It would be awesome if this ends up being a situation where MLG is re-branded to an ATVI-Blizzard run tournament crew and continues doing what they're doing except adding SC2 and other Blizzard titles into the mix, but I somehow doubt it.

20-Minute-Jackal

United States336 Posts

January 01 2016 03:44 GMT

#24

What's Blizzard going to do with MLG assets? I don't even know what they did with the assets for when they bought IPL. Were they used to film and broadcast WCS Europe and America when those were still things? And if WCS Circuit is just IEM's and Dreamhacks now, I'm even more lost at what the MLG assets are going to be used for.

digmouse

China6329 Posts

January 01 2016 04:15 GMT

#25

There is a possibility Blizzard wants to do their own when it comes to WCS, given that MLG is pretty much the only western company that still has full capability to do tournaments and shows outside of DH and ESL. I'm still skeptical on whether this is for Activision or Blizzard though.

RevTiberius

Canada353 Posts

January 01 2016 04:19 GMT

#26

This is total bullshit.. Even less competition... Game going down the toilet... Quit now while u still can...

Ansibled

United Kingdom9872 Posts

January 01 2016 04:22 GMT

#27

On January 01 2016 13:19 RevTiberius wrote:
This is total bullshit.. Even less competition... Game going down the toilet... Quit now while u still can...

um... what?

ilikeredheads

Canada1995 Posts

January 01 2016 05:02 GMT

#28

"I get it. I fucking get it. "

That's all I remembered from Sundance. He wasn't exactly good at his job. I am surprised Blizzard actually spent that much to acquire MLG's assets.

TheWinks

United States572 Posts

January 01 2016 05:13 GMT

#29

On January 01 2016 12:31 geokilla wrote:
So Blizzard bought IPL/IGN and nothing much happened. I guess we can expect the same with MLG.

IPL imploded and Blizzard bought up the pieces. MLG still has an existing structure. Without more information it's an apples to oranges comparison I think.

sc2chronic

United States777 Posts

January 01 2016 05:14 GMT

#30

On January 01 2016 12:31 geokilla wrote:
So Blizzard bought IPL/IGN and nothing much happened. I guess we can expect the same with MLG.

Show nested quote +

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.

IPL was pretty good for a while. i think with the way WCS is now the new MLG will last longer than IPL did.

Thouhastmail

Korea (North)876 Posts

January 01 2016 05:23 GMT

#31

At least we can see SC2 in MLG. noice.

Tien Vu

184 Posts

January 01 2016 05:25 GMT

#32

this is probably good news to me as I only watched cs go of all the games that MLG had tournaments in after dropping SC2. hopefully acti blizzard will replace MLG's current tourneys for smash, cod and halo with more sc2 tourneys.

TheTenthDoc

United States9561 Posts

January 01 2016 05:28 GMT

#33

Wonder if this kills the possibility of future DotA 2 MLG tournies.

20-Minute-Jackal

United States336 Posts

January 01 2016 05:33 GMT

#34

Blizard didn't buy MLG, they bought their assets. MLG is basically gutted, I don't think they can run a tournament at this point, so no, we still won't be seeing SC2 at an MLG. SC2 will be at whatever Blizzard intends with the MLG assets.

BigRedDog

461 Posts

January 01 2016 05:33 GMT

#35

With Blizzard coming out with HOTS, SC2 LOTV, Hearthstone and Overwatch, i suspect they want to get a gaming league to push these games out.

Taf the Ghost

United States11751 Posts

January 01 2016 05:43 GMT

#36

MLG had a full studio + staff and I guess an arena in Columbus(?). Experience is fairly valuable, which is probably what they were really purchasing. (And, frankly, pretty cheaply) If they use former-MLG to run their CoD launch event tournaments + other things, it'll end up being a worthwhile acquisition.

I also get the distinct feeling they'll not be using the MLG.tv stuff. The Sale Price seems too low for buying up tech you're going to keep using.

klipik12

United States241 Posts

January 01 2016 05:46 GMT

#37

Anyone remember a few months ago, Activision-Blizzard created an eSports division with the ESPN/NFL guy and Mike Sepso? (http://fortune.com/2015/10/22/activision-blizzard-new-esports-division/) This is all probably going towards that. With that plus WCS Premier being cut, expect some serious investment into first-party Overwatch, Heroes, Hearthstone and CoD eSports. And maybe Destiny, but I seriously doubt that.

TheWinks

United States572 Posts

January 01 2016 05:48 GMT

#38

On January 01 2016 14:33 20-Minute-Jackal wrote:
Blizard didn't buy MLG, they bought their assets. MLG is basically gutted, I don't think they can run a tournament at this point, so no, we still won't be seeing SC2 at an MLG. SC2 will be at whatever Blizzard intends with the MLG assets.

MLG still has a number of tournaments planned at this point, including at least one Halo 5 marketing tournament from Microsoft.

nadafanboy42

Netherlands209 Posts

January 01 2016 06:07 GMT

#39

Man, MLG and SC2, those were some good times. A few people here dishing on Sundance, really pathetic imo. Maybe he was bad at running MLG, but no one here would know unless you were actually an employee and got an inside scoop. I remember Sundance reaching out to the community and giving his opinions no fluff, and I'll still appreciate him for that. And he clearly had/has a passion for eSports.

MLG looks to me like one of those trailblazers that crashes because they get overtaken by developments. Streaming is the case in point. MLG had their own streaming set-up because when they started there was no twitch. But then twitch appeared and left them in the dust. I'm guessing they could've save a lot of money a lot quicker if they just worked through twitch (isn't that what ESL does?), it seemed like they were too wedded to their own platform at that point. But we should give them props for already being out there and streaming tournaments when the technology was still in its infancy.

I wonder what's going to happen now. It looks like MLG is basically going the way of IPL, literally, with the whole brand just disappearing. But is Blizzard going to do something actually MLG-like, with a pro-circuit and everything, or are they just bolstering what they're already doing?

Man, I really want DJWheat to bring the band back together now and have a final interview with Sundance on what all happened. I bet it'd be epic.