StarCraft is a 1998 military science fiction real-time strategy game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. The game spawned the StarCraft franchise, and became the first game of the video game series. A Classic Mac OS version was released in 1999, and a Nintendo 64 adaptation, co-developed with Mass Media, was released in 2000.
OGN was a South Korean cable television channel that specialized in broadcasting video game-related content and esports matches, particularly StarCraft, Starcraft II, League of Legends, and Overwatch. OGN ran high level professional tournaments for 20 years; its premier competition included the Ongamenet Starleague (OSL), Proleague, League of Legends Champions Korea, and Overwatch APEX. It was previously a subsidiary of On-Media, the parent company of several other cable channels. After a corporate merger in 2010, it became a part of CJ ENM E&M Division.
Lim Yo-hwan (Korean: 임요환), known by the ID SlayerS_`BoxeR`, is a former professional player of the real-time strategy computer game StarCraft. He is often referred to as The Terran Emperor, or simply "The Emperor", and is widely considered to be one of the most successful players of the genre as well as an esports icon. In late 2010, he retired from StarCraft: Brood War and founded the StarCraft II team SlayerS. Since the disbanding of SlayerS, he briefly returned to SK Telecom T1 as a coach before retiring due to health related issues. He is currently a professional poker player.
Choi Yeon-sung, also known as iloveoov, is a retired professional Korean StarCraft player, and formerly a coach for the Afreeca Freecs' League of Legends team. As a Terran player he was known for his excellent macromanagement, leading to his nickname "Cheater Terran". However he is better known as "Monster Terran" because of his ability to produce a massive number of units. The 'oov' in his nickname is believed to be the ASCII emotion icon of a face and two fingers forming letter 'V' which stands for victory.
The Starleague, or the Ongamenet Starleague (OSL), was a professional South Korean StarCraft individual league run by Ongamenet. It first ran StarCraft: Brood War competitions but transitioned to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty after that game's release. The Starleague was broadcast on Korean cable television. The league folded after the 2012 season.
The AMD Professional Gamers League (PGL), founded around 1997, was one of the first professional computer gaming eSports leagues. The PGL was run by Total Entertainment Network and was sponsored by AMD. The first professional tournament they held was for StarCraft in September 1997. The league was official unveiled at a press conference at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on November 3, 1997. It was sponsored by Microsoft, Nvidia, and Levi Strauss & Co. The organization raised over $1.2mil USD in sponsorship money.
The real time strategy (RTS) computer game StarCraft had an active professional competition circuit, particularly in South Korea. The two major game channels in South Korea, Ongamenet and MBCGame, each ran a Starleague, viewed by millions of fans.
Lee Yun-yeol (이윤열), better known as NaDa, is a South Korean entrepreneur, video game designer and former professional gamer who competitively played StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft II. He is known for being one of the most accomplished Brood War players of all time with a total of six major title victories, including three KPGA tours in a row in 2002 and subsequently winning three OnGameNet StarLeagues over the following years, earning him the nickname, "Genius Terran". He achieved the highest KeSPA score of any player before it was re-scaled, and holds the record for longest stay in KeSPA's top 30 at 87 months, beginning in March 2002 and ending in May 2009. He has played for several top-ranking teams, including Pantech EX, Toona S.G., KT_MagicNs, Ideal Space and WeMade FOX. After his transition to StarCraft II in 2010, he joined the Korean team of Old Generations. In February 2012, he joined the American multi-gaming team, compLexity gaming.
Kim Taek-yong, known by his screen name Bisu[Shield] or simply Bisu, is a professional South Korean StarCraft player, playing the Protoss race. Famed primarily for sublime performance in the StarCraft: Brood War professional competitions against Protoss and, especially, Zerg, Bisu scored three successful Starleague performances, the most of any Protoss player. Bisu was nicknamed the Revolutionist for innovating the metagame of Protoss versus Zerg matchup.
Yoan "ToD" Merlo is a French former professional player of the real-time strategy games Warcraft III and Starcraft II. In WarCraft III he played as the Human race and in StarCraft he played as Protoss. he was signed to the top esports team in the United Kingdom, Four-Kings, until November 7, 2007, when he decided not to renew his contract for unspecified reasons. He later explained in an interview that the dissatisfying results of the Four Kings team were the reason for his departure. After much speculation, Merlo unexpectedly joined the team Mousesports on December 1, 2007.
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is a standalone expansion pack to the military science fiction real-time strategy game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, and the third and final part of the StarCraft II trilogy developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The game was released on November 10, 2015.
Lee Young-ho is a South Korean StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft II player who played Terran for the Korean pro-gaming team KT Rolster under the alias By.FlaSh or simply Flash. He made his debut as a StarCraft: Brood War player in 2007 and retired on December 19, 2015. Lee began playing StarCraft II competitively in 2011, until his retirement in December 2015. He subsequently returned to playing Starcraft: Brood War, and started his personal broadcast in February 2016 on the AfreecaTV personal broadcasting platform. Since returning to Brood War, Lee has won first place in Seasons 2, 3, 4, and 8 of the Afreeca Starleague. As of 2020, he is still broadcasting personal broadcasts. He is, along with BoxeR, NaDa, Iloveoov, and SAviOr, regarded as the fifth, final, and greatest of the Bonjwas, a title for players who dominated the Korean Brood War scene over long periods of time. He is considered the greatest player of all-time in the Brood War community.
Jung Myung-hoon, known as By.Fantasy or Fantasy, is a South Korean League of Legends head coach for SANDBOX Challengers of the LCK Challengers League. Formerly a StarCraft and StarCraft2 player, he is one of 3 Terrans to be under the wing of Choi "iloveoov" Yeon-sung.
Park Yong-wook is a former South Korean professional StarCraft player who played under the alias Kingdom. He has since retired to become a commentator.
Song Byung-gu is a South Korean professional StarCraft Protoss player from Pohang who plays under the alias Stork[gm] or simply Stork.
Guillaume Patry is a Canadian professional StarCraft player who plays under the alias Grrrr... He is from Quebec City, was a StarCraft world champion in 1999. He dominated the scene as a random player before he arrived in Korea, where he then focused on the Protoss race. While Garimto pioneered many "cheesy" strategies for Protoss, virtually every (then) standard build order was a direct result of Grrr's innovations. He won the Hanaro OSL- the first OSL in history- a king of king's tournament, and placed high in a variety of others in a long career. Eventually his interest and performance in Starcraft declined, resulting in his retirement in early 2004.
StarCraft II is a military science fiction video game created by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the successful StarCraft video game released in 1998. Set in a fictional future, the game centers on a galactic struggle for dominance among the various fictional races of StarCraft.
Seo Ji-hun also known as his tag XellOs[yG] or simplified XellOs, is a professional South Korean StarCraft player of the Terran race. Ji-hun won the 2003 Ongamenet Starleague and the World Cyber Games 2004 grand final.
Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Team Liquid signed their first professional players.
Professional StarCraft II competition features professional gamers competing in Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game StarCraft II. Professional play began following the game's initial release in 2010, as the game was the long-awaited sequel to StarCraft, considered one of the first esports and the foundation of South Korea's interest and success in competitive gaming. Between 2016 and 2019, competition was centered around the Global StarCraft II League in Korea and the World Championship Series Circuit everywhere else, with all Blizzard-sanctioned events being under the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) banner. Since 2020, Blizzard changed the format of WCS by entering into a three-year partnership with esports organizers ESL and DreamHack.
