Activision Blizzard is "apparently adding more firepower to its e-sports arsenal," as the video game maker has reportedly shelled out $46M "for pretty much all the assets of Major League Gaming," according to Edward Moyer of CNET. The MLG BOD reportedly "approved the sale during a special meeting" on Dec. 21. The move "follows Activision Blizzard's formation this past October of a new unit focused on e-sports," which took on former MLG President & co-Founder Mike Sepso as Senior VP. The news is "yet another sign of how hot eSports have become." Electronic Arts last month "launched a new initiative to help create global matches around its biggest games," such as "Madden NFL" and the soccer game "FIFA" (CNET.com, 1/3). IGN's Nicole Carpenter noted MLG co-Founder & CEO Sundance DiGiovanni has "reportedly been replaced" by former MLG CFO Greg Chisholm. There is "no official announcement" on how the MLG buyout "will affect the company, though it seems to be in good hands." Activision Blizzard recently appointed former ESPN and NFL Network CEO Steve Bornstein as Chair of its new e-sports division (IGN.com, 1/1).
ON THE RISE: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Fisher & Thomas note EA's new e-sports division, the Competitive Gaming Division under COO Peter Moore, will "begin to more fully take shape later this year." EA’s decision to create the CGD is "hardly surprising." The latter half of '15 was "marked by a large and historic sweep of other activity in the burgeoning e-sports space." E-sports’ elevation to the industry big leagues "raises several crucial questions that will go far in defining its direction." Fisher & Thomas: "Will the infusion of major dollars and corporate interest compromise what made e-sports so popular in the first place? Will e-sports become something akin to Facebook, a large and successful operation that nonetheless doesn’t have the same cachet among young consumers it once did? And as e-sports gets positioned to mass, mainstream audiences, how will it be presented in a way understandable to those not already versed in video gaming?" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/4 issue).
