Blizzard Introduces Balanced WCS Prize Pool in Response to IEM

In response to IEM Katowice’s $100,000 winner-take-all StarCraft 2 tournament, Blizzard has announced plans to patch its 2014 World Championship Series to have a new “balanced” prize pool.

The controversial payout structure will give every WCS player the same prize money regardless of finish and dependent on the league they qualify for: all Premiere League players will receive $5,000 and all Challenger League players will receive $10,000.

Blizzard officials were unworried about criticism that giving more money to the lesser league may encourage players to throw matches.

“With all the imbalance complaints lately, we felt that this was the best way to balance the prizes,” said David Kim, lead balance designer. “Now all players will win money at the same rate regardless of whether they pick Terran, Protoss, or Zerg.”

The news comes as a disappointment to Korean players like Yun “TaeJa” Young Seo and Choi “Polt” Seong Hun, both of whom find it extremely difficult to lose in WCS North America.

“I want the extra prize money from Challenger,” said Polt, who recently acquired a US athlete visa. “But it is almost impossible for me to drop from Premiere to Challenger in this region.”

The announcement has also dramatically altered the dialogue between professional players and Blizzard, who are now seeing progamers actively campaign against their own race.

“Swarm hosts produce exciting games but are too easy to win against,” said Protoss player Jang “MC” Min Chul. “I think they need a buff.”

Some players strongly support the change. Ryan “State” Visbeck, who had just recently moved to Korea to compete in GSL, believes Blizzard should take the prize restructuring one step further.

“Maybe WCS should give $20,000 to those that fail to qualify for Code A,” said State. “That would really help me, err help foreigners who are competing in Korea.”

Blizzard currently has no plans in place to combat the wider foreigner-Korean prize imbalance.