The GSL Code S Group B games were broadcast today. Non-subscribers of the GSL Twitch channel could only view the live stream at low quality. This is a problem.

Let’s start with how it looks at low quality.

It’s unwatchable. I could not tell what happened in a TvZ engagement between MarineKing and Soulkey. I walked away from the PC after 15 minutes. If a Starcraft lover like me cannot withstand the low quality of the stream, there is no chance to attract new viewers. No chance.

It is so bad that I cannot tell what the units are in a group and how many are there.

It was arguably worse in 2010 when GSL just started. You had to have Gom Player installed in order to watch the games. It did not always work, and the quality was comparable to what I saw today.

However, there is a different expectation in 2015. Further, by the broadcasting rule of Blizzard, a premium WCS events should provide free 720p to the live viewers. Based on what was mentioned by some Redditors, it was actually 360p. This is unacceptable.

I can understand the need to generate revenue to make it sustainable, but I believe GomEXP should comply with the official broadcasting requirement of Blizzard. The number of subscribers per minute was obviously higher today, but it probably does more harm in the long term.

Most importantly, the consumers care. It is heavily discussed on Reddit.

Someone commented that “if they give zero fuck, we give zero buck.” I will use #0fuck0buck whenever I tag #GSL until this issue is addressed.

Anyway, here is an alternative solution. Download the GomEXP app. It is in Korean, but you should not have problem to access the live stream and vods. It is available for both iOS and Android.