Hollywood turns to Twitch and Major League Gaming to market ‘Ender’s Game’

Maybe e-sports is a secretly a government program designed to discover our smartest young people for the purposes of making them military leaders … or maybe I’ve read Ender’s Game too many times.

Hollywood studio Lionsgate is partnering with e-sports association Major League Gaming and livestreaming service Twitch to hold the “Ender’s Game on Blu-ray Tournament.” This event will offer $20,000 in prize money for a StarCraft II invitational competition that begins Wednesday. The winner will take home $10,000. This is the first time a movie studio is marketing one of its films through e-sports, and it reveals that MLG’s and Twitch’s engagement numbers are attracting the attention of the $4 billion Hollywood marketing machine.