ESPN and Major League Gaming are Teaming Up for the X Games

The Aspen 2015 X Games have kicked off already — they can be viewed on various ESPN networks, provided you have a cable subscription — however one portion of the X Games can be viewed without any pay access. Partnered with Major League Gaming, X Games is streaming the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament on MLG.tv at no cost. Highlights from the CS:GO tournament will be shown during the television broadcasts of other X Games events.

Some controversy already surrounds the CS:GO playing field. After qualified team Clutch Cats pulled out of the tournament, Torqued (formerly team iBUYPOWER) the second highest in both qualifiers, was overlooked in favor of Team Liquid. Despite going out in the second round of each qualifier, Team Liquid was chosen over the arguably more deserving Torqued. Many reasons had to be a factor in MLG’s decision, however a match fixing scandal involving Torqued and previous team iBUYPOWER members may have been a factor.

The Daily Dot initially broke the news of a potential scandal, citing particularly poor decision making and gameplay from iBP, text messages, as well as suspicious betting. The last part is of particular note, as betting on CS:GO matches yields thousands of dollars of in-game weapon skins (patterns and designs) every tournament. The biggest betting site is CSGO Lounge, where there are active bets for individual matches made nearly every day. With this much real-life money on the line, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility for match-fixing to be a major concern.

Given that this is the first major ESPN and X Games venture into CS:GO, it is no surprise they decided to “play it safe” and invite Team Liquid. While CS:GO tournaments regularly receives over 100,000 unique viewers, the partnership of highlights and cut-ins to the main ESPN broadcast could bring about more growth to the Counter-Strike community. The games begin Friday with a round robin group play where the four teams in each group play a matchup against one another, with the top two teams advancing to the bracket stage. Up for grabs is a $50,000 prize pool split among the top four finishing teams, plus betting wins — and losses — for viewers at home.

(Featured image via Monster Gaming)