Ongamenet Starleague

The Starleague, or the Ongamenet Starleague, (OSL) was a professional South Korean StarCraft individual league run by Ongamenet. It first ran StarCraft: Brood War competitions but transitioned to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty after that games release. The Starleague was broadcast on Korean cable television. The league folded after the 2012 season.

History of Starleague

Starleague started out as a program on Tooniverse, following the immense popularity of StarCraft in Korea, and the success of broadcast-gaming on other Korean channels. In 2000, Starleague was spun off into a gaming-dedicated channel, OnGameNet.

Starleague started out modestly, with a small prize sum and a few cult followers. In its seven-year history, it has evolved into a major sport in Korea, with more viewers than most other professional sports. Recently in the related Proleague finals, 120,000 fans came out to watch the match between SK Telecom T1 and KT Rolster. Finals for Starleague now regularly attract more than 50,000 fans, and viewed nationwide on television by millions. Famous gamers like Lim Yo Hwan (Boxer) have more than 500,000 registered fans. Pro gamers are organized into teams supported by major Korean firms, and prizes, contracts, and endorsements are now huge in comparison to even 3 or 4 years ago.