October 13, 2023, will be remembered as the day Microsoft officially acquired Activision Blizzard bringing Call of Duty, Overwatch, Candy Crush, Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft, and many others to the Xbox family. Activision has owned countless IPs, but one that might go under the radar is MLG which Microsoft now owns.
Major League Gaming developed a strong presence in games like Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War. In January 2016, Activision Blizzard acquired them for $46 million. Sadly, the company hasn’t taken advantage of the esports brand and it hasn’t been used since the creation of the Call of Duty and Overwatch league which features franchised esports organizations.
A founding employee of MLG, Adam Apicella made a post on Twitter sharing his interest in helping the resurrection of the brand. Since the post was made it saw major attraction, but it’s tough to tell if Phil Spencer will respond.
Hey @XboxP3, congrats on the acquisition, AB is a perfect fit!
Amidst the massive move you made you also gained a small but mighty asset called @MLG. More than ever, that brand is needed in today’s rudderless esports world.
Would love to be involved in that resurrection
— Adam Apicella (@MrAdamAp) October 13, 2023
This isn’t the first time Microsoft invested in competitive gaming, in 2020 they acquired what was once, Smash.gg and recently rebranded to Start.gg.
It’s pretty clear there are many options for what the team at Xbox wants to do, but with the Halo Championship Series still an ongoing thing it would be nice to see MLG make a return.
