ESL bans HLTV from offline events

6-4-2009 00:11

You might have noticed there was no HLTV from the IFNG last Friday, this was because ESL has decided to ban all HLTV from their offline events in the EPS.

The move has been taken by a struggling ESL that has massively reduced prizes this year. The rationalisation for the ban is that HLTV does not catch the atmosphere of the game. One could argue that leaving it up to the spectators would be the smarter choice, but ESL has chosen to go all in on Livestreaming. In the end it most likely a question of advertising dollars more than the spectator experience.

This means there will be no more IFNG's hosted by HLTV.org, we will still provide match pages so you guys can discuss the matches, check previous matches, lineups, and hopefully watch scorebot too.

Needless to say we are sad to see ESL take this direction, but there is nothing we can do about it.

Whether HLTV will be banned from other ESL events and online matches remains to be seen.

that sucks..

2009-04-05 23:58

5 replies

forgot: ESL: will it be the crap quality as all other livecrapstreams we gamers have had the pleasure to watch over these years? if yes: screw you.

2009-04-06 00:03

4 replies

You can edit your message up to 10 minutes after it has been posted. :)

2009-04-06 00:59

2 replies

infg last weekend could be seen on high quality stream and i must say that it was really nice! despite the fact it was in german ofc xD

2009-04-06 11:02

1 reply

I hate it, because you can't choose who to focus on. :)

2009-04-06 17:36

Thats the whole point : HLTV = banned so you have to livestream, but the quality sucks sooo = pay for a premium account for better quality!

2009-04-06 01:04

Money before anything, the e-sport manta, what a wonderful world we are building for ourselves here..

2009-04-05 23:58

6 replies

What did you honestly expect? Honestly..

2009-04-06 10:44

Without money you wouldn't have any E-sports, or any e-games, so you can't actually whine just because they wanna make some bucks, I'm not happy with this situation but I can understand ESL ;\

2009-04-06 13:03

3 replies

It is a question of whether money is the only thing that matters to you..

2009-04-06 14:53

2 replies

Lol, dude if you wanna make events like ESL (even if they'r online events) you need to have Full-time workers, and believe me they won't work for free so.. yeh money ain't everything if you wanna work for esl for free go for it mate ;D

2009-04-09 00:04

1 reply

Did I say they cannot make money? I said that money isn't everything, funny how the ESL survived until now with HLTV huh? My point is simply that ESL will not do themselves any favors by becoming a detached money making machine, instead they should get closer to the communities and exploit the connections that give instead.. You see HLTV.org demanding money for anything? No? Well we still pay Nix's salary and send him to events, we still have free servers and demos, and all the bandwidth anyone could ask for. You can build a successful business without being greedy.

2009-04-09 00:13

freedom of ALL information !!! :p

2009-04-07 19:31

No way ! Sad news today..

2009-04-05 23:59

what a bad day for eSports... ;s

2009-04-06 00:02

I preffer spectateing rather than watching livestream :[ so that`s a bummer . Problem with livestream is that sometimes the focus is not on what you as a spectator want to see .

2009-04-06 00:05

6 replies

With the downside of livestreaming you point out, how come you like it better, I assume being able to see / hear the players.

2009-04-06 00:07

4 replies

He means spectating as "HLTV spectating" I guess :p

2009-04-06 00:37

1 reply

I think I get him now, tiredness owned me.

2009-04-06 00:37

btw. what about wsync project? Abandoned?

2009-04-06 08:09

1 reply

Put on ise for some time.

2009-04-06 16:57

totaly agree, on streaming you can see one frag out of 30! we want to see the game, not monkeys in suits telling the obvious.

2009-04-06 12:30

I'm tired of hearing these stories.. :(

2009-04-06 00:05

no more hltv cover of extreme masters or pro series?:(

2009-04-06 00:06

6 replies

Lets see what will happen. Only ESL have the answers.

2009-04-06 00:09

5 replies

really hope you get to cover it. i'm having major problems to navigate on the other coverage sites:P

2009-04-06 00:24

4 replies

Coverage will be made, even without HLTV.

2009-04-06 00:33

3 replies

good to hear. theese financial crises really being a pain in the ass. hope some crazy rich guy decides to donate all his money to e-sport

2009-04-06 01:18

2 replies

HAHA most of the rich guys in the world are smart,and in my opinion to invest money on eSport its a lose

2009-04-06 07:38

1 reply

It's the same story as in football, but the football is much more known than CS, so at CS tournaments you can't get so much money from TV rights.

2009-04-06 15:15

shame on them

2009-04-06 00:06

this is ass :(

2009-04-06 00:07

bad (

2009-04-06 00:07

ESL suxx comeback CPL!

2009-04-06 00:08

Sure a smart move in the eyes of ESL, but a horrible move for the eSports scene. Maybe ESL should focus on paying out prize money since god knowns when, instead of monopolise their events.

2009-04-06 00:16

the truth is that ESL wants more profit and they get profit from the ESLtv and more ppl will watch esltv if there is no hltv. simple as that :|

2009-04-06 00:20

5h17

2009-04-06 00:23

ppl won't watch livestream will watch the demos after the match, this is a mistake!

2009-04-06 00:26

thats patheitc.

2009-04-06 00:27

Retards

2009-04-06 00:28

once bot, 4ever bot... ESL bots in brain

2009-04-06 00:33

1 reply

IRL bots.;d

2009-04-06 01:04

esl.tv is shit...Im still ashamed i bought the tv license for 10 quid :P hahahahaha I think im gonna write a letter to esl...but Im scared they wont read my uncensored version (the censored version doesnt even fill a sentence :P) hahahahah

2009-04-06 00:48

NOOOOOOO

2009-04-06 01:16

nixon your right , it`s all about money, and thats sad.

2009-04-06 01:32

stop that crisis

2009-04-06 01:46

how can they expect ppl to watch live streams in such horrid quality? -_-

2009-04-06 01:53

3 replies

premium stream is much better :D

2009-04-06 05:11

The point is that they want you to subscribe to premium... #@$& ESL.

2009-04-06 09:39

1 reply

so?ofc people wont buy a fuckin premium so they can hear some idiots saying obvious things, and they cant, for example see what they want, cause with hltv we can see whatever we want to, but in the fuckin stream, we must watch what those guys are watching, whats the fuckin point?! FUCK ESL IDIOTS!GUY DONT BUY PREMIUM, screw esl

2009-04-06 15:24

sad thing :(

2009-04-06 01:54

Some of you said it already, its all about the money. But sad that it have to end like this. Will they be here next year? :).

2009-04-06 01:55

sad notice... nowadays you have to pay for everything... :/ fuck esl

2009-04-06 01:56

err HLTV is the best, it made this game big, retards

2009-04-06 03:31

bad bad bad

2009-04-06 03:49

LOL @ ESL, really HLTV is way better then live streaming, i h8 live streaming i only like hltv well GG esl cheap idiots, also you're going to lose HEAPS of specs.

2009-04-06 03:56

with the crisis going on maybe it was a "good thing", i mean they surely get some extra dollars by doing that and keep ESL alive, dunno. ESWC just died, sponsors nowadays are hard to find. Anyhow, the excuse was lame "atmosphere of the game". I mean it's a LOT better watching a match through HLTV, ive tried livestreaming once or two and i can't stand it.

2009-04-06 04:10

lol, when i saw the title, i misread it as "ESL bans ""HLTV.org"" from offline events" and i was shocked. XD in my mind that "HLTV" almost= "HLTV.org"......

2009-04-06 04:29

this of money sucks.. why things are so bad? put the crise behind our backs and start again.. forget this all and do a restart on the money scene.. omfg money is "fabricated" every days... so "fabricate" more and shut the crise.. every one would prefer to close their eyes and pass the crise that point a finger to the guiltys..

2009-04-06 04:53

4 replies

You don't actually think that the Government prints money as they wish right?

2009-04-06 13:10

2 replies

no lol.. but it was nice.. just to stop the crise

2009-04-06 21:12

1 reply

ahaha indeed mate ;P but if they printed money like that trust me, then you would see the real crises xP

2009-04-08 23:56

if you print more money then you have gold in the national bank then the money loses his value so printing more money = more gold no gold = no money value ;) and more money with same amount of gold = 10€ bill being worth shit =') lets just boycot esl!! =')

2009-04-06 18:25

for sure that was clearly. hltv <3 money :D . but right, its bad for the specs.

2009-04-06 05:10

ESL = idiots.

2009-04-06 07:11

sad, esl sucks

2009-04-06 07:23

Can't they advertise through HLTV?

2009-04-06 08:06

They oughta run their own HLTVs with their own ads rather than ban it ... Not a smart move imo, they won't get me to watch the streams and I'm sure quite a few people feel the same.

2009-04-06 08:13

alive the money

2009-04-06 08:14

too many bad news in esports nowadays :d

2009-04-06 08:20

ESL sux

2009-04-06 08:39

That's a real shame because HLTV > streams by far, and even if it is to do with money, if that's what they need to do in order to survive financially then it's for the best. Better than them going bankrupt and disappearing altogeter.

2009-04-06 08:56

I think we`ll watch HLTV with money,but that`s sucks...I won`t give money for HLTV...

2009-04-06 09:18

Why did I see this comming... :(

2009-04-06 09:24

ESL realy sux ;\

2009-04-06 10:12

Maybe to get through the crisis? I prefer this & they stay alive than hltv to leave nothing to spectate. - I prefer hltv though.

2009-04-06 10:14

omg... streaming not the worst thing, but hltv of course more better - you can watch you want. really sad news..

2009-04-06 10:24

Ouch ESL fail

2009-04-06 10:27

And i bet offline event stream will be for premium users only.

2009-04-06 11:21

I think ESL is the one murdering esport organisations and teams. They should get banned from excisting...

2009-04-06 11:23

i like hltv but the stream is also nice when its in english ofc. but i'm glad that HLTV still gives coverage of ESL events.

2009-04-06 11:52

sad :/

2009-04-06 12:08

I think it's an error... ESL should just fix the maps with banners of their sponsors for their LAN events.. like that 1vs1 tournament... They will have 6000 spectators watching it in a big event. Sorry for the bad english but i didn't know how to explain this in english

2009-04-06 12:09

1 reply

its not so bad m8

2009-04-06 12:11

I think it is a shame that big sponsors pay for the training of teams and nobody can see the name of the sponsor because there are no hltv and only expensive streaming, meaning instead of 6000 ppl watching there will be 200... sponsorship ends.

2009-04-06 12:26

1 reply

Like in case of sponsors , i was just thinking. Event organizers can customize the maps with the name of sponsors at some places. While the players can have bots skins with the name or logo of their sponsors like its in the other games say Football or Cricket. :D And well about this mean decision of forceing livestream [which suck :imo],it will reduce the numbers of spectators and kill the fun of the game.Let the Stream and HLTV go side by side and its upto viewer to choose what to see. If you are streaming in some good manner surely spectators will go for it.

2009-04-07 21:16

this is madness!esl sux

2009-04-06 13:42

that's really sad... I mean I have an esl premium account but sometimes I prefer the hltv :-/

2009-04-06 13:43

ESL sucks :/

2009-04-06 13:46

FUCK ESL

2009-04-06 14:32

esl want to earn money from premiums for watching live streamings

2009-04-06 14:36

omg I want to watch any player I want and not some nub meanwhile f0rest kills 3 players with 3 headshots because commentator of ESL TV is watching him

2009-04-06 15:01

Let's hope that the other events won't make this choice, like ESL

2009-04-06 15:02

good point of pingmaster, ok supose i pay for premium shit ok so in a match wanna see only get_right , what do i do?:)) this is crap from ESL,screw them and there stream

2009-04-06 15:08

where can i watch the live streams of the upcoming tournaments? or know what website i have to go to..

2009-04-06 15:21

Not only can u not watch what u want to watch, the ESL commentary is bad also. Sometimes u just wanna watch a match without some annoying n00bs talking obvious trash which we can see with our own eyes. In fact, it's the last resort - ie. when there's no HLTV.

2009-04-06 15:30

Nice strategy to sell premium account for livestream. SUCKKS

2009-04-06 16:00

haha esl n/c

2009-04-06 16:06

And what are they going to do when the stream is overloaded etc?

2009-04-06 16:21

1 reply

maybe they buy another 1gbit connection :D

2009-04-06 16:25

sucks :(

2009-04-06 16:26

esl is fucked up, and full of stupid people who are interested only in money. fuck them... hltv>esl livestream

2009-04-06 16:29

I wonder if ESL will allow embedding of their livestreams like they did a couple of months ago? I can see their point, as obviously they have their sponsors and advertisements during HT breaks from adidas... but saying about catching the atmosphere is a heap of crap.

2009-04-06 16:33

whilst this annoys me greatly, i would rather they take these measures to support their income than for them to close up completely in a few months because they have no money.

2009-04-06 16:34

TRASH! ¬¬

2009-04-06 17:06

Guys don't cry man! It's only on the IFNG (eps germany). 75% of the guys crying and cursing on ESL don't even know what a IFNG is or watched a HLTV of a game from a IFNG. Like p.diddy said: "it's all about the benjamins"

2009-04-06 17:28

1 reply

What do you know, maybe every EM lan too? ESL arranges EM too..

2009-04-06 17:36

HLTV -> Live Stream with stupid commentators! They better make it FULL HQ Quality with no fuckin lagg and it would be OK.

2009-04-06 17:46

i hav a suggestion. In these days can't we pay $1-2 for watching hltv live matches? I mean its not 2 much for us + no. of persons watching hltv is much more than no. of persons watching live stream.So the net profit will be more in case of hltv than live stream for esl. Nixon can u people arrange this for us?

2009-04-06 18:15

And what about hltv demos? Will they record esl matches?

2009-04-06 18:20

ESLOL

2009-04-06 18:48

#108 has very good question, please answer him..

2009-04-06 19:23

will HLTV cover ENC then ? , is coming soon s: ?

2009-04-06 19:23

hm, bad qualitystreams, only good streams for much money, no demos and i can´t choose who i am watching. This really sucks!!!!!!

2009-04-06 19:29

OhMyGod!!! They killed my mind about esl... so bad news... and what about hltv demos? will they be allowed?

2009-04-06 20:17

ESL is over for me. crapy quality, the octoshape system just sux, and they are gonna choose who i want to watch?. Good bye ESL.

2009-04-06 20:18

suck...

2009-04-06 20:36

and who wants to listen to 2 guys speaking german!?! English plz and ppl could watch livestreams with sounds on.

2009-04-06 22:01

they should try live audio broadcast with 90 seconds delay. Then everyone that will run wants somme comment in background. It'll be a simple solution of having hltv without atmosphere of tournament :)

2009-04-07 02:06

Man, I'm disappointed in ESL..

2009-04-07 15:21

ESL was pretty good, but it starts to suck more and more. The main idea was great but its only getting worse. HLTV >>>> STREAM Option to choose kicks ass! ESL SUCKS BaWLS! Think all HLTV lovers should boycot ESL!!!

2009-04-07 19:48