FOX Sports Executive Pete Vlastelica Named President and CEO of Activision Blizzard's Major League Gaming Division
Vlastelica to Join Former ESPN CEO
"We continue to add to our all-star esports leadership team. Pete is an
entrepreneurial leader with a history of creating inspired content and
developing new digital channels of distribution," said
"Pete understands that whether it's on a field, a console or a phone,
players and fans want to experience community, camaraderie and
excellence in competition. He's a rare talent who will deliver great
opportunities to our players and fans," said MLG Chairman
"I'm joining MLG because of the rare combination of massive digital
scale and deep audience engagement around competitive gaming, and
because there's no better category of live streaming video content out
there," said Vlastelica. "It's clear that video games are the future of
sports - and if any company is positioned to capitalize on this global
opportunity, it's
At
Vlastelica's appointment is another key moment in Activision Blizzard's competitive gaming leadership.
-
The company launched
Activision Blizzard's esports division last year, naming former
CEO of
ESPN and the NFL NetworkSteve Bornstein as the division's chairman, and co-founder of MLG Mike Sepso as its Senior Vice President. -
In December,
Activision Blizzard acquired the business of MLG, a leader in creating and streaming live gaming events, organizing professional competitions and running competitive gaming leagues. - In April, MLG's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship set record esports viewership for the event during its broadcast, with 71 million video views, 45 million hours of live broadcast, and record 1.6 million concurrent viewers.
- In May, MLG debuted the Enhanced Viewership Experience (EVE) at NewFronts and a collaboration with Facebook to broadcast live competitions to the platform's 1.6 billion members.
-
In September, Activision launched
the Call of
Duty World League . In partnering with MLG and MGL.tv, the league hosted its final live qualifying competition at the Call of Duty MLG Orlando Open and brought millions of fans live coverage from Call of Duty XP.
Vlastelica will be based at Activision Blizzard's
This year, more than 256 million people watched competitive gaming1.
The company's esports portfolio includes regional and global events for
Activision's Call of Duty® and Blizzard Entertainment's Heroes
of the Storm®, Hearthstone® and StarCraft®
titles. Key events include Activision's Call
of
About Activision Blizzard
________________
1Newzoo, "2016 Global Esports
Market Report"
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160907005418/en/
SVP,
Mary.Osako@activision.com
or
Director of Communications, Major
bdugan@mlg.tv
Source:
News Provided by Acquire Media