Activision Blizzard acquires esports giant Major League Gaming

Major League Gaming, one of the first organizers of esports, has sold "substantially all" of its assets to Activision Blizzard.

While there was quite a bit of murmuring suggesting the deal a few days ago, it was not confirmed until Wednesday in a press release by Activision Blizzard. Speaking on behalf of the Santa Monica based video games publishing giant, CEO Bobby Kotick said, “Our acquisition of Major League Gaming’s business furthers our plans to create the ESPN of esports."

"We're excited to be able to announce the deal," Mike Sepso told Wired. Sepso is the senior Vice­President of Activision Blizzard's fledgling e­sports division and the co­founder of MLG. Sepso left MLG in the middle of last year to join Activision.

According to a stockholder letter obtained by ESports Observer, the deal is valued at $46 million and will bring all of MLG's esports related technologies, platforms and people under Activision. MLG will continue to operate MLG.tv, MLG Pro Circuit, and GameBattles platforms, as well as continue working with its partners and other publishers across the industry.

However, the deal will also see Major League Gaming's CEO, Sundance Giovanni, replaced by Greg Chisholm. Chisholm served as CFO immediately prior. With this change in mind, industry pundits anticipate that Activision will eventually announce its new plans and strategy for esports in the months to come.

Major League Gaming was first founded back in 2002. The company startd out hosting Call of Duty and Halo events before moving onto PC titles like League of Legends, and Dota 2, StarCraft II, World of Warcraft and Counterstrike: Global Offensive.

It's worth noting that letters secured by ESports Observer effectively suggest that the deal is largely a surprise to many of MLG's stockholders, whose reactions are mixed. It's suggested that the proceeds from the sale will go largely towards paying off the company's debts, leaving little money left over to go to  its stockholders.

This marks the second major acquisition by Activision in recent months. In November 2015, the company acquired Candy Crush Saga creators King for $5.9 billion. — TJD, GMA News