posted by TobiWanKenobi

ADVERTISING:

Hello Injun, thank you for taking time out to answer some questions for the joinDOTA community. We would like to start with who you are and what your postition as 'Head of DOTA 2' included.

It is nice to meet you, Toby, and thanks for having me. My name is Injun Kim and I’m currently responsible for bringing Dota 2 to the Korean market. I oversee the overall progress of shipping the title across localization, web, ops, and marketing.

It was recently announced at E3 that Nexon would not only be bringing DOTA 2 to Korea but also will invest 1.7million USD into the prize pool for 12 months starting at the full release of the game starting which is marked with the 'Nexon Starter league'. With such a huge prize pool announced what are you hoping the reaction of the Korea player base will be?

We were hoping they would like it, but in fact, we didn’t expect to draw any specific reaction. We wanted to show how we’re going to try to contribute to the competitive scenes. We’re trying to host lots of leagues on various levels, so the monetary size is just a necessary condition.

The investment of 1.7million USD took everyone in the scene by surprise, what made you decide on such a large pool?

We wanted to ensure we could run multiple leagues over the 12 months and knew that do to is at the level we desired it would require an investment of 1.7million to cover the prize pool of the tournaments.

With Korean teams still very much new to the DOTA 2 scene are you concerned with their ability to play at the level of the other teams in the world?

It may take some time for Korean teams to be on par with world’s top teams, but we will continue to explore what we can do to help them grow and succeed. Taking the winner team from NSL out to the International scene could be an example of how much we care about increasing the prospects of our Korean teams.

Are there plans to allow non Korean teams to compete now or in the future, including the option of them moving to Korea to play?

We are open to any possibilities. As long as Dota 2 is getting the right amount of traction in the Korean market and quality matches are guaranteed, we can definitely host non-Korean teams for event matches.

The Korea e-Sports Association is always the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of competitive computer games in Korea, how does Nexon work with or without KeSPA?

We maintain a good relationship with KeSPA. For Dota 2, since it’s still not in service, we haven’t been directly involved with them yet.

Korea has always been a huge hub for Starcraft and also recently League of Legends. Do you see this as a problem for the development of DOTA 2 in Korea?

I personally don’t see it as a problem but an opportunity. Competitive gaming in Korea has reached new heights for the past few years with its growing popularity and user base. A lot of gamers are now familiar with this genre, which is a good thing for us as a second/third mover advantage. We will focus on what we could do best. We run diversified leagues and work on community care and support. Last but not least, Dota 2 is a great competitive game and it has so much to offer. We have an indication of Dota 2 being the most hyped game as non-published game.

Is it a priority to provide coverage beyond Korean broadcasts / news for the Nexon Starter League?

It will be a good added feature for the Korean players. Recently, I noticed many western fans like the way our Korean casters stream live matches. We hope our western audience finds a way to watch NSL broadcast in their own languages.

Are there plans for something more than the starter league?

It is a bit too early to say. Once we see how NSL turns out and we get a better understanding of where we are and how we can improve for the benefit of the community, I would feel more comfortable to talk about our next move. We have a lot of good ideas and always welcome yours. It’s just about how quickly we evolve with those ideas and plans. We will see after NSL. Outside of big leagues, however, we will never stop supporting community-led events.

Thank you for your time, is there a message you would like to give to the DOTA 2 community at joinDOTA?

It’s a great pleasure to become part of this amazing community. I hope to see you all in our future leagues. We will also aim to provide you with quality matches and events.