At GDC today, Microsoft announced that they are starting the Xbox Tournament Preview Program, which will allow developers to run online E-sports tournaments through Xbox Live.
According to Jason Donald of Xbox, the tournaments will be "easy to integrate tournaments that will be powered by Xbox Live and can be customized by the developers depending on the game or tournament." Since the program runs on Xbox Live, it will be functional on both Xbox One and Windows 10 as Donald describes Xbox Live as the "connective tissue between all of the devices in our ecosystem,"
Software kits are available for developers beginning today, and Microsoft expects to see the first games announced later this year. As part of the announcement, Microsoft revealed they formed partnerships with both ESL (Electronic Sports League) and Facelt, two of the largest E-sports providers out there. More partnerships are expected to be announced at a later date and we'll update you as we hear.
Do you think this will work for Microsoft? Hosting major tournaments through online servers can be a daunting task. Events like the COD World Championships Or Halo Championships Series would be decimated if something occurred during an event. Also, what kind of fan interaction, if any, do you think Microsoft will implement. Surely allowing spectators to vote on who they think will win will increase views, but that will also increase server load. Although Microsoft has scalable servers, unlike Sony, it will still be a daunting undertaking.
Of course, they will probably start small, but let us know what game you want to see first below.
