Nexon Arena

The Nexon Arena (Hangul: 넥슨 아레나) is a dedicated eSports stadium in Seoul, South Korea that hosts events for StarCraft II, League of Legends, and other games. It is owned by Nexon, a South Korean game development company. SPOTV is the main broadcaster at the stadium.[1]

Nexon Arena
Interior view of Nexon Arena in 2015
Location54 Seocho-daero 77-gil, Seocho 4(sa)-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Coordinates37.502573°N 127.024747°E / 37.502573; 127.024747
OwnerNexon
TypeeSports
Capacity436
Opened2013
Website
Official Site

Description

The Nexon Arena is located in the Gangnam area of Seoul and has an area of 1,683m2 and a seating capacity of over 400 people. The stadium has a stage with five-person and single-person sound proof booths where the players play while the game is shown on a large screen above the main stage.[2] Events are generally free and open to the public.

History

The Nexon Arena first opened in late 2013 and is the first dedicated eSports stadium built by a game developer.[2] After the conclusion of the 2013 FIFA Online 3 league, it was announced that the Nexon Arena would be opening, featuring events for StarCraft II and FIFA Online 3.[1] In 2014, OnGameNet transferred broadcasting rights of Proleague to SPOTV and it was broadcast with the Adidas Championship as the first leagues to be played at the new studio.

Dota 2 was added to KeSPA's supported eSports in 2014 and thus the Korean Dota 2 League was created. Four seasons were played and broadcast from the Nexon Arena.[3]

In 2015, the StarCraft II StarLeague was created as the second individual StarCraft II league in Korea with events being broadcast from the stadium[4] Later that year, the International eSports Federation held the E-Sports World Championship 2015 in Korea and used the Nexon Arena as the main venue for the events.[5] A retirement ceremony was also held a few weeks later for Lee "Flash" Young-ho, one of the most popular StarCraft Terran players, when he announced that he would be ending his progaming career.[6]

After obtaining rights to broadcast League of Legends in 2016, games of League of Legends Champions Korea were played and broadcast from the Nexon Arena.[7] KeSPA announced at the end of the 2016 season of Proleague that the league would be discontinued, ending the broadcasts and leaving the StarCraft II StarLeague the lone StarCraft event broadcast at the Nexon Arena.

In 2018, Nexon Arena was chosen as the South Korean venue for the Hearthstone Championship Tour.[8]

Games

Active

Discontinued

References
  1. "드디어 밝혀진 '넥슨 e스포츠 스타디움', 강남 중심가에 위치해" [Newly Announced "Nexon Arena Stadium" Will Be in Gangnam] (in Korean). December 19, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  2. "Nexon Opens First Dedicated e-Sports Stadium in Gaming Industry". December 30, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  3. "코리아 도타2 리그 출범, 티어 시스템 도입!" [Korea Dota 2 League Created, Tier System Introduction] (in Korean). January 23, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  4. "2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series". October 31, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  5. "Everything You Wanted to Know About the 7th International eSports Federation World Championship". December 1, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  6. "'굿바이 이영호' 스포티비 게임즈, 이영호 은퇴식 생중계" [Goodbye Flash, SPOTV Games Retirement Ceremony Live Coverage] (in Korean). December 15, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  7. "Champions Civil War: SPOTV vs. OGN". May 20, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  8. "HCT Seoul: Hearthstone in the Capital City of Esports!". Blizzard Entertainment. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
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