Milkis Profile Blog Joined January 2010 4969 Posts Last Edited: 2011-07-16 14:12:29 #1

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Interview Source: PlayXP ( @PlayXP_Ethan and @ssidaglez )EN -> EN Translation by: Milkis (@OrangeMilkis)Link: http://www.playxp.com/news/read.php?news_id=3197013 [Interview] MLG CEO, Sundance DiGiovanni



This past July 13th, three members from the MLG executive team including it's CEO visited the GomTV Studios. They came to Korea to talk to GSL about projects that will come in the future, and they also visited the GSL games by themselves and experienced the games themselves. On the 15th, after the GSTL games were finished, PlayXP was able to meet with Sundance DiGiovanni again and we ran an interview to satisfy our curiosities about MLG.



The following is the complete interview with Sundance DiGiovanni.



▼ Please give us a simple introduction.

- My name is Sundance DiGiovanni, and I'm currently the cofounder and the present CEO of MLG.



▼ We're curious about your purpose in visiting Korea, and what kind of schedules you guys went through.

- We visited Korea for the purpose of meeting with Gretech and strengthening our relationship with them. On the first day, we got to watch the GSL match ourselves. We didn't have to worry about Production or Administration at al and we were able to enjoy it comfortably.



▼ What kind of differences are there in viewing the GSL online and in person?

- It was a good experience even just for the fact that we were in the same place as the players that we could only watch through broadcasts. We were able to directly feel the scale of the production and the passion of the fans. And we were able to meet familiar faces in Tasteless and Artosis, and it was nice to see Mr Chae working directly at the scene.







▼ MLG Columbus was extremely successful. If you had to evaluate it yourself as the representative from MLG?

- MLG also thinks that our Starcraft 2 tournament was successful thanks to the Korean players. We invited the best players and they played extremely well, and we're curious to see how the player exchange program with GSL will develop.



This past July 13th, three members from the MLG executive team including it's CEO visited the GomTV Studios. They came to Korea to talk to GSL about projects that will come in the future, and they also visited the GSL games by themselves and experienced the games themselves. On the 15th, after the GSTL games were finished, PlayXP was able to meet with Sundance DiGiovanni again and we ran an interview to satisfy our curiosities about MLG.The following is the complete interview with Sundance DiGiovanni.▼ Please give us a simple introduction.- My name is Sundance DiGiovanni, and I'm currently the cofounder and the present CEO of MLG.▼ We're curious about your purpose in visiting Korea, and what kind of schedules you guys went through.- We visited Korea for the purpose of meeting with Gretech and strengthening our relationship with them. On the first day, we got to watch the GSL match ourselves. We didn't have to worry about Production or Administration at al and we were able to enjoy it comfortably.▼ What kind of differences are there in viewing the GSL online and in person?- It was a good experience even just for the fact that we were in the same place as the players that we could only watch through broadcasts. We were able to directly feel the scale of the production and the passion of the fans. And we were able to meet familiar faces in Tasteless and Artosis, and it was nice to see Mr Chae working directly at the scene.▼ MLG Columbus was extremely successful. If you had to evaluate it yourself as the representative from MLG?- MLG also thinks that our Starcraft 2 tournament was successful thanks to the Korean players. We invited the best players and they played extremely well, and we're curious to see how the player exchange program with GSL will develop. On July 16 2011 18:09 SundanceMLG wrote:

1 - "MLG also sees that our Starcraft 2 tournament was only successful thanks to the Korean players.



Never said that. Said that having the Korean players only helped to elevate the excitement level and added a new level to the competition.





▼ How did the player exchange program with GSL come to be?

- GSL contains the best players in the world. I thought bringing the best players in the world would help grow Starcraft 2 overall. And the other reason would be to introduce foreign players to Korea.



▼ What do you think about Korean players getting a little bit more of a special treatment and sweeping the upper levels of the tournament?

- If you want to be the best, you need to beat the best. We simply made the best accommodation to the very best. Recently, Chris Loranger beat a Korean player at Dreamhack and other tournaments and gained incredible amounts of fame. This will apply the same for other players, and so no one will be thinking of Korean players negatively, and the fans will think of it in the same way. Because the foreign fans get so excited and cheer for every little action of Korean players, there's no reason to see it negatively.



▼ In 2007, MLG bought Gotfrag.com, a Professional eSports Medium. After this, the coverage on CounterStrike began to shrink.

- I'm not too sure because I wasn't in charge of it at the time. We changed our strategies as the companies merge. I think it may be because CounterStrike's popularity slowly shrunk, and the market expanded to games such as World of Warcraft.



▼ How did the player exchange program with GSL come to be?- GSL contains the best players in the world. I thought bringing the best players in the world would help grow Starcraft 2 overall. And the other reason would be to introduce foreign players to Korea.▼ What do you think about Korean players getting a little bit more of a special treatment and sweeping the upper levels of the tournament?- If you want to be the best, you need to beat the best. We simply made the best accommodation to the very best. Recently, Chris Loranger beat a Korean player at Dreamhack and other tournaments and gained incredible amounts of fame. This will apply the same for other players, and so no one will be thinking of Korean players negatively, and the fans will think of it in the same way. Because the foreign fans get so excited and cheer for every little action of Korean players, there's no reason to see it negatively.▼ In 2007, MLG bought Gotfrag.com, a Professional eSports Medium. After this, the coverage on CounterStrike began to shrink.- I'm not too sure because I wasn't in charge of it at the time. We changed our strategies as the companies merge. I think it may be because CounterStrike's popularity slowly shrunk, and the market expanded to games such as World of Warcraft. On July 16 2011 18:09 SundanceMLG wrote:

2 - The counterstrike - WoW comment was around how we first started working with Blizzard. Was not meant as a comparative.









▼ In the beginning of this year, MLG began working with IMG(International Marketing Group). How are you planning on leading this cooperation in the future?

- Through IMG we began worldwide broadcasts -- to Asia, the Middle East, even to India. While internet broadcasts are common in Korea, it's not like that overseas quite yet. It's an important opportunity to expand the market, and there's a possibility that in the future MLG will open not only in North America but also in South America and the Middle East.



▼ If that's the case, when are you planning on expanding out of America?

- Very soon. There will be a detailed announcement before this year ends.



▼ As MLG prepared to expand into the worldwide market, there's a lot of comparisons between MLG with Europe's DreamHack or IEM. There are rumors that MLG will end up taking over these competitions?

- To me, I think people think that positively of MLG. But because we want to be successful with other competitions and not just taking them over, we will direct our growth in a way so that we can all grow together. And the first area we will expand to outside North America will not be Europe, but South America.



▼ Is there any other accomplishments other than the player exchange program in the GSL that happened while you were in Korea?

- We will announce it later together with GSL. We can't reveal the details currently, but we are planning on doing something within this year, and we will take the lead with an even bigger cooperative project next year.



▼ What does MLG think of GomTV broadcasting MLG?

- There needs to be a lot of discussion with respect to delivering the content and the technical aspects so I can't say anything for certain. But we will try to proceed in the direction the Korean fans want.



▼ How many people from Korea watched MLG Columbus?

- We can't reveal exact numbers but the ratings were quite good. If the project we are discussing with GSL comes to fruition, then it will become even better.







▼ There's a large number of Korean players participating in MLG Anaheim. What are your predictions?

- I think everyone will do very well. There is a player that already did well in the previous tournament that is coming back and there are players coming here for the first time. It will become a good shock [T/N: motivation] to the foreign players. It's very important that we gather the best players together in one place.



▼ How do you decide which players to invite? And are there any players you specially want to invite?

- Even if they're not Code S, we want players that have talents in many areas. Especially though, we hope that the previous winner of the tournament comes back for sure. And I hope that NesTea comes very soon.



▼ How many professional eSports media outlets like the ones in Korea are there in North America? And are there plans to invite people from the Korean media outlets?

- There are seven important media outlets including IGN and GameSpot. Through partnership with GomTV, we want the players and reporters to accompany each other in the tournament site, and we are planning on making a press room to make content for Koreans.



▼ In the GSL, Korean Pop Idols have introduced the players, and in the NASL Grand Finals that went on recently, there was a female model that ran the interviews. What do you think of these attempts?

- MLG's casts are already made of individuals famous overseas such as Tasteless and Artosis. In the case of female cast members, I think what's important is to have people who know a lot about the game to increase the quality of production. You have to think of it within that scope of not damaging the production. I think NASL lacked the professional experience to a certain extent in that regard.



▼ In the beginning of this year, MLG began working with IMG(International Marketing Group). How are you planning on leading this cooperation in the future?- Through IMG we began worldwide broadcasts -- to Asia, the Middle East, even to India. While internet broadcasts are common in Korea, it's not like that overseas quite yet. It's an important opportunity to expand the market, and there's a possibility that in the future MLG will open not only in North America but also in South America and the Middle East.▼ If that's the case, when are you planning on expanding out of America?- Very soon. There will be a detailed announcement before this year ends.▼ As MLG prepared to expand into the worldwide market, there's a lot of comparisons between MLG with Europe's DreamHack or IEM. There are rumors that MLG will end up taking over these competitions?- To me, I think people think that positively of MLG. But because we want to be successful with other competitions and not just taking them over, we will direct our growth in a way so that we can all grow together. And the first area we will expand to outside North America will not be Europe, but South America.▼ Is there any other accomplishments other than the player exchange program in the GSL that happened while you were in Korea?- We will announce it later together with GSL. We can't reveal the details currently, but we are planning on doing something within this year, and we will take the lead with an even bigger cooperative project next year.▼ What does MLG think of GomTV broadcasting MLG?- There needs to be a lot of discussion with respect to delivering the content and the technical aspects so I can't say anything for certain. But we will try to proceed in the direction the Korean fans want.▼ How many people from Korea watched MLG Columbus?- We can't reveal exact numbers but the ratings were quite good. If the project we are discussing with GSL comes to fruition, then it will become even better.▼ There's a large number of Korean players participating in MLG Anaheim. What are your predictions?- I think everyone will do very well. There is a player that already did well in the previous tournament that is coming back and there are players coming here for the first time. It will become a good shock [T/N: motivation] to the foreign players. It's very important that we gather the best players together in one place.▼ How do you decide which players to invite? And are there any players you specially want to invite?- Even if they're not Code S, we want players that have talents in many areas. Especially though, we hope that the previous winner of the tournament comes back for sure. And I hope that NesTea comes very soon.▼ How many professional eSports media outlets like the ones in Korea are there in North America? And are there plans to invite people from the Korean media outlets?- There are seven important media outlets including IGN and GameSpot. Through partnership with GomTV, we want the players and reporters to accompany each other in the tournament site, and we are planning on making a press room to make content for Koreans.▼ In the GSL, Korean Pop Idols have introduced the players, and in the NASL Grand Finals that went on recently, there was a female model that ran the interviews. What do you think of these attempts?- MLG's casts are already made of individuals famous overseas such as Tasteless and Artosis. In the case of female cast members, I think what's important is to have people who know a lot about the game to increase the quality of production. You have to think of it within that scope of not damaging the production. I think NASL lacked the professional experience to a certain extent in that regard. On July 16 2011 18:09 SundanceMLG wrote:

3 - The NASL line. I gave a long winded answer that pointed to our intention of using Day9, DJ Wheat, Tastosis and my favorite sad kitten - JP rather than bringing in eye candy just for the sake of having eye candy. In other words - we'd want knowledgeable eye candy - which does exist.









▼ The representative gaming leagues in North America, CPL and CGS closed their doors due to financial issues. But during that time MLG had actually grown even more. What is the secret?

- We caused them to fail [laugh]. The secret to MLG's growth is that we have a clear goal that guides the administrative level and the workers. CPL didn't understand the relationship with the communities and CGS fell apart by itself. Rather than spending too much money, they didn't spend it wisely.



▼ What kind of events are MLG planning on adding in the future?

- In the case of PC Games, League of Legends. For console, Gears of War 3 and a few fighting games.



▼ Anything else you want to add?

- It was a huge honor to be able to see the players myself and to meet the GSL executives. I want to contribute to the growth of global eSports market by strengthening our relationship with GSL.

▼ The representative gaming leagues in North America, CPL and CGS closed their doors due to financial issues. But during that time MLG had actually grown even more. What is the secret?- We caused them to fail [laugh]. The secret to MLG's growth is that we have a clear goal that guides the administrative level and the workers. CPL didn't understand the relationship with the communities and CGS fell apart by itself. Rather than spending too much money, they didn't spend it wisely.▼ What kind of events are MLG planning on adding in the future?- In the case of PC Games, League of Legends. For console, Gears of War 3 and a few fighting games.▼ Anything else you want to add?- It was a huge honor to be able to see the players myself and to meet the GSL executives. I want to contribute to the growth of global eSports market by strengthening our relationship with GSL.