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Team-aAa : Hello Jean-Christophe, so CS 1.6 will be kicked from the EPS ? What are the reasons behind that decision ?
Jean-Christophe "Lobo" Arnaud : Let's face it : Yes, CS will disapear from the EPS. Its with a heavy heart that we took that decision, believe me. Already from the previous EPS season, we started what happends today by reducing the 1.6 Cash compared to Source for example. Its very difficult since this is the game that has launched the ESL France 7 years ago. I can remember the night spent to grab the 1.6 players mails from Clanbase in order to mail them and make them register in Ladders, or even the chats on mIRC channels to convince them that the ESL, this new league, will give them far more than CB.  

From 0 members, the ESL France reached 22.000 within 1 year, mainly CS players. The first EPS were featuring 1.6 and for a long time, CS remains The game of the ESL France, with its young brothers CZ then Source. It was also of of the most stable Community in the eSport field, with unforgettable names, anthology matches and Clans and structures that are still on the Scene. But there are multiples reasons that drove us to abandon CS in our EPS.

The game, in the ESL France, is lacking of activity, less and les matchs are played and old gamers are not replaced by new one. New games play Source or Call of Duty, we are facing it all days. People change, when they were yelling if they didn't get their CRT 100hz in finals, other came and accept to play on  LCD... because they don't even knew CRT. Yes, its aging us a lot. And this age, CS is living it at the moment. Some says that CS won't be anymore profitable and that the ESL, huge Capitalism Satan, is abandoning it for that reason. Its false, the proove is that we still have hundreds of Premium 1.6 gamers playing in our leagues  (Ladders, EAS, tourneys, etc) and that we are still taking that decision.

The truth is that CS has live long enough and that new games are coming, games with bigger Communities, more motivated and with different ambitions.

 

Why did you wait that much time to announce it officially ? Did CS had a chance, even small, to survive one additionnal season ?
We could have give one more season to the King 1.6, but after debating that subject internaly for weeks, we have choose a simple and quick removal instead of a second humiliated retrogradation (in Supported Pro-Series for example, with even less Cash). There was no particular will to announce that sad news so lately. It was more a internal thinking, about teh Community, the Game, its future, etc. Choosing was long and you always find a good reason to postponed a painfull subject. With the coming EPS launch, we had to make the choice, as painfull it was.

 

Is there really a chance to see CS in EPS XI for example ? Or we will have it in one or two SPS season before disapearing fully  ?
Honestly, I don't think that CS 1.6 will ever come back in the french EPS. I even think that CS is living its last years in terms of eSport. CS will be maybe in IEM 2012, we don't know if it will last after that season. But we could be wrong. The german scene of 1.6 is strong and well structurated and will maybe allow the game to live some more seasons, but in shorts/middle terms, the game will disappear.

 

Naruto is coming, CS disapear, what are the new objectives of the ESL ? What are you planning to please the 1.6 Community ? Is there any FPS that will be able to replace temporarily CS in your opinion  ?
Naruto's coming is not correlated with the removal of CS 1.6. We even decide its coming before thinking to definitly remove CS from the EPS. To replace CS, we need a popular FPS. That's all. This is why CS came and that's also why he will disapear. Telling a name seems difficult to me, because CoD are chaging each year (even if the Communuty is finally following it opus after opus). Battlefield will be also a good candidate, but its longevity is a problem. We need to give time to a Game in order to create a Community, some Stars, some Matchs that we will talk in parties, somes LANs that we will remind with pleasure as players or spectatorsin order to say that it will be the next CS.

 

Some are loudly claiming a new Counter-Strike mode, a new version that will gather the two old Communities 1.6 and Source. Do you think that Promod could play that role one day or do you belive also, like M. Arbalet or  Na`Vi's Coach, that its up to Valve to create that new FPS ?
To be honest, even Source is outdated, graphically speaking. Promod is a praiseworthy initiative, and even CS was originally a mod, but the lack of support of the development team is real. Regarding releases date and development support. Promod is not bad, but he has too much competitors. he could become popular and will have its chance if Source and 1.6 servers will disappear from Steam. Mods are working, the proove is DOTA for example, that was built on Warcraft3 engine, like CS for Half-Life.

 

Valve has created a really profitable product; Steam. They are true Game Developpers and with money and their Suprises habits, they could maybe create something nice. This is at least what I hope. Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal; they are good at FPS, just need to wait. Fingercross !

 

Some players are whining about the late payment of their EPS Cash prizes, and we can notice that  Extreme Masters are offering several thousand less Cash than past years. ESL is facing a crysis or its a new way to manage the Cash prize offered to the Gamers ?

2009 was a hard year for everyone and for the eSport field also. This year leave traces. Time were  Sponsors were giving money without really waiting for retuns is over now. For now, only ROI count (Return On Investment) and each euro spent must be justified. Each time that we are investing 1 euro, we should be sure that it serves to promote eSport in general and particularily ESL. Late payment are a bad consequence of short liquidities, sadly for almost 2 years.

With that said,  France or ESL Germany have always payed their Cash Prizes. Always. As far as I remember, we had 7 months late to the most over our french Cash Prizes.

 

For you, does StarCraft 2 changed a lot of things in the eSport since its release or not ? And if yes, these modifications are good for everyone or just a temporary fashion ?
Starcraft 2 is a bless. We were waiting it with impatience, but it overpassed all our expectancies. It seems that everyone was patiently waiting for it 12 years ;) Everyday, we are managing to organize one ESL event over the title ! Well played, SC2 is gifted with Blizzard support, that do really understand what eSport is and  SC2 has a wonderfull capacity to be interesting to watch has spectator, like a soccer match. The 2011 trend about Video Contents reinforce the SC2 presence on webTV and we were able to see its fame during our last EPS seasons when the crowd was in front of our booth to watch the Finals. A crowd that was bigger that those who was gathering fans and spectators of the EPS 1.6 playoffs, by the way.

To end on a more positive tone, if we are removing 1.6 from our official ESL Pro-Series disciplines, it doesn't mean that we will never organize CS 1.6 event. For example, we have planned to give nice hardware prizes for EAS Div1, and probably Qualifications for the next IEM season.

Hail to the King !