Huge news came out Monday in regards to the eSports community. Major League Gaming (MLG) and ESPN X Games have agreed to team up this summer to create the first-ever MLG X Games Invitational at this year’s X Games in Austin from June 6-8, 2014. This event will also mark the first time in X Games history where official X Games medals will be given to the gold, silver and bronze medal winners in a category other than extreme sports.

The MLG X Games Invitational will consist of the top five Call of Duty Ghosts teams based on the MLG Pro Points standings and the top three teams (CompLexity, EnVyUs and OpTic Gaming) from last month’s Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox. The competition will span over the entire X Games weekend in Austin and will be held in the MLG tent. All of the action can be seen on http://www.MLG.tv and across other platforms including the MLG.tv app for Xbox One and Xbox 360 along with apps for iOS and Android devices.

Members of the eSports community are ecstatic over the recent news. MLG has had a hiatus from cable television since USA Network aired HALO 2 MLG Championships in 2006. The eight year break has yielded an enormous growth in the eSports community worldwide.

However, there are those people who are less enthusiastic about the announcement. X Games loyalists or people who resort to stereotyping professional gamers as lazy kids who sit in front of a television screen all day think that this news doesn’t make much logical sense. They think that MLG does not belong in the X Games because it is not an action sport.

The X Games and eSports have more in common than you may think because the X Games were also on the outside looking in on making it on a global scale with television being the medium of delivery for their eventual major success. eSports may not be televised worldwide, but online they dominate with streams on MLG.tv, Twitch.tv, YouTube and other foreign streaming websites.

Another fact that needs to be considered is the viewership of the X Games. The X Games has steadily declined over recent years from 1 million in 2011 at X Games Los Angeles to 648,000 in 2013. Whereas over 70 million people worldwide watched eSports in 2013, with 31.4 million of them being Americans.

The evidence is irrefutable. Call of Duty and other eSport titles have a legitimate case for being put on a world scale for the first time. ESPN, owned by the Walt Disney Company, is the perfect investor for this partnership. They have everything to gain with minimal chance for a loss.

Last year, the X Games branched out globally with stops in Munich, Barcelona, Foz do Iguacu, Tignes, Aspen and Los Angeles. The results were less than what executives were expecting, so as a result they canceled the three year tour after only completing one leg of the intended three year venture.

This announcement between ESPN and MLG is a symbiotic relationship. Major sponsors Red Bull and Monster Energy sponsor athletes in both arenas. Bringing MLG into the X Games will hopefully bring more sponsors to both the X Games and MLG.

eSports are not a fad — they will not go away — this is an opportunity for the X Games to try to capitalize on a booming industry. Five years from now, we may look at this as an experiment gone wrong, but sometimes you have to go out on a limb and try something new. It worked in the 90s with the X Games, maybe it will be the catalyst for MLG and eSports in 2014.

Only time will tell whether or not this event will be a “success”, but until the event goes down in June we have no way of knowing; so for the casual X Games fan I challenge you to branch out and watch some competitive Call of Duty on http://www.MLG.tv because whether you agree with it or not this event is a part of X Games Austin.