Company might boost prize pools and tournament frequency

Jan 4, 2016 08:31 GMT  ·  By

A new rumor is suggesting that one of the biggest eSports related deals of the year will be revealed in the coming days, with publisher Activision Blizzard, set to buy the entire Major League Gaming organization to enhance its presence in the field.

According to information quoted by Esportsobservers, which claims to have access to inside information that was exchanged between the company and shareholders, the deal is worth about 46 million dollars (38 million Euro) and involves most of the assets that are linked to the eSports company.

The chief executive officer of Major League Gaming, Sundance DiGiovanni, is no longer with the company and has been replaced by the former chief financial officer, Greg Chisholm.

No official confirmation of the rumor has arrived from Activision Blizzard, but an announcement might be delivered before the end of the day to offer more details about the deal and about the future of the eSports division that the company is seeking to make an important part of its business.

Major League Gaming has been having financial trouble recently, and most of the money obtained from the sale will be used to pay off debts, with shareholders only able to make a small profit on their investment.

The company was also affected by the fact that ESL recently announced that it would be in charge of the Call of Duty World League.

Major League Gaming largely dominated the early eSports scene in North America and had also made an investment in China during the past few years and the acquisition by Activision Blizzard will probably have little effect on upcoming tournaments that have already been announced.

eSports will continue to grow in 2016

The new division in charge of competitive video game competitions at Activision Blizzard features Mike Sepso, one of the founders of Major League Gaming, in a leadership position and there are plans to attract other leaders in the field in the coming months.

An analyst for Superdata is quoted as saying that, "Following several other acquisitions and announcements from Activision, it is clear that the firm is evolving into a media conglomerate rather than a company that simply develops and publishes video games. This is a consistent trend we have also observed elsewhere in the industry, with firms like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive, as the potential of ad-based revenue has come into focus."

The company can enhance its eSports efforts by leveraging its very popular franchises, including Hearthstone, Starcraft 2, Heroes of the Storm and Call of Duty, although it will probably take time for official plans to be announced.

Activision is interested in making sure that it has a well-defined presence in the field, which is set to grow rapidly both in 2016 and the following years.

eSports tournaments feature a wide variety of titles and allow players to watch the action both by being present on location or by watching high-quality video streams, either for free or for a generally low fee.

The biggest prize pool is currently linked to the DOTA 2-powered The International, but Activision has the financial assets to make its own competitions very attractive to gamers.