Vitalii "v1lat" Volochai gave an interview to AIN.UA. He told them about creating his new studio called "Maincast", which was the real opponent to RuHub at TI8 Qualifiers. Also he said about investments and plans for the future. I show you translated parts of the interview.
– There are four founders of Maincast. How do you share commitments?
– We have clearly divided spheres of influence, everyone is responsible for something of its own. I am engaged in media: search for products, invent them, attract media people, work with editors, commentators, analysts and all who work for the camera.
Alexander Smogljuk was the main producer of the broadcast in StarLadder for three years, worked with Valve, four years took the place of the main producer of Russian-language broadcast on The International, responsible for this at Kyiv Major. The same place he has in Maincast – behind him the whole technical side, he is the main producer of all the broadcasts.
Aleksey Voronkov is responsible for the tournaments. In July we will start to conduct our own competitions, although only online – offline activities will go later: starting next year we want to make big events, the level of StarLadder, Epicenter and Major.
Andrey "x3m4eg" Grigoriev is our CEO. He has an excellent reputation, a huge base of contacts around the world, great experience. All this help us to get partners, new employees, etc., because everyone is confident in Andrey.
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– I understand that your own money for launching Maincast was not enough. You said in an interview that you have venture investors – the company does not belong to you four?
– No, we do not have much money to run the studio and the tournament operator on our own. And the company does not belong to "25%" each. We have shareholders who helped us to launch Maincast – I can't name them, but these companies are Ukrainian.
– How much do you estimate the investment in the launch of the studio?
– Initial investment in the launch of just one studio part of Maincast was $700,000-800,000. This is for the start. It took a lot of equipment, computers, people's salaries. Fortunately there are people who see the prospects of this industry – cybersport is growing very quickly – and are ready to invest in such projects. Many companies are ready to give cameras, furniture, equipment, etc. In Kiev, this is not a problem at all, I think it would be more difficult to run such a studio in Minsk or Warsaw.
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– The first major tournament is planned for 2019, I think, according to Dota 2. We are negotiating with companies, including Valve.
– If Valve, then immediately the question – are you talking about Major?
– I can not say yet, but yes, we would definitely like to see Minor or Major in Kiev.
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– You said that you would also take English-speaking commentators. What's the idea?
– We want to enter the European market. It, frankly, is empty, there is room for new players.
– Am I correctly understand that in Europe there is a lot of money and few people who can master them?
– Exactly. In Europe, in fact, there are no major studios that can work on the local market. At the same time, there are many talents ready to work and to broadcast content. They sit in England, France, Germany, but no one can put them together. We see how this can be done, and we have a plan for opening an office in, for example, Berlin. And further our tournaments will be commented not by other invited English-language commentators, but by our own employees. It's about permanent employees, not freelancers. In addition, at the expense of such an office, we will be able to represent our interests in Europe.
Want to read full interview in Russian? Click here!
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