WCS America’s Future Revealed

by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

In early March, we learned the North American Star League dropped Starcraft II. This left WCS America homeless and alone. Blizzard temporarily put WCS America in the hands of the European Star League (ESL) for the Premier League round of 32. Later in the month, ESL revealed they have expanded their operations to North America with a new studio in Los Angeles, California.

Today, we can finally rest easy about the future of our beloved tournament. ESL has announced they are officially running this season of WCS America from their brand new LA branch.

Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard had this to say:

ESL has always been a great partner for Blizzard eSports. They’ve consistently produced high-quality and entertaining events such as WCS Europe and the Intel Extreme Masters series, and we’re looking forward to seeing them bring their expertise with StarCraft II eSports to WCS America.

Perhaps the best news is that both Rotterdam and Nathanias will be on deck to cast the series. Although we are accustomed to the “Bitterdam” duo for WCS America, “Rotthanias” (“Nathanadam?”) promises to be a dynamic pair capable of helping us forget all about that other guy (What was his name? Mr. Sours?). If you’ve watched WCS Europe Challenger League then you are familiar with Nathanias’ style of incisive narration. He is an excellent caster to mesh with Rotterdam’s charismatic commentary (as we learned in the round of 32).

Michael Blicharz, Director of Pro Gaming at ESL had this to say on the new venture:

We are very proud to be extending our partnership with Blizzard onto WCS North America. We want the new ESL studios in California to be home to the finest eSports competitions and WCS NA is the best possible start for us.

I would have to agree. This season of WCS America is going to be a good one. Be sure to tune in this Saturday (April 5th) as Premier League kicks off with Group A in the round of 16.