Activision Launches Call of Duty League for Boost in Esports

League’s sponsors include PlayStation and U.S. Air Force
Team official: ‘We’re looking at it as a long-term commitment’

Attendees play the video game Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles in 2018.Photographer: Troy Harvey/Bloomberg

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By Olga Kharif

January 24, 2020 at 12:30 PM UTC

Updated on

January 24, 2020 at 9:32 PM UTC

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Activision Blizzard Inc.’s league for Call of Duty -- the best-selling first-person-shooter game -- launched Friday in Minneapolis, marking the latest attempt by the video-gaming giant to dominate esports.

The company expects several thousand fans to attend a three-day fest that will include matches among the new league’s 12 city teams, as well as musical acts. There’s more at stake than fun and games, though. Activision is trying to build its own version of an NFL, NBA or NHL -- one that could eventually become a material contributor to its bottom line.