SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced the acquisition of the business of Major League Gaming (MLG). MLG is a leader in creating and streaming premium live gaming events, organizing professional competitions and running competitive gaming leagues. The acquisition expands Activision Blizzard’s reach across the rapidly-growing esports ecosystem by adding proven live streaming capabilities and technologies to the Activision Blizzard Media Networks division, led by former ESPN CEO Steve Bornstein and MLG Co-founder Mike Sepso.

Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard, said, “Our acquisition of Major League Gaming’s business furthers our plans to create the ESPN of esports. MLG’s ability to create premium content and its proven broadcast technology platform – including its live streaming capabilities – strengthens our strategic position in competitive gaming. MLG has an incredibly strong and seasoned team and a thriving community. Together, we will create new ways to celebrate players and their unique skills, dedication and commitment to gaming. We are excited to add Sundance and the entire MLG esports team to our competitive gaming initiatives.”

Sundance DiGiovanni, Chief Executive Officer and MLG Co-founder, said, “Our mission for over 12 years has been to promote and expand the growth of competitive gaming worldwide, and today the industry is at a key inflection point as its popularity soars and rivals that of many traditional professional sports. This acquisition and Activision Blizzard’s commitment to competitive gaming will expand the opportunities for gamers to be recognized and celebrated for their competitive excellence.”

Mike Sepso, Senior Vice President of Activision Blizzard Media Networks and MLG Co-founder, said, “Sundance and I founded MLG to highlight the incredible talent of competitive gamers all over the world. Activision Blizzard’s esports leadership, incredible intellectual property and long history in competitive gaming create a perfect home for MLG’s capabilities. The acquisition of MLG’s business is an important step towards Activision Blizzard Media Networks’ broader mission to bring esports into the mainstream by creating and broadcasting premium esports content, organizing global league play and expanding distribution with key gaming partners.”

MLG will continue to operate MLG.tv, MLG Pro Circuit and GameBattles platforms, and will continue to work with its partners and other publishers across the industry. MLG.tv is a premium online broadcast network for professional-level esports and the MLG Pro Circuit is the longest-running esports league in North America. GameBattles is the largest online gaming tournament system across consoles, PC and mobile platforms.

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160104006485/en

Gameinformer article: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/01/04/activision-blizzard-mlg-buyout-espn-of-esports.aspx

This is great news. The less leagues we have, the better.

I haven't followed MLG since Nadeshot retired. If rumors are true of him returning to CoD i might actually watch the world championships.

Nade isn't returning, not sure where you got those rumors from. Every time him returning comes up he says it's highly, highly unlikely.

This si where i heard the rumor from https://community.callofduty.com/community/call_of_duty/english/esports/2015/blog/2015/11/10/announcing-the-call-of-duty-world-league-pro-division-qualifying-invitational-tournament

That list contains just pretty much every somewhat known player, even players who played just SnD online or just online in general. Doesn't really seem to have any significance.

Read MGS and went total "WTF"

just proves that Esport is irrelevant in the gaming industry. You wont make money from people watching and playing the same game over and over again instead selling them different games

Watching esports is actually pretty entertaining. 

You're fucking kidding, right? eSports (or whatever the hell you wanna call it) is super young and is growing rapidly. It's hardly had much time at all to gain traction and already has viewership numbers rivaling major sports! I really can't tell if you're joking or not, so I'm not gonna argue too much with you. But if you are being serious...wow.