Microsoft’s invested heavily in its Xbox video game division.
CNET
Microsoft has acquired esports gaming site Smash.gg, according to a notice on the company’s website. The site helps people organize and manage gaming tournaments.
“Since we started in 2015, our goal has been to build active esports scenes around the games people love to play,” Smash.gg wrote on its website under the banner headline “Smash.gg has been acquired by Microsoft!” The company said its service will continue running.
Microsoft confirmed the acquisition through its MSN Esports brand, which livestreams competitions and popular athletes as they play. Smash.gg previously listed Microsoft as a partner company.
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The move marks the latest way Microsoft’s been expanding its gaming chops. Its Xbox division, which has been offering game consoles and high-profile titles like the Halo space war franchise since 2001, is one of the biggest players in the more than $120 billion industry. Microsoft’s also spent big to buy key video game makers, including $2.5 billion for the world-building game Minecraft in 2014; $7.5 billion for Fallout, Doom and The Elder Scrolls maker ZeniMax Media this year; and acquisitions of smaller game makers in the past few years as well.
Not all of Microsoft’s gaming acquisitions have gone smoothly, though. Microsoft bought the game streaming service Beam in 2016 to compete with Amazon’s popular Twitch.tv, both of which are designed for people to watch entertainers, professionals and fans play games live over the internet. Microsoft rebranded the service as Mixer and built its capabilities into the Xbox video game console. Ultimately, Mixer wasn’t able to catch up, and Microsoft shut down the service earlier this year.
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