More discussion took place on Reddit here and here.
Chuddinater, who works for KeSPA, stated that the organizers of WEC had never actually contacted the teams or players in the first place, and had simply released the bracket hoping they would show up. A translated post from the NeoTV forums had a different story: in it the tournament organizer claimed that the teams had originally agreed to play in the tournament, then later backed out after KeSPA expressed concerns about the legitimacy and funding of the tournament.
Either way, at this point it seems unlikely that KeSPA players will be participating... but in the grand tradition of eSports, everyone is now trying to figure out whos fault it is.
lichter's edit: According to our sources, there was no agreement between KeSPA and WEC on which players were participating. However, they are currently negotiating who to send, if they can come to an agreement. But the current list is wrong, so wait for more news. I have renamed the thread to reflect this.
More:
On August 06 2014 20:12 digmouse wrote:
A message from xiaose, well-known Chinese Starcraft caster and organizer presentative for WEC Starcraft event, who asked me to relay the message to Teamliquid and r/starcraft:
"I‘m the caster who is in charge of arranging the player list, there is no reason for me to 'fake a roster and wait for the players to come', I do have all the confirmations from the participating teams and players, thus I submitted the roster. The organizer did sent email to KeSPA and confirmed that it is a Blizzard sanctioned event but KeSPA ultimately ignored it, and furthermore notify that their teams will not be playing. I understand KeSPA's concerns, but please pay respect to the truth, don't lie, don't try to escape responsibility. All in all, I am only a caster and an avid Starcraft player, all I want is great Starcraft games, I don't have any personal gain in this."
EDIT: also on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/2cra3z/kespa_killing_esports/cjiek5d
A message from xiaose, well-known Chinese Starcraft caster and organizer presentative for WEC Starcraft event, who asked me to relay the message to Teamliquid and r/starcraft:
"I‘m the caster who is in charge of arranging the player list, there is no reason for me to 'fake a roster and wait for the players to come', I do have all the confirmations from the participating teams and players, thus I submitted the roster. The organizer did sent email to KeSPA and confirmed that it is a Blizzard sanctioned event but KeSPA ultimately ignored it, and furthermore notify that their teams will not be playing. I understand KeSPA's concerns, but please pay respect to the truth, don't lie, don't try to escape responsibility. All in all, I am only a caster and an avid Starcraft player, all I want is great Starcraft games, I don't have any personal gain in this."
EDIT: also on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/2cra3z/kespa_killing_esports/cjiek5d
mod edit #2: Official statement from KeSPA added.
On August 07 2014 09:23 Chuddinater wrote:
A lineup was released yesterday for the World E-Sport Championships (WEC) Korean qualifiers that listed many of our players. Fans were excited to see the top players in the world compete and there was a lot of disappointment. I would like to give the fans some insight into the situation.
Yesterday I posted that WEC did not contact teams or KeSPA, which I admit was not the best words to use. WEC contacted us once requesting players and we responded by asking for more information regarding the tournament and communication broke down from there. They never sent us the requested information and we never came to an agreement to send players. We never agreed to send players and their list was false.
We investigated WEC ourselves with the help of the IeSF, International e-Sports Federation, and the China General Sports Administration, who is the governing body of e-Sports in China. Because of past Chinese tournaments KeSPA had made a policy to not take requests from tournaments in China unless they are recognized by the China General Sports Administration. WEC is not a recognized tournament in China, so we will not work with them. We made this policy in order to protect our players after past Chinese tournaments that failed to come through with what they had offered as well as our players having terrible conditions at the event. We cannot in good faith send our players to an event that we are unsure of their finances as well as the quality of the event.
Also KeSPA will not work with any tournament or organizer that will not go through proper channels and procedures. They decided to try and navigate around us and contacted the players directly. We will not work with an organization that will try to circumvent the procedures we have in place.
I know all of the fans were very excited to watch the WEC Korean qualifiers and I am sorry to have to disappoint you. However, in September the KeSPA Cup will be held with all the top KeSPA players and players around the World.
A lineup was released yesterday for the World E-Sport Championships (WEC) Korean qualifiers that listed many of our players. Fans were excited to see the top players in the world compete and there was a lot of disappointment. I would like to give the fans some insight into the situation.
Yesterday I posted that WEC did not contact teams or KeSPA, which I admit was not the best words to use. WEC contacted us once requesting players and we responded by asking for more information regarding the tournament and communication broke down from there. They never sent us the requested information and we never came to an agreement to send players. We never agreed to send players and their list was false.
We investigated WEC ourselves with the help of the IeSF, International e-Sports Federation, and the China General Sports Administration, who is the governing body of e-Sports in China. Because of past Chinese tournaments KeSPA had made a policy to not take requests from tournaments in China unless they are recognized by the China General Sports Administration. WEC is not a recognized tournament in China, so we will not work with them. We made this policy in order to protect our players after past Chinese tournaments that failed to come through with what they had offered as well as our players having terrible conditions at the event. We cannot in good faith send our players to an event that we are unsure of their finances as well as the quality of the event.
Also KeSPA will not work with any tournament or organizer that will not go through proper channels and procedures. They decided to try and navigate around us and contacted the players directly. We will not work with an organization that will try to circumvent the procedures we have in place.
I know all of the fans were very excited to watch the WEC Korean qualifiers and I am sorry to have to disappoint you. However, in September the KeSPA Cup will be held with all the top KeSPA players and players around the World.