Major League Gaming at the X Games Once Again

Once more ESPN is partnering up with esports and Major League Gaming, again at a venue for the X Games. After the successful MLG debut at this year’s June X Games where Call of Duty: Ghosts was the game, this time the showcase for esports will be Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Both X Games and MLG executives were thrilled with June’s turnout and used that success to parlay this new venture. Tim Reed, senior director of X Games content strategy was quoted as saying:

We took a big step in creating a broader experience for our fans in Austin, with the new gaming event, the music festival and other interactive activities and content on site, and now we’re working to extend that to Aspen.

MLG President and co-founder Mike Sespo echoed a similar sentiment, telling ESPN

Our fan base was really electrified with the idea of having MLG competitions at the X Games and having our pro players earn X Games medals in Austin, where it was a tremendous success. We’re thrilled to announce that Austin wasn’t a one-off.

The 2015 Aspen X Games will take place from January 23-25 and will feature eight different qualified CS:GO teams. The original version of Counter-Strike debuted in 1999 as a Half-Life modification and different versions of the game have been in global competition since the early 2000’s.

After personally played CS 1.5 and 1.6 at a decently-high level, I can say I am thrilled to see CS:GO continue to gain steam. Despite being out for over two years, only recently has Global Offensive began to meet the previous high water marks in popularity of the Counter-Strike 1.5 and 1.6 — early-to-mid 2000’s — heyday.

If you plan on being in the crowd at Aspen, there is one downside: the esports section will be the only non-free admission area. The limited seating forces a premium to view CS:GO in person, however live streams will be available at MLG.tv as well as highlights on ESPN and ABC broadcasts. Tickets are currently available and the $100 price tag includes benefits such as reserved seating, a behind-the-scenes-tour and a gift bag full of MLG goodies. For a three-day weekend of live esports action, the price isn’t outlandish.

Continuing the merge of MLG and X Games events could very well continue, as Sespo told reporters

This is a dream partnership and we’ve always thought MLG and X Games would be a really good match. Austin was a very successful experiment where we learned that these sports play well together and that we can dramatically open up the audience on both sides of the partnership.

Over the years MLG has proven to be a stable platform for displaying esports to a greater population. The continued support of ESPN and the X Games will extend MLG’s reach even further.

(Header image via Piotr Drabik)