NASL bids farewell to Starcraft 2, Blizzard, and the WCS

NASL Starcraft 2 Blizzard

The North American Star League have announced they’re parting ways with Blizzard and will no longer support competitive Starcraft 2 and the World Championship Series.

“Alas, fate has scouted our fast expand, and our time broadcasting StarCraft has come to an end,” the team write. “To all of our partners, sponsors, friends, and especially our fans, thank you.”

Founded in 2011 by Russell Pfister and Duncan Stewart, the NASL sought to bring the competitive Starcraft scene from Korea over to the US. In their first year they ran two seasons of matches, securing a set of sponsors by the start of the second.

“In 2012,” write NASL, “our team expanded, and we began a long term commitment to improving our production quality, streamlining broadcasts, and creating engaging content. In so doing, we showcased the lighter side of StarCraft eSports with numerous segments and events like the NASL Sunday ShowDown. We also fell in love with Canada.

“Our passion continued in 2013. With the professional StarCraft II landscape evolving, the team decided to push our creativity in a new direction, and we launched The Pulse, a live eSports talk show rich with prepared highlights, interviews, and other segments.”

This expansion was met by an offer of partnership from Blizzard: NASL became the official US partner for the Starcraft II World Championship Series. “We were elated,” the team say. “After all, the company was founded on a love for StarCraft, and Blizzard has always been a wonderful partner. Albeit busy with other projects, the team rolled up our sleeves, added to the family, and expanded the studio so that we could deliver exceptional daily StarCraft II broadcasts once again.”

The farewell post doesn’t go into details of why the league is parting ways with Starcraft. Nor does it say what it’s plans for streaming Heroes of Newerth are, whether it will continue or that, too, is coming to an end. The focus on expansion in the summary of their history suggests the team might have overgrown its demand but the truth will likely come out in the coming months.