How times have changed. ESPN, fresh off its new commitment to eSports, and Xbox have announced they will bring Halo 5: Guardians to the X Games in Aspen, Colorado from January 28th through January 31st. The X Games have been traditionally a competition limited to physical sports such as snowboarding.
The Halo World Championship Tour: X Games Aspen Invitational will have eight international teams going head to head in a single-elimination bracket tournament, with a $30,000 prize up for grabs.
Perhaps more interestingly, participants will be also able to earn X Games medals just like other “athletes,” and highlights from the tourney will be broadcast equally alongside other X Games events – marking the first time eSports have been featured so prominently and equally in the event.
One caveat though: results for this Halo tournament won’t be counted for regional placements; the X Games is a kind of one-off in that respect.
All of this follows a recent move by ESPN to feature eSports on its webpage for the first time, after previously resisting its inclusion along with other sports. It seems that all of the talk about whether eSports are “legitimate” sports is disappearing rapidly as its popularity – and accompanying profit margin – continue to swell.