular game hall map "Starbucks Tavern", the author is ready to move the map to Asia Service and continue to update it there.

But not everyone is willing to join the "wandering Star" operation, because the loss caused by service is difficult for some players to accept, and their hearts are exhausted.

The problem focuses on the "cooperation mode" of the game, which is rich in gameplay and has a time-consuming and laborious development system like RPG, which has now become a psychological obstacle for people to move to foreign services.

There is no doubt that the "cooperation mode" is an excellent way to attract new players. "the cooperation mode should be painted with 'character prestige', which is a very 'liver' game, and letting them do it all over again is simply to go to prison."

What makes people laugh and cry is that in the public chat channel in the game, the overwhelming number of advertisements are also keeping pace with the times, changing the business into foreign service account transactions and prestige training, and these small advertisements have even invaded the Asian Service. like "cyber psoriasis" in the Internet street.

To peddle tickets to Noah's Ark at the end of the world, that's probably what it's all about. 3 until now, the e-sports race has been a means for StarCraft II to resist death.

No matter how people poke fun at the decline of the RTS game, the splendor of "StarCraft 2" e-sports is still indisputable, so the high-standard e-sports event is still cherishing the last afterglow of this RTS.

These competitions, large and small, are not only a topic of conversation among interstellar players after dinner, but also make many "cloud players" enjoy them. they may not know how to play games, but they can also remember the names "Lv Bu", "maru", "Serral" and so on.

Some famous interstellar contestants Wind Glass told me that the biggest interstellar event in Europe and the United States is IEM, which is held once a year. In South Korea, GSL, which is also held every year, has also announced that it will renew its contract this year.

In addition, there are some small competitions held by Liquid and Alpha X teams, which are also interspersed in the middle of the competition, providing contestants with a practice environment and opportunities for communication. "

Blizzard organized its own WCS e-sports event in its early years, until the depressed Blizzard transferred the operation of e-sports to the Swedish organizers ESL and DreamHack (now merged into ESL Gaming), and later ESL incorporated StarCraft II into the IEM Championship.

The IEM schedule has also been the most eye-catching in China, when the final finals, after a series of big and small points competitions, the top players will come to the famous final-Katowitz.

"CS:GO" players should also be familiar with the Catowitz Finals as the final game of the year. Katowicz is a shining stage for top interstellar players, and the champion has one of the best gold content.

In addition to bringing countless wonderful battles to the audience, there are also many famous scenes born here. For example, in the spring competition in 2021, the Solar player was destroyed by a nuclear bomb by his opponent because of his mistake, and it is still a big hot stem in the interstellar circle.

Referring to the situation of domestic competitions, Glass said with a smile, "there is also the WTL official league run by Brother Huang, which is one of the largest team leagues in the world. The bonus is also very generous, the overall management is very solid, and the schedule is relatively long, so that many players have a bite to eat."

The "Brother Huang" here certainly refers to Huang Xudong, a well-known interstellar commentator. Compared with the depressed game environment itself, the name of "Huang Laoxian" has spread further on the fun-loving Internet. He and his partner Sun Yifeng are famous anchors in China. They could have been ruthless and devoted themselves to more promising games, but they still insist on explaining StarCraft II and organizing competitions on their own, so that countless interstellar players have a respect for them.

The "Interstellar Old Boy" composed of Huang Xudong and Sun Yifeng is already the spiritual leader of the interstellar circle, but in the eyes of people who do not know it, it is more or less like the "lone brave".

Like the old boy, Wind Glass also insists on interpreting and making videos of interstellar tournaments. In his contributions, whether it is small events, or top competitions such as IEM and WTL, he can't help but wonder about the broadcasting rights of the games, but he is not shy about this matter, saying bluntly that the problem of copyright basically does not exist, and people all hope that StarCraft will have more viewers and will not delve into these details.

"StarCraft and RTS games are in the twilight years, so the circle of StarCraft is so small that everyone knows each other and is happy to share broadcast resources with each other, so there won't be too many copyright issues."

However, even with such an open attitude, the attention of interstellar tournaments is declining year by year. On the one hand, the performance of Chinese players in the top events of StarCraft II in recent years is regrettable. The champion is monopolized by foreign players, and the public attention received by traditional strong events such as "League of Legends" and "DOTA2" can only be an extravagant hope here.

On the other hand, after the first death, many players and viewers who had followed StarCraft II had already lost confidence in Blizzard's operation.

In this depressed community environment to broadcast the game, I can not help but ask how many viewers there are every day, his answer appears to be very free and easy.

"I'm just an interstellar enthusiast who loves to generate electricity, an ordinary anchorman, and there are usually no people in the studio. But we want to play StarCraft for a lifetime and be friends for a lifetime, so we usually chat together and watch the game. It's like a tea stand set up by the side of the road. If someone comes, have a drink, have a chat and then leave."

Glass also shared a screenshot of a chat in which a staff member of NetEase said goodbye to him.

I hope all of you will have a good future and meet again. Like the farewell of countless NetEase employees these days, this picture also confirms the complete death of the Blizzard game during this period of time.

At first I guessed that in the StarCraft II community, players were supposed to be numb to death, but between anger, sadness and helplessness, optimism was particularly dazzling-many people believed that StarCraft II would eventually return.

The player's reason sounds very strong: no game manufacturer dares to ignore the Chinese market, and Microsoft Games is friendly to China, and as long as the acquisition is successful, everything will take a turn for the better.

For players who still want national service to return, the acquisition begins to take on a different meaning-a subtle hope.

Such hopes are also reflected in other content creators. In 2021, DarkCarrot, which produced interstellar video, successfully reached the top of bilibili, which not only gave StarCraft players a complete surprise, but also added some vitality to the StarCraft II community and attracted many new players.

In the face of this suspension crisis, he still maintains an optimistic attitude.

"most of our die-hard StarCraft fans will be updated next, because we still believe that there will be some turnaround in the future. For example, after Microsoft acquired Blizzard, we may talk to the Chinese side again, so we still have hope."

In fact, no one is sure to say who finally brought Blizzard back to China, but at the moment, players do not know the light and shadow on the negotiating table, only Microsoft is visible and visible to the players, just like the brave crusade against the Devil King, on the side of justice.

People have long been willing to use the praise of "the ninth art" to describe video games, but what Blizzard is doing now proves how vulnerable it can be at times.

Beauty in the eyes of players is the bargaining chip of businessmen. Once there is a dispute over interests, players can only play innocent victims. Just like taking away children's toys, manufacturers can easily take them away. Those who accompany players' painstaking efforts, touching and daily life are not uncommon in the industry.

For example, at the end of the EA interview, which likes to mercilessly dissolve the studio, I asked if there was anything I wanted to say to the interstellar players of National Service, and he quoted two classic lines from Zeratu.

"the prophecy is not known, and hope will never be annihilated."

"it is now a cold winter for StarCraft, but I believe that when the light goes out, we will fight and hold on until the last minute. Although the national server is gone, I would also like to believe that Microsoft will have greater prospects and more investment in Blizzard games, StarCraft and RTS in the future. The future will be better.

But it doesn't belong to us.

A similar scene happened when StarCraft II stopped updating a few years ago, when players used the same lines to express sadness and hope, precious but fragile hope.

With love and hope, they are silently waiting for the next turning point in the roar of the past and the cold winter of the moment.

This article is from the official account of Wechat: game Research Society (ID:yysaag), author: Leon45

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