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Major League Gaming scores $10M in funding

Professional gaming circuit lands large investment from Legion Enterprises; league's website boasts 4.5 million monthly users; Pro Circuit weekend events grabs 600k viewers.

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Some gamers enjoy playing titles at their own pace, with minimal outside pressure to perform. But there's also a competitive slice of the gaming pie for those who strive for dominance. Now, a professional league for the latter group has more money to play with.

One of the world's most prominent professional gaming leagues, Major League Gaming, has announced it has struck an agreement to land $10 million in funding capital, scheduled to arrive in the league's coffers by the first quarter of 2011.

MLG is now $10 million richer.
MLG is now $10 million richer.

The investment initiative was led by Legion Enterprises, an investment firm that "invests in, acquires, and develops companies that create digital products appealing to the 16-24-year-old male demographic of digital mavericks." The additional investment brings MLG's funding total to $52.5 million.

"Over the last eight years, we have set out to build competitive gaming into a global, cross-platform business," said Sundance DiGiovanni, MLG's CEO. "And thanks to investments from companies like Legion Enterprises and Oak Investment Partners, that vision is well on its way to becoming a reality."

Additionally MLG claims it now reaches almost 4.5 million monthly users via its newly redesigned website and draws an average of 600,000 viewers during its Pro Circuit weekend events.

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Flint247

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I definitely want to be in these kind of Tournaments, one day. :D

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Fred5107

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izzyrevenge

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when i first started playing games in 1984,it was almost wholly frowned upon to sit in front of the tv and waste your time with "toys".today we sign 10 million dollar deals with investment firms.we've come a long way.this is not coleco vision.

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thedirtyleg

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I wonder how much the addition of a ravenous Starcraft 2 audience had to do with the increased MLG traffic, and in turn, how much that had to do with Legion Enterprise's willingness to invest as opposed to the possibility of MLG just impressing Legion with its business plan. I heard the MLG SC2 events were pretty much standing-room only, and MLG underestimated the volume of traffic on their live stream for the first SC2 event in Raleigh.

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slicedbread117

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Sweet :D MLG can be something pretty dang cool i think

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mission76

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When I was a kid, the worst thing in the world was to have to sit there and watch the older kids play video games...now 4.5 million people do so willingly! Soon this "athletes" will do endorsements and have groupies hounding them. Professional Video Game player, Reality TV Star....doesn't anyone want to be an Astronaut anymore!!!!

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Megavideogamer

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This is a good news. Ten million in funding for MLG If you cannot see Viseogames as an art form. Then see Videogames as a sport. or at least an event that does take some skill and practice to excel at. I wonder if MLG would one day have a "seniors tour" a senior being 37 and over in the videogaming universe.

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btstlouis

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Great news if you love MLG!

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buft

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I watched a few events but the schedule just isnt long or consistent enough to allow people to enjoy it week in, week out, like they would with NFL or MLB, its a great start for sure, cant wait to see how they progress in future. some UK love would be nice too.

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