OGN is a South Korean pay 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. Most recently, League of Legends statistics website, OP.GG, which also sponsored LCK since 2022, has acquired OGN from CJ ENM following the shutdown of the linear TV network during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch.
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 Jae-dong, who plays simply under the name Jaedong, is a South Korean professional StarCraft: Brood War player and former StarCraft II player, playing most recently for team Evil Geniuses prior to his StarCraft II retirement. After retiring from StarCraft II, Jaedong returned to playing SC:BW. Announced as a full-time streamer on 12 November 2016, he made his return to the tournament scene a week later during the 2016 KT GiGA Legends Match lll. Using the Zerg race in both games, Lee is considered one of the most successful StarCraft players of all time, having won five OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) and MBCGame StarCraft League (MSL) tournaments, and earning over $600,000 in tournament prize money. His other nicknames include The Tyrant and The Legend Killer.
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 to be the greatest StarCraft: Brood War player of all-time.
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.
AfreecaTV is a P2P technology-based video streaming service. It is now owned and operated by AfreecaTV Co., Ltd. in South Korea after Nowcom's AfreecaTV Co., Ltd and ZettaMedia split in 2011. As of July 2019 AfreecaTV was listed 4th in the "Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion" list by Forbes.
The Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) is a South Korean body established to manage esports in South Korea. It is a member of the Korean Olympic Committee and the International e-Sports Federation. As of June 2012, it was the managing body for 25 e-sports in the country, including Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. KeSPA also hosts the KeSPA Cup, a yearly tournament event for some of their games.
Global StarCraft II League (GSL) is a StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void tournament held in South Korea from 2010 to the present. It has been hosted by afreecaTV since 2016; GOMeXp hosted it from 2010–2015. Blizzard Entertainment was involved in co-producing and co-funding it for much of its history, although their involvement reduced in later years. For the first two years of the tournament, it featured two leagues, Code S (major) and Code A (minor); afterward it ran as a single combined tournament.
Daniel Ray Stemkoski, better known by his nickname Artosis, is an American professional esports commentator and Twitch streamer. Stemkoski moved to Seoul, South Korea to commentate competitive Starcraft games in English. Together with Nick "Tasteless" Plott, he provides commentary for AfreecaTV Global StarCraft II League and AfreecaTV StarCraft League games.
Nicolas Plott, known by his alias Tasteless, is an American esports commentator. He moved to Seoul, Korea in 2007 to give commentary to e-sports competitions. He has provided commentary for multiple Starcraft and Starcraft 2 tournaments. Together with Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, he currently provides commentary for Global StarCraft II League and AfreecaTV StarLeague games.
Lee Seung-Hyun, better known as Life, is a South Korean former professional StarCraft II player. He began his professional career in 2011 with Team Zenex, which later merged with StarTale. He subsequently represented teams such as KT Rolster and briefly, Afreeca Freecs. Throughout his career, Life distinguished himself as one of the most accomplished StarCraft II players in the history of the game. He secured numerous premier tournament victories, including a World Championship Series title in 2014, two Global StarCraft II League (GSL) titles, a GSL Blizzard Cup title, two Major League Gaming events, two DreamHack tournaments, and one Intel Extreme Masters competition.
The StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) was a StarCraft II professional tournament series organized and sanctioned by Blizzard Entertainment that ran from 2012 to 2019. For all but its first year of operation, it was the highest tier of professional StarCraft II competition. Its longest-running iteration featured two regions, World Championship Series Korea and World Championship Series Circuit, with World Championship Series Global events featuring players from both regions. Grand finals were held annually at BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, except for the first year of competition, when the finals were held in Shanghai, China. WCS Circuit events were streamed on Twitch while WCS Korea events were available on Twitch, YouTube, and afreecaTV.
Jin Air Green Wings was a South Korean e-sports organization with teams competing in StarCraft II and League of Legends. Its parent organization was Korean Air subsidiary Jin Air. The organization was formed in November 2011 as a StarCraft: Brood War team, which combined three disbanding Proleague teams: Hwaesung Oz, WeMade FOX and MBCGame HERO. It was simply known as "The 8th Team" until Jin Air became its title sponsor in July 2013. Jin Air Green Wings was one of eight Korean e-Sports Association recognized teams participating in Proleague when it disbanded in late 2020.
StarCraft: Remastered is a remastered edition of the 1998 real-time strategy video game StarCraft and its expansion Brood War, which was released on August 14, 2017. It retains the gameplay of the original StarCraft, but features ultra-high-definition graphics, re-recorded audio, and Blizzard's modern online feature suite. The remaster was developed over the period of a year and included playtesting from professional StarCraft 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 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.
The AfreecaTV StarCraft League (ASL) is a StarCraft: Remastered tournament series hosted by afreecaTV in South Korea. It began its first season in June 2016 and used StarCraft: Brood War for its first three seasons prior to the release of StarCraft: Remastered. It is broadcast regularly in Korean on afreecaTV. Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott provide English rebroadcasts on AfreecaTV's YouTube channel.
The 2016 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2016 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the highest level of esports competition for StarCraft II. The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Byun "ByuN" Hyun Woo.
The 2014 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2014 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the highest level of esports competition for StarCraft II. The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Lee "Life" Seung Hyun.
Overwatch Apex, or simply Apex, was a competitive esports tournament series in South Korea for the video game Overwatch run by South Korean cable television channel OnGameNet (OGN) from 2016 to 2017. The tournament was contested mostly by South Korean teams, although several Western teams were invited to compete throughout most of its seasons. After four seasons, Apex was expected to continue operations as Overwatch Contenders Korea, but after Blizzard Entertainment, the owners of the Contenders, opted to use a different broadcaster for the Korean Contenders league, OGN shut down the Apex series.
