text: Activision Sees eSports as Key Channel to Drive COD; World Finals this Weekend – eSportslink
  Once your video game is published — even if it earns more than $1 billion per release — how to you deepen engagement with fans and gamers?
  For Activision, maker of the dominant Call of Duty franchise, one answer is eSports, according to Fortune: "eSports has become an important piece of Activision's marketing strategy. According to Sam Cooper, senior director for Call of Duty in Activision's marketing department, in today's video game business, any successful 'AAA' franchise is as focused on post-launch engagement with fans as with the actual launch of the game."
  "'ESports is part of that engagement platform,' Cooper says. 'We have a fan base that plays a lot of hours. We want them to play Call of Duty year-round. Building that community and driving engagement of the game is good for the health of the franchise. That's a big part of where eSports is going for us.'"
  Indeed, this weekend "over 100 teams will make their last stand in Call of Duty®: Advanced Warfare during the 2015 MLG World Finals in New Orleans. With a $250,000 prize pool, the World Finals represent the perfect send off of a great year in Advanced Warfare eSports," according to the World League Championships site.