Unlike Go, which allows bots and human players to see the main board and devote time to formulating a strategy, StarCraft requires players to use their memory, devise their strategy, and plan ahead simultaneously, all inside a constrained, simulated world. As a result, researchers view StarCraft as an efficient tool to help AI advance.

A number of professional StarCraft gamers have said they welcome the challenge of playing against bots. Two leading players told MIT Technology Review earlier this year that they were willing to fight bots on broadcast TV, as in the AlphaGo match, if asked. Executives at Alphabet’s AI-focused division, DeepMind, have hinted that they are interested in organizing such a competition in the future.

The event wouldn’t be much of a contest if it were held now. During the Sejong competition, Song, who ranks among the best StarCraft players globally, trounced all four bots involved in less than 27 minutes total. (The longest match lasted about 10 and a half minutes; the shortest, just four and a half.) That was true even though the bots were able to move much faster and control multiple tasks at the same time. At one point, the StarCraft bot developed in Norway was completing 19,000 actions per minute. Most professional StarCraft players can’t make more than a few hundred moves a minute.

Song, 29, said the bots approached the game differently from the way humans do. “We professional gamers initiate combat only when we stand a chance of victory with our army and unit-control skills,” he said in a post-competition interview with MIT Technology Review. In contrast, the bots tried to keep their units alive without making any bold decisions. (In StarCraft, players have to destroy all of their competitors’ resources by scouting and patrolling opponents’ territory and implementing battle strategies.)

Song did find the bots impressive on some level. “The way they managed their units when they defended against my attacks was stunning at some points,” he said.