IGN Pro League Becomes Official eSports Home Of Capcom's Fighting Games

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The fighting game genre has found a home on the professional gaming (eSports) circuit as the IGN Pro League, the professional gaming league presented by IGN Entertainment, teams up with Capcom to bring its most popular fighting game franchises exclusively to the IGN Pro League (IPL) tournament line-up in 2013.  

The addition of Capcom's Super Street Fighter® IV Arcade Edition and Street Fighter® X Tekken® to IGN's eSports mix will draw in the growing fighting game community, put the pros of the popular genre center stage and address the question: can virtual fighters rival actual fights as the new major spectator sport on the Las Vegas strip. 

"We believe virtual fighting game tournaments can become a new standard form of entertainment on the Vegas strip, and Capcom is the undisputed champion of the fighting game genre," said David Ting, founder of the IGN Pro League.  "We're thrilled to partner with Capcom to help grow the eSports scene among the fighting game community, so that everyday players can be discovered and share the limelight with fighting game pros like Mike Ross and Justin Wong."

"With the positive reception of the Street Fighter 25^th Anniversary global tournament series, Capcom has been more focused on the competitive scene than at any other point in our company's history, and we're constantly exploring new ways to provide bigger and better tournament experiences," said Matt Dahlgren, Senior Product Manager at Capcom.  "We're hyped to be partnering up with IPL to push the fighting scene forward and believe their creative vision will both spread the passion of fighting games to new players while providing fresh opportunities for the existing community."

As part of IPL, Capcom will be able to offer pro fighting gamers one of the largest prize pools in the history of Capcom® fighting games.  IPL will work closely with Capcom to set the bar for top notch 24x7 coverage to the fighting game genre. 

To kick things off, IPL will host exhibition matches for Capcom fighting titles, featuring the world's top fighting game pros, at its next major tournament event, IPL 5, taking place November 29-December 2 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.  The exhibition matches will introduce the fighting game community to the eSports circuit, while enticing IPL's other prominent communities – for games like StarCraft II and League of Legends – with what's to come on the fighter front in 2013.  

The IGN Pro League, the professional video games league presented by IGN Entertainment, has become a major contender in the North American eSports market since its launch in April 2011.  Its last major tournament event drew in more than 10,000 spectators and logged a record-breaking 346,000 concurrent online viewers.  With the IGN Pro League franchise, IGN's goal is to help legitimize video gaming as a profession that can produce the next generation of sports celebrities. 

ABOUT CAPCOM
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man® and Devil May Cry®. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Korea, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. More information about Capcom can be found on the company web site, www.capcom.com or www.capcom-unity.com

Capcom, the Capcom logo, Resident Evil, Mega Man and Devil May Cry are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd., in the U.S. or other countries. Street Fighter is a registered trademark of Capcom U.S.A., Inc.  All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

About IGN Entertainment:
IGN Entertainment is the leading Internet media and services provider focused on the video game and entertainment enthusiast markets. Collectively, IGN's properties reach more than 57 million unique users worldwide, according to Internet audience measurement firm comScore.  IGN's network of video game-related properties (IGN.com, 1UP.com, GameSpy and others) is the Web's #1 video game information destination.  IGN also owns the world's largest men's lifestyle website, AskMen.com, and men's entertainment site UGO.com.  IGN is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices across North America, Europe and Australia.

SOURCE IGN Entertainment