There is now a gold medal for playing video games. The X-Games, which can best be described as the Olympic Games for extreme sports, have partnered with Major League Gaming to include a Call of Duty tournament in this year's festivities- Call of Duty: Ghosts, to be exact (via ESPN):
"To capitalize on a rapidly growing competitive league right in the heart of its demographic, X Games, together with Major League Gaming, announced Monday that there will be a 'Call of Duty' tournament as part of X Games Austin in June.
The 'MLG Call of Duty: Ghosts' tournament will feature the top five 'Call of Duty' teams based on MLG Pro Points plus the top three teams from the 'Call of Duty' championship held in Winter Park, Fla., last month. The eight teams will compete in a double-elimination group format, with four teams advancing to a single-elimination bracket. X Games medals will be awarded to the winning teams."
While gaming isn't really sports by any stretch, officials from both organization realize the large cross-section of young Americans who enjoy both pastimes. And in terms of branding and marketing there are many similarities, again owing to the large shared demographic, the opportunities for product tie-ins alone should be staggering:
"It made sense from X Games' perspective... The audiences are similar: youth, fun to play with, and they like music, sports and gaming. So it all kind of lines up with [the X Games] audience... We are for the first time in a position where we have the league structure, the broadcast piece, the direct access to media and brands who are interested in advertising and marketing to this audience, and it's built in such a way where there's this tremendous scale in front of us."
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