Global StarCraft II League
Global StarCraft II League (GSL) is a StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void tournament held in South Korea from 2010 to the present. It has been hosted by afreecaTV since 2016; GOMeXp (formerly GOMTV) hosted it from 2010–2015. Blizzard Entertainment was involved in co-producing and co-funding it for much of its history, although their involvement reduced in later years. For the first two years of the tournament, it featured two leagues, Code S (major) and Code A (minor); afterward it ran as a single combined tournament.
| Sport | eSports (StarCraft II) |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 2010 |
| CEO | Jung Chan Yong |
| Country | South Korea |
| Most recent champion(s) | Cho "Maru" Seong Ju |
| Most titles | Cho "Maru" Seong Ju (8 titles) |
| Official website | https://bj.afreecatv.com/gslenglish |
An English language stream is available, aimed at a global audience. The English cast was mainly performed by Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott until 2022; in 2023, it switched to Tasteless and Ryan "State" Visbeck. Early broadcasts were done on GOMTV's website and player; it switched to Twitch and Afreeca's own platform after Afreeca took over; and the program now broadcasts on Mondays and Thursdays, with the English casts on YouTube, since 2020. In 2023, it was reported that the GSL will continue, but with a reduced presence: the first tournament in 2023 played the preliminary matches online, presumably due to Blizzard no longer funding the prize pools. They reversed the decision to move early round matches online after the conclusion of the first season, and restored the event to the studio for the later 2023 seasons.
As of the end of 2015 GSL Season 2, GOMTV has given away over 3.6 billion Korean won (over $3.1 million USD) from the individual GSL and Arena of Legends leagues in StarCraft II.