The WCG event is organized and held by International Cyber Marketing (ICM), headed by the South Korean business expert Hyoung Seok Kim. His former employer was Samsung, where he worked in several key divisions, developing audio and video equipment promotion strategies and trying to get the maximum from Samsungs sponsorship during the Sidney Olympic Games. In his interview to the BOLSHOI Sport magazine, ICM President tells how he is going to press FIFA and the IOC and what cyber sport will turn into in ten years. 

All gamers know what the WCG is but not all of them are aware that there is your company behind these Games. What are its tasks and reasons for establishment? 

ICMs main task is to conduct the World Cyber Games most successfully and strengthen the brand worldwide. I think we are doing it well. The company was established in 2000 and has been constantly growing since then. The number of the tournaments participants is increasing, more regional contests are being held. The other task of ours is to attract as many sponsors among IT and electronics companies as possible. It is done to make the Games stand out of the common line, i.e. we make the event and try to put everything in it. If speaking about our ambitions, we want to make the WCG as large an event as the Olympic Games and the World Football Championship are. In this case, ICM will become comparable to FIFA and the IOC, and e-sport will get its own Olympic Games.

Would you like PC games to be added to the Olympic program?

Yes and no. PC games can be represented at the Beijing Olympic Games, but ICM does not depend on the International Olympic Committee, our project develops not in the framework of the established sports infrastructure, but independently. It is clear that PC games are not a sport in its traditional meaning, not football or volleyball, but still they are games, so we can speak about e-sport or cyber sport. And the most pleasant about it is that it eliminates borders – Russians, Koreans and Americans can easily meet in a battle without leaving their homes. It is impossible in a usual sport; the usual sport has a much more limited area of operation.

How do the events like the World Cyber Games rank in the global game industry, will it be true to say that the tournament depends on the industrys interests?

Frankly speaking, we do not want to just organize PC game contests, we will make a whole digital entertainment festival. Participants and guests must have fun, both we and our sponsors want it. Of course, the WCG event contributes to game development, production and release, but our own product is fun. In this sense, we are a part of the entertainment industry.

Generations in cyber sport are changing faster than in usual sport, no to say of usual life. You constantly have to deal with new people. How does this fact affect the WCG and business interests of your sponsors?

The coming of new people does not imply that old ones vanish. Those, whom we call teenagers or young people, are gradually growing older. Once, they will become leaders in the society. I would say that a remarkable inflow will occur in the nearest decade. And the WCG event is held specially for them. Today, PC games are commonly considered as an entertainment for the young, but the fan pool will be quite different both in size and composition in 10 years. The age ceiling will get much higher, prosperous grown-ups will see games as a part of their lives. And the WCG will become really an important event.

ICM holds qualifying competitions in all participating countries. The impression is that the WCG will soon equal the World Football Championship in costs with such a worldwide spread.

Not exactly. We have partners and sponsors in each country, thats why ICM spent about $7 million on organizing the WCG stages and the Monza Grand Final in particular. I can not specify these expenses, but here are some figures directly concerning gamers. The prize pool was $462,000. South Korea received $40,000 as the winning country with the largest number of medals won. This sum must be spent on creating or strengthening a team that will represent this country in the future.

The largest prize sums were in Counter-Strike. The gold - $60,000, the silver - $30,000, the bronze - $15,000. For comparison, the gold, silver and bronze medal winners in Starcraft got $25, 10 and 8 thousand, respectively. And, for example, in Dead or Alive, the prize sums were $15, 8 and 4 thousand.

A huge number of PC games are built around violence and sex. How do you find a balance between the games popularity and universal ethical norms? Is there any game censorship at the WCG?

The event program is the starting point for us. In 2006, the program included only 8 games, though hundreds of new games appear in the market every month. Of course, games with plenty of sex and violence scenes are very popular, and if we had wanted to boost the audience and profits, we would have included them in the program. But we are dealing with the young generation, thats why such games are banned in our tournament. Our task is to make a good festival and provide a fair play. And as for violence in such games as Counter-Strike, the manufacturers meet our wishes and remove the most shocking and bloody scenes. After all, when we announce this or that game included in the WCG program, we make good advertising for this game. I can not say their sales growth figures, it is the companies in-house information, but Electronic Arts, Blizzard and others enthusiastically support us, and it is clear that the sponsors that directly finance the WCG can also profit in a way. Thats why there are no problems at the negotiations, as a rule.