Snute Interview: StarCraft 2 shows a positive upwards trend

We had an opportunity to talk to Jens "Snute" Aasgaard, a Zerg player from Norway who represents Team Liquid.

The interview took place right after Snute’s game with Liquid MaNa in the Knockout bracket of 2019 WCS Spring.

As someone who has been following you for ages, I’m extremely saddened that you went out so early and I won’t dare to ask you how you feel.

(Laughing) It’s ok.

I have a meta question for you. Where are you going out today with Bly? 

Haha! I don’t know yet. He is still busy playing. Today I might just go to the hotel, but tomorrow - we’ll see.

Have you been in Kiev before?

I was here once for WESG, but that tournament didn’t go very well for me, I had a very tough group.

So Kiev is tough on you?

Well, yes. But it’s just my second time here.

What do you think about StarCraft 2 in general throughout 2018 and 2019? Do you find that it grows?

I think, free-to-play made a positive difference, and it should probably have been done a long time ago.

In terms of players actually playing the game and how the unit design is, I think everything is on a slow positive trend upwards. I think the game is becoming better.

In terms of tournaments, I think it’s tough to say. Because we have IEM Katowice, HomeStory Cup, WCS and GSL - the main tournaments are still there; but we don’t really see the type of outside tournaments that we used to see a lot of the time before. That’s a little concerning because if GSL or WCS people decide it’s maybe time to scale down, it could be very negative for the competitive scene.

Blizzard often releases news not too far in advance, it’s usually for one year ahead. It’s very difficult to make plans like that, but, hopefully it will keep on going for a long time for those people who want to keep playing professionally. Even if Blizzard decides not to invest more in the scene than they do know, it will still grow naturally just because esports and gaming is becoming more accepted.

We see various games exploding and growing rapidly, but for StarCraft 2 it’s a special case.

Yet, I think the grassroots of the game - its player base is getting better. I wouldn’t say it’s a very popular game among the younger players, but it’s clear that it’s slowly growing.

I’m not sure what Blizzard is planning in the long run, I hope we will see things like free to play advertisement campaign again.

Our main reoccurring question throughout this event. TotalBiscuit was a true hero of StarCraft 2 who probably did more for this community than anyone else ever will. Do you feel that StarCraft 2 needs another hero like him?

It’s positive to have someone like TotalBiscuit in the scene. There is always a need for more good people. Unfortunately, it’s not something you could create out of thin air either. It just kind of depends on who is there to be that person. At that time, TB was that person.

I think “need” is probably not the right word, but it’s someone who we would all appreciate. And definitely, something that people miss.

Do you think that we have people approaching the status of StarCraft 2 heroes? Even if they are not as big or impactful of TB.

There are a lot of personalities in the scene who carry a lot on their shoulders. And I think it depends on how people define who their hero is.

There are a lot of people in the scene that I appreciate. Overall, It’s a joint effort with everyone keeping the SC2 scene going.

Thank you very much, Snute. I hope you will enjoy your stay in Kiev and next time you come here will be even better!

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