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Major League Gaming

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Major League Gaming (MLG) is a professional American gaming league founded in 2002, dedicated to competition in console gaming. Its headquarters are in New York City. Super Smash Brothers Melee was part of their major circuit from 2004-2006. MLG took SSBM out of their tournament circuit for the duration of the '07 pro tour. A spokesman for the company stated that MLG still wishes to stay involved in the smash tournament scene. In order to do this, the company intends to sponsor "grassroots" tournaments, which will be funded entirely out of the company's pockets.

More information is available here

Business Strategy

MLG was founded by current CEO, Michael Sepso and his business partner and current CMO Sundance DiGiovanni in 2002. Unlike other electronic sports leagues, the league specifically targets console gaming. The league also signs individual players and teams, as opposed to the custom in e-Sports, where players are usually signed to independent clubs. This practice provides players with management and a salary, but sometimes leads to conflicts with other competitions.

The company feels that by raising video game competition to the level of professional sport, it is creating a sports media business that provides players, developers, publishers, media partners, and advertisers a unique connection to the video game lifestyle enjoyed by 168 million Americans.

MLG operates a pro tour that makes stops in several cities. Through MLG Management, it develops the careers of a roster of professional gamers that it feels are the best in the world. MLG produces a variety of online and broadcast-quality programming that showcases these gamers.

Games on the MLG Pro Circuit

Games currently supported for all tournament play include Halo 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (online circuit only), Tekken 6, Super Smash Bros Brawl (returning since MLG dropped Melee from the 2007 season) and numerous EA sports titles, like Madden.

This comes after an announcement in February of 2010 which dropped Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty 4 from the circuit and online circuit, respectively, in favor of Brawl, Modern Warfare 2, and Tekken 6. Street Fighter 4 or Super Street Fighter 4 were rumored to be added later in the 2010 season or in the season following.

Major League Gaming also held competitions for Tekken 5 but low turnout led to the discontinuation of that tournament in October 2005. In addition, tournaments were held for Gran Turismo 3 and Soul Calibur in the 2004 season, but these were also dropped, again due to low turnout.

2007 Season

The 2007 season tournament dates as of 2/11/07 are:

Major League Gaming in the Media

The league in the press

MLG was featured in the Wall Street Journal, noting that MLG has recently acquired $10 million in funding to help craft the league.

The league in television

In the seventh season of MTV's True Life series, an episode centred on MLG-contracted Halo 2 player, "Tsquared". The league and player, LiL Poison were mentioned on CBS's 60 Minutes in a story about professional gamer, Fatal1ty. USA Network, currently America's #1 cable TV network, aired the first season of MLG Pro Circuit on Saturdays from November to December 2006. Voom of Dish Network satelite television provider is scheduled to show the first season in High-Definition during March 2007.

Sponsorship

MLG, whose main sponsor is Gamestop, signed with sponsors Boost Mobile, Red Bull and Scion for the 2006 season.

External links

Retrieved from "https://www.ssbwiki.com/index.php?title=Major_League_Gaming&oldid=369670"