Former Universal Music stablemate Activision Blizzard is expanding into a new business: competitive gaming (or ‘e-sports’).
The company has spent $46m acquiring Major League Gaming, which was one of the first firms to organise professional gaming events.
Games publisher Activision is planning to focus on turning them into TV events, via a channel available through people’s televisions.
“I have a simple vision for this: I want to build the ESPN of video games,” CEO Robert Kotick told the New York Times.
Which is interesting, at a time when even the actual ESPN has been experimenting with televising e-sports. This is part of a wider trend too: Activision’s biggest rival Electronic Arts set up its own e-sports division in December 2015.
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