Activision Blizzard buys MLG for estimated $46M to build ‘ESPN of esports’

Just weeks after announcing its esports division, Activision Blizzard has acquired the assets of live esports event organizer Major League Gaming for an estimated $46 million. The move is part of a larger plan to create the Activision Blizzard esports broadcast network, or the “ESPN of esports.”

The move is a recognition of the growing importance of esports — where gamers become spectators of professional gamers who are competing for increasingly large prize pools in tournaments. Esports could be a $465 million industry by 2017. The esports business has been nascent for a long time, but it has grown rapidly in the past few years and the move by Activision Blizzard, one of the largest Western game publishers, is a stamp of approval.