Husky, one of the pioneers of SC2 esports, has seemingly closed his YouTube channel.
Husky gained notoriety during the SC2 Beta when he hosted the HDH Invitational. The HDH Invitational could be considered the most influential pre-release tournament and introduced a plethora of fans to Starcraft 2. Husky produced a lot of content while he was active and in particular produced the 'Bronze League Heroes' series.
Some of Husky's content lives on through other channels on YouTube. For instance, Pylo the Pylon Song:
Husky moved away from producing Starcraft content roughly 5 years ago as he moved into a managing/director/producer role for Rosanna Pansino.
Update: August 14th
Husky has posted an ominous "Soon" message to his facebook.
husky was an awesome entry point to pro starcraft. it's a little harder to watch his casts now that i know more about the game, but he was a lot of fun and brought a lot of positivity to SC which i think it sorely lacks these days.
anyway, because i know they're coming, can we skip the dumb posts where people call him a "traitor" for not "updating his fans on his career" or whatever? or does every thread have to be about shitting on something?
It is a sad day. Remember watching him casting some BW and saying that he would continue casting even if no one was which content, since he enjoyed it so much.
Anyway thanks for the enjoyable times back in 2009/2010/2011 Husky!
On August 13 2018 19:46 Garbels wrote: I don't know anything about the youtube sphere. What would be the point of closing a channel? Is there a lot of upkeep(work) or legal worries?
Some people have speculated that in light of recent events over the last several years he may have felt like some of his old videos could possibly have contained some kind of liability, anything that he would not want to be associated with anymore. He was a very big YouTube gaming channel at the time - something that people in the post-Pewdiepie era might not realize - but his girlfriend's channel which he's managing and whose shows he's producing is much bigger. The speculation is that he wouldn't want the risk of it being jeopardized by some disgruntled troll with too much time on their hands finding an instance from 2010 of this immature nerd dude having said something in one of his silly SC videos that could be considered questionable by today's (in this case today is a hypothetical near future) standards.
On August 13 2018 19:48 brickrd wrote: husky was an awesome entry point to pro starcraft. it's a little harder to watch his casts now that i know more about the game, but he was a lot of fun and brought a lot of positivity to SC which i think it sorely lacks these days.
anyway, because i know they're coming, can we skip the dumb posts where people call him a "traitor" for not "updating his fans on his career" or whatever? or does every thread have to be about shitting on something?
Well luckily this is TeamLiquid where the staff have some standards, not /r/starcraft where that iBleedorange imbecile even joined in the dogpile against Husky instead of doing his job as a moderator.
On August 13 2018 19:48 brickrd wrote: husky was an awesome entry point to pro starcraft. it's a little harder to watch his casts now that i know more about the game, but he was a lot of fun and brought a lot of positivity to SC which i think it sorely lacks these days.
anyway, because i know they're coming, can we skip the dumb posts where people call him a "traitor" for not "updating his fans on his career" or whatever? or does every thread have to be about shitting on something?
The fact is the guy didn't even say good bye to his community and fans, I never really followed him or cared but it seems to me very disrespectful by him.
But seriously it's kind of a strange move to erase all of his video, I can't see even the trolliest of troll giving a shit about the husband of a youtube semi-celebrity, nothing against her she's having a big succes but she dosen't seems nearly big enough to have to worry about a "scandal" comming from so far away from her. Anyhow he/they probably know best and he does what he want with his creation.
On August 13 2018 20:25 Nakajin wrote: In other news: Slayer Yugioh anounce retirement
But seriously it's kind of a strange move to erase all of his video, I can't see even the trolliest of troll giving a shit about the husband of a youtube semi-celebrity, nothing against her she's having a big succes but she dosen't seems nearly big enough to have to worry about a "scandal" comming from so far away from her. Anyhow he/they probably know best and he does what he want with his creation.
Man I agree that it seems like a strange move and don't even necessarily believe it's for the best, but to be honest your post seems a little bit out of touch with the reality of YouTube (and Twitch but that isn't directly relevant here) nowadays.
Not even nowadays. It seems no one remember orb anymore, he was a streamer back in Wings of Liberty, not pro level but better at the game than a lot of the casters at the time who tried his hand at casting some Korean online tournaments (ESV Weekly maybe? doesn't matter). Anyway he was fairly small fry even compared to Rotti and Khaldor at the time, only a few hundred concurrent viewers before he became part of the official ESV cast. And then someone dug up some VODs from his personal stream where he raged in-game and said some fairly offensive things and that's all it took for his prospects as a caster or SC content creator to be over. Not saying it was undeserved, but it's something that happened within our very own community, to someone who was literally thousands of times less relevant than Husky by any conceivable metric.
When you're a YouTube channel that gets tens of millions of views every week, the risk is a lot greater. Hell with some of the comments I've seen regarding this (and on past occasions) on /r/starcraft I'm almost more inclined to side with him, we have some really fucked up, entitled and frankly disgusting people here and there in our community. Not to mention every single caster in this scene has been shit on at some point, either for not being good enough at the game (lol) or for daring to try out and play other games (double lol).
But yeah more to address your actual post, there have been tons of YouTubers and streamers who got harassed and doxxed for very little despite having had much smaller fanbases. Hell one of Husky's own friends some 5 or 6 years back had a problem with an obsessive stalker trying to harass her in all sorts of ways simply because she was a woman and he had a crush on her.
On August 13 2018 20:25 Nakajin wrote: In other news: Slayer Yugioh anounce retirement
But seriously it's kind of a strange move to erase all of his video, I can't see even the trolliest of troll giving a shit about the husband of a youtube semi-celebrity, nothing against her she's having a big succes but she dosen't seems nearly big enough to have to worry about a "scandal" comming from so far away from her. Anyhow he/they probably know best and he does what he want with his creation.
Man I agree that it seems like a strange move and don't even necessarily believe it's for the best, but to be honest your post seems a little bit out of touch with the reality of YouTube (and Twitch but that isn't directly relevant here) nowadays.
Not even nowadays. It seems no one remember orb anymore, he was a streamer back in Wings of Liberty, not pro level but better at the game than a lot of the casters at the time who tried his hand at casting some Korean online tournaments (ESV Weekly maybe? doesn't matter). Anyway he was fairly small fry even compared to Rotti and Khaldor at the time, only a few hundred concurrent viewers before he became part of the official ESV cast. And then someone dug up some VODs from his personal stream where he raged in-game and said some fairly offensive things and that's all it took for his prospects as a caster or SC content creator to be over. Not saying it was undeserved, but it's something that happened within our very own community, to someone who was literally thousands of times less relevant than Husky by any conceivable metric.
When you're a YouTube channel that gets tens of millions of views every week, the risk is a lot greater. Hell with some of the comments I've seen regarding this (and on past occasions) on /r/starcraft I'm almost more inclined to side with him, we have some really fucked up, entitled and frankly disgusting people here and there in our community. Not to mention every single caster in this scene has been shit on at some point, either for not being good enough at the game (lol) or for daring to try out and play other games (double lol).
But yeah more to address your actual post, there have been tons of YouTubers and streamers who got harassed and doxxed for very little despite having had much smaller fanbases. Hell one of Husky's own friends some 5 or 6 years back had a problem with an obsessive stalker trying to harass her in all sorts of ways simply because she was a woman and he had a crush on her.
Ya I probably should not have to much faith in the internet
We just gonna be quiet on the fact that the community crucified him because some people didn't like his casting and people started online petitions to keep him from casting at premier events. The community treated him like garbage and he got out at the first good opportunity. Good man.
Considering the age of his channel content, he probably wasn't making any more money on it so it only exists as a liability. Closing the channel is the only logical decision.
Haters gonna hate, but Husky was good for Starcraft 2.
On August 13 2018 20:54 GreasedUpDeafGuy wrote: We just gonna be quiet on the fact that the community crucified him because some people didn't like his casting and people started online petitions to keep him from casting at premier events. The community treated him like garbage and he got out at the first good opportunity. Good man.
So much this lol, the community threw garbage even on skilled eSports professionals like djWHEAT and ReDeYe who had been doing this at the highest level long before the stupid teens on /r/starcraft had ever heard of eSports (don't forget most of these problematic fans never actually played or followed Brood War, never forget this fact). Why? Because they were Gold in-game and not Diamond, or because they dared to also cast other games which is simply part of their job description.
It's really one of the most entitled and childish communities out there when you view it from this lens, and again I can't stress enough that the people who are the most toxic and vocal about these issues are also the ones who ironically enough belong here the least, certainly less than the people they try so desperately to disparage.
On August 13 2018 19:48 brickrd wrote: husky was an awesome entry point to pro starcraft. it's a little harder to watch his casts now that i know more about the game, but he was a lot of fun and brought a lot of positivity to SC which i think it sorely lacks these days.
anyway, because i know they're coming, can we skip the dumb posts where people call him a "traitor" for not "updating his fans on his career" or whatever? or does every thread have to be about shitting on something?
The fact is the guy didn't even say good bye to his community and fans, I never really followed him or cared but it seems to me very disrespectful by him.
It's common sense.
There exists a climate of fear today in which you can be crucified for breaking rules that didn't exist when you broke them.
Husky made his 2010 content by 2010 rules, but that doesn't shield him from being judged by post #metoo standards, where an off-colour joke can ruin is his career (see Al Franken). He's still active as a manager, so I imagine he just can't be bothered to deal with the headache of a shrieking hate-mob going at him because he made a mildly offensive joke in one of his videos nearly a decade ago.
Look at TB, even his In Memoriam thread wasn't safe from hateful little trolls who are still upset because he didn't 100% distance himself from some nerds who were mean to a woman once.
On August 13 2018 20:54 GreasedUpDeafGuy wrote: We just gonna be quiet on the fact that the community crucified him because some people didn't like his casting and people started online petitions to keep him from casting at premier events. The community treated him like garbage and he got out at the first good opportunity. Good man.
So much this lol, the community threw garbage even on skilled eSports professionals like djWHEAT and ReDeYe who had been doing this at the highest level long before the stupid teens on /r/starcraft had ever heard of eSports (don't forget most of these problematic fans never actually played or followed Brood War, never forget this fact). Why? Because they were Gold in-game and not Diamond, or because they dared to also cast other games which is simply part of their job description.
It's really one of the most entitled and childish communities out there when you view it from this lens, and again I can't stress enough that the people who are the most toxic and vocal about these issues are also the ones who ironically enough belong here the least, certainly less than the people they try so desperately to disparage.
You know, when I saw this thread I half expected it to be filled with comments about him being a piece of shit. I always liked him back in the beta and I thought it sucked how he was treated. I'm glad it sounds like he found something that's working out for him. The first time I saw SlayerS_BoxeR playing SC2 was on his channel and it got me STOKED for the upcoming SC2 pro scene in Korea. I even remember wishing that Tastosis was a bit more entertaining like Husky in the early days (does anyone else remember how tragically lost Tasteless seemed for like the first year of GSL?).
Anyway, I seriously wish this guy all the best. Him closing his channel is a shame, but I trust he has a reason that makes sense to him and that's all I need.
Husky and HD kinda disappeared.. was really weird to see them just leave without much of a goodbye. IIRC HDstarcraft just stopped posting videos in the middle of a series, just said i'l see you next time for game 3 and didn't come back