Major League Gaming
Major League Gaming (abbreviation: MLG ) is an American e- sports league, which was founded in 2002 by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso. The Major League Gaming is the world since the year 2011, the largest e-sports league in terms of viewing figures. In the early years the focus was primarily on console games, but in recent years computer games have taken the dominant role.
History
Major League Gaming was founded in 2002 in the United States. The basic idea was to network the competitive gamers. Early on, the founders recognized the interdependence between good players and good organizers. Especially because in every game very quickly develop individual tournament rules, and in the early years hardly any financial incentives for the players were present.
The first national championships were held in 2004. At this time the biggest tournaments were played on consoles. The Halo series and Super Smash Bros. with players like OGRE 1, OGRE 2, Walshy, or Ken.
In 2006, the championships moved to Las Vegas and this year also the general level of awareness increased enormously. In 2008, several games were broadcast in the regular American TV via the TV channel ESPN.
Over the years, more and more computer games were played both online and at the events. In 2010, at the MLG event in Raleigh was Starcraft 2, shortly after the release, officially added to the MLG Pro Circuit. This was no surprise, since the MLG has the " MLG KotBH Showmatch Series" organized already in the beta phase of Starcraft 2. Starcraft 2 has quickly replaced Halo on the main stage of the MLG events.
In 2011, the MLG was able to report on the most watched season in the e- sports history with more than 3.5 million viewers, making it ascended to the world's largest e-sports league.
In 2012, many partnerships with, among others, the CBS television or the Korean Starcraft organization KeSPA, which support further growth of the MLG followed.
Games in the MLG Pro Circuit
Major League Gaming supports a variety of games on multiple platforms (currently: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSVITA, Wii, Nintendo DS, PC and mobile phone). However, only selected matches are part of the Pro Circuit. Games in the Pro Circuit enjoy more attention, more prize money and, in contrast to the other " GameBattles " not online but on offline events in New York, Las Vegas, Dallas, Anaheim, Raleigh, Columbus OH, Orlando, Washington DC and Providence discharged.
The compilation of computer games in the Pro Circuit changes from year to year.
Starcraft 2 and Major League Gaming
Starcraft 2 is currently the main computer game of the MLG Pro Circuit is (as of 2012). This is reflected, among other things, of the prize money, as well as to the media presence. For example, was the prize money for the winners in Starcraft 2 in the Spring Championship 2012 U.S. $ 25,000 for a single player. The second highest prize money took League of Legends U.S. $ 20,000 (total) for a, although here the prize money is split between 5 players, which corresponds to a solo prize money of U.S. $ 4,000 for first place. The second highest solo prize money took Mortal Kombat for a 10,000 U.S. dollars.
Prominent commentators accompany the events:
- Day9
- DjWHEAT
- Husky Starcraft aka Mike Lamond
- Artosis
- Tasteless
- Rob Simpson
- JP McDaniel
- Grubby
- And more
Winner of the Starcraft 2 Pro Circuit events
Expansion of the MLG
Even on the basis of events occurring more and more frequently is likely organization further growth of Major League Gaming. Further indications are the host of ways to qualify for the MLG events for other tournaments since, as GSL Code S or for the Battle.net World Championship Series.
Furthermore, the MLG 's first official Starcraft Starcraft 2 tournament with only the former: Broodwar sizes such as Flash or Jaedong at the 2012 MLG Spring Arena Championships organized in cooperation with the KeSPA and then the MLG also promotes the exchange of prominent players Starcraft Starcraft II
Just next to Starcraft II also predicts League of Legends a constantly growing audience power, because this team game already in South Korea attracts a large number of viewers.