Activision-Blizzard acquires MLG

SetGuitarsToKill

Canada28396 Posts

January 01 2016 01:06 GMT

MLG has reportedly sold “substantially all” of it's assets to Activision-Blizzard for the price of $46 million. Longtime CEO Sundance DiGiovanni has also reportedly been removed from his position at the company.

It's not clear how this move will affect StarCraft 2, but with Blizzard's recent shift in focus towards the foreign scene it's hard to imagine this move will not play a role in their future plans.

Source

Noocta

France12578 Posts

January 01 2016 01:10 GMT

Not sure what to think of this.

Last time Blizzard bought a broadcasting company, things didn't do so well. ( IPL )
If they want to create a legitimate US Circuit to boost the marketing value of their new WCS rules, they're basically starting this from scratch, because the scene of pro players for this kind of thing is not exactly great right now.

I'm thinking this move was probably pushed forward to help the Activision side of the company. MLG has been the prime platform for Call of Duty for a long time.

ZigguratOfUr

Iraq16955 Posts

January 01 2016 01:13 GMT

Interesting. MLG has been doing poorly in recent years, so this is hopefully a change for the better.

HalfPastLife

7 Posts

January 01 2016 01:34 GMT

Well, I would have preferred ATVI buying Twitch for 1 Billion than candy crush for 5 Billion. However I like this move. Sundance should have sold years ago when MLG meant something. Activision-Blizzard sees this as a turn around.

Footler

United States560 Posts

January 01 2016 01:35 GMT

I wonder if this means it will be exclusively for Activision Blizzard games.

Circumstance

United States11403 Posts

January 01 2016 01:36 GMT

MLG went all-in on their attempt to differentiate itself as a brand from Twitch, and fell flat on their faces. I just hope Blizz does more with their new personnel than they did with the IPL personnel (I miss Kevin Knocke

). Though, of course, this is a bigger pickup for the Activision side, considering which game was making up most of the MLG TV viewer base.

vult

United States9400 Posts

January 01 2016 01:47 GMT

Lol Sundance wasn't exactly a genius when it comes to running that company. Slowly losing sponsorships, not partnering with Twitch, and alienating it's biggest games ran that company to the ground.

Not sure how this will affect Activizzard, but hopefully they can use "substantially all" of those assets to help sc2.

Lonyo

United Kingdom3884 Posts

January 01 2016 01:47 GMT

RenSC2

United States1072 Posts

January 01 2016 01:49 GMT

I stopped caring about MLG when they stopped caring about SC2. I wonder what ATVI gets out of this deal. Last I knew MLG was loaded down with debt and floundering around trying to find something profitable. 46 million is a drop in the bucket for ATVI, but I think they would have been better off starting their own league as a subsidiary with that money.

Solar424

United States4001 Posts

January 01 2016 01:55 GMT

#10

Another eSports company bites the dust...soon ESL and Dreamhack will be all that's left in the West aside from developers with their first party events (LCS, WCS, CS:GO/Dota Majors)

FueledUpAndReadyToGo

Netherlands30548 Posts

January 01 2016 01:59 GMT

#11

Wow pretty huge purchase. I do wonder what their goal is with it. Hopefully some SC2 again :o

T.O.P.

Hong Kong4685 Posts

January 01 2016 02:08 GMT

#12

That's not bad. I can't believe MLG is worth 46 million. I always thought those investors were going to lose everything.

deth2munkies

United States4051 Posts

January 01 2016 02:22 GMT

#13

Let's be real, MLG went all in on CoD and failed. ESL got CoD World Championships and that was the nail in the coffin. Honestly, I skipped an MLG that was within 4 hours of me for the first time this year because I just didn't care enough to go. I didn't care about SF5, didn't care about CoD, didn't care about Halo, and only somewhat cared about Smash Bros. Riot pulling LoL, Halo losing its audience, SC2 losing most of its audience, and losing CoD to ESL, it's hard to think why MLG was even still in it. The CSGO shift was too little, too late.

That said, I always took them existing for granted and they were a recognizable brand. It's sad to see them go.

JimmyJRaynor

Canada17029 Posts

January 01 2016 02:47 GMT

#14

ATVI recently hired Mike Sepso, the co-founder of MLG; if anyone knows MLG's strengths and weaknesses its that guy.

This is ATVI's first big move after announcing their eSports subsidiary and hiring Sepso and that NFL Network prez guy whatever his name is. These 2 guys are supposed to run the eSports subsidiary.

Kotick talked some pretty big talk about the eSports subsidiary and generally.... when Kotick opens his big mouth and talks big... shit happens.

odaxium

United States356 Posts

January 01 2016 02:49 GMT

#15

Pretty surprised that ATVI bought them and what they plan on doing with it.

plasmidghost

Belgium16168 Posts

January 01 2016 02:49 GMT

#16

I'm actually really sad, I went to MLG New Orleans a few months back to watch Dota 2 and not having them around anymore is gonna suck. Maybe Dreamhack will do well with their event in Austin and take over the NA eSports scene
Plus MLG Columbus 2013 was probably the most hype Dota 2 tournament outside of an International in the game's history, at least to me, since that was the first victory for my most favorite player EternaLEnVy after getting kicked from the team he created

Clonester

Germany2808 Posts

January 01 2016 02:50 GMT

#17

On January 01 2016 11:22 deth2munkies wrote:
Let's be real, MLG went all in on CoD and failed. ESL got CoD World Championships and that was the nail in the coffin. Honestly, I skipped an MLG that was within 4 hours of me for the first time this year because I just didn't care enough to go. I didn't care about SF5, didn't care about CoD, didn't care about Halo, and only somewhat cared about Smash Bros. Riot pulling LoL, Halo losing its audience, SC2 losing most of its audience, and losing CoD to ESL, it's hard to think why MLG was even still in it. The CSGO shift was too little, too late
That said, I always took them existing for granted and they were a recognizable brand. It's sad to see them go.

MLG just took the CS:GO Spring Major and "stole" it from IEM Kato. They had their own player and thus had more control and more from each viewer. I dont think they were in such a bad state, more likely just not as big as some people thought. And now ESL will lose CoD again.

Its a good buy for Activision Blizzard. They had to use the ESL for every of their major esport title and that couldnt be what they wanted. With the MLG, they get the know how to run all their leagues (at least in US) by their own. And that are at least Heroes, Cardstone, SC II, Overwatch and CoD. They also got control over a Streaming Side (MLG Tv) that is in the US on 2nd place after twitch.

On the bad thing. Blizzard is really known for run down tournaments and organisation. IPL... And also how they handle WCS, schedule later then late, handbooks MIA, missing information never gets spoken out, their esport coordinater like Kim often just dodge away for weeks. When Activision Blizzard runs MLG like their handled esports in their past, I dont see them doing well.

And yeah, ESL just lost a major customer, on the long hand, ESL will lose all CoD, heroes, cardstone, SC II and Overwatch content in the USA. Even when some of these games have been money dump for Blizzard, Blizzard payed ESL for their service all the time. If Blizzard is even willing to invest into MLG, MLG could expand into Europe and thus hurting the ESL even more. Interesting times.

Even tho I think MLG will from now on focus only on Activision games, its likely that they keep CS:GO and Dota2 to expand the brand. Also CS:GO and Dota 2 are good tournaments for multi game weekenders to pull viewers to the venue. If they drop both games really fast, they show that they did not learn anything in the past years.

odaxium

United States356 Posts

January 01 2016 02:54 GMT

#18

Hopefully MLG's website will be updated to show actual content, like maybe news about events, teams, etc.

All it seemed to be was a portal to player's individual streams, gamebattles and nothing much else

JimmyJRaynor

Canada17029 Posts

January 01 2016 02:54 GMT

#19

i hope the new ATVI eSports subsidiary takes over WCS.

However, i highly suspect the new ATVI eSports subsidiary isn't too much concerned with SC2. They have much bigger games they want to feature and promote.

On January 01 2016 11:50 Clonester wrote:
Even tho I think MLG will from now on focus only on Activision games, its likely that they keep CS:GO and Dota2 to expand the brand.

i'd be shocked if anything ATVI owns will promote anything not made by ATVI studios. Dota2 and CS:GO are as good as gone.

it'll be interesting to see if this impacts the ATVI stock price in any way. i doubt it will.

geokilla

Canada8244 Posts

January 01 2016 03:31 GMT

#20

So Blizzard bought IPL/IGN and nothing much happened. I guess we can expect the same with MLG.

On January 01 2016 10:55 Solar424 wrote:
Another eSports company bites the dust...soon ESL and Dreamhack will be all that's left in the West aside from developers with their first party events (LCS, WCS, CS:GO/Dota Majors)

Except ESL and Dreamhack aren't doing too well either. Wouldn't be surprised if they go belly up in the next year or two.

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