Blizzard Entertainment was one of the first companies to begin supporting eSports. It began with StarCraft and followed with Warcraft 3. Making it way back in the day. World of Warcraft and its Arena scene was the next attempt. It didn’t really work out. In the meantime, StarCraft became the largest eSports game on the planet, popularizing the sport across the globe. The WoW misfire was followed up by StarCraft II’s scene, which was subsequently dwarfed by increasing popularity of League of Legends.
Diablo III’s PvP now canned, Blizzard Entertainment isn’t looking to tone it down. In fact, the company announced that it has purchased the IGN Pro League technology and assets. Blizzard is absorbing the league, including various staffers, to create “high-quality web and mobile content” of its products.
The $100,000 Shootmania launch tournament will be the last tournament held under the IPL brand. IGN chose to sell its eSports brand to become platform agnostic, according to executive vice president Peer Schneider. IGN will now partner with multiple organizations to cover their events, rather than taking the full burden of production upon itself.
?????! ????????/????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????”??????????????????????????????????? ??????????? ?????????????? ????????????? ?????!