NEW YORK – June 16, 2014 – Over 1000 of the top eSports superstars from around the globe will compete for $150,000 in prizes and glory at the Major League Gaming (MLG) Championship in Anaheim, CA, from June 20-22. Thousands of fans will descend upon the Anaheim Convention Center and millions more will watch via MLG.tv on the web, MLG.tv apps for iOS and Android, and the MLG app for Xbox 360. The action-packed, three-day Championship will feature Call of Duty®: Ghosts, including the international MLG League playoffs and a 192 team open bracket competition; a high-stakes StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm® tournament ; the return of Super Smash Bros.™ Melee for the first time since 2006 , and the debut of Killer Instinct and Injustice: Gods Among Us . Spectator passes are available in the MLG Store online and at the door, and fans can watch live via all MLG.tv distribution channels starting Friday, June 20 at 2:30pm PT.
The Games and Prizing
Call of Duty: Ghosts – $80,000 in prizes, 10,000 MLG Pro Points and placement in Season 3 of the MLG Call of Duty® League
After months of online competition, the top eight teams from Season 2 of the MLG Call of Duty League, the top two teams from Season 1 of the Gfinity Call of Duty League and the second place team from ACL Brisbane will compete for $70,000 in prizes in the International League Playoffs on Xbox One. Teams include Curse Australia, Curse Black, Epsilon, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Black, FaZe Red, OpTic Gaming (gold medalists at the debut MLG X Games Invitational), TCM Gaming, Team EnVyUs, and more. In addition to prize money, all players will be awarded 10,000 MLG Pro Points. Separately, 192 teams including Curse Orange, JusTus, OpTic Nation, Strictly Business, and more will compete in the Season 3 Play In Tournament (Open Bracket) for $10,000 in prizes. The Play In Tournament will also serve as a 10,000 Series Pro Points Tournament and the top four teams will qualify for Season 3 of the MLG Call of Duty League.
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm – $40,000 in prizes, plus 4,000 WCS points toward qualifying for BlizzCon®
After months of online competition, 12 qualifier winners (Violet, Major, Huk, Polt, Illusion, Puck, TLO, Scarlett, Petraeus, Trap, Hendralisk and Miniraser) have earned a starting spot in Championship Pool Play where they will battle against four players from the open bracket that includes top players like desRow, Catz, Vibe, Xenocider, Suppy, Thorzain, Nestea, Liquid Hero, Alicia, Heart, Ragnarok, Bomber, Seed, Maker, Hyun, Revival, Jaedong, iNcontroL, Keen, DongRaeGu, Nony, Suppy, Puck, State, Select, qxc, Caliber, Apocalypse, Stardust, Harstem, Iaguz, and more. Ultimately, 20 players will compete in the Championship Bracket for $40,000 in prizes and 4,000 World Championship Series (WCS) points toward their global ranking. The points earned will impact the year-long chase for seeds at the WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon® this fall.
Super Smash Bros. Melee - $15,000 in prizes
Super Smash Bros. Melee returns to MLG for the first time since 2006. After months of qualifiers, 12 qualifier winners including Mang0, Hungrybox, Mew2King, Remen, Leffen and more have earned a starting spot in Championship Pool Play where they will compete against four players from an open bracket. Ultimately, 20 players will compete in the Championship Bracket for $15,000 in prizes.
Injustice: Gods Among Us on Xbox 360 - $7500 in Prizes and Killer Instinct on Xbox One –$7500 in Prizes
From Friday, June 20 at 2:30pm PT through Saturday, June 21 at 5pm PT, players will compete in an Injustice open bracket tournament for $7,500 in prizes. From Saturday, June 21 at 5pm PT through Sunday, June 22 at 8pm PT, players will compete in a Killer Instinct open bracket tournament for $7,500 in prizes. Players to watch include Filthie Rich, PR Balrog, Filipino Champ, Justin Wong, Chris G, PerfectLegend, GGA16Bit, pig of the hut and more.
The Broadcast: Exclusively via the MLG.tv Premium Video Platform
The competition will be broadcast LIVE beginning Friday, June 20 at 2:30pm PT on 10 channels via MLG.tv on the web, MLG.tv apps for iOS and Android, and the MLG app for Xbox 360. Some of the industry’s most talented eSports personalities will be commentating and reporting including:
· Call of Duty: Ghosts: Chris Puckett, Ryan "Fwiz" Wyatt, John "Revan" Boble, Benjamin "Benson" Bowe, Clint "Maven" Forest and Scott "Gandhi" Lussier.
· StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm: Sean "Day9" Plott, Kevin "RotterdaM" van der Kooi, Yoan "ToD" Merlo, Paulo "CatZ" Vizcarra, Nathan "Nathanias" Fabrikant and Alex "Axeltoss" Rodriguez.
· Super Smash Bros. Melee: Wynton "Progducto" Smith, D'Ron "D1" Maingrette and Christopher "Wife" Fabiszak.
· Killer Instinct/Injustice: David "Ultradavid" Graham, Bill "Tom Brady" Menoutis, Reepal "RIP" Parbhoo and Dustin "Godspeed" Kane.
The 10 MLG.tv streaming channels include:
· Call of Duty Alpha mlg.tv/codalpha
· Call of Duty Bravo mlg.tv/codbravo
· Starcraft II Alpha mlg.tv/sc2alpha
· Starcraft II Bravo mlg.tv/sc2bravo
· Smash Brothers mlg.tv/smash
· Killer Instinct/Injustice mlg.tv/fgc
· MLG.TV mlg.tv/mlgtv
· Optic Gaming mlg.tv/optic
· Level Up mlg.tv/levelup
· Collegiate StarLeague mlg.tv/cstarleague