Video game publisher Electronic Arts has announced a new division of the company dedicated to eSports and competitive gaming.

It’s called the EA Competitive Gaming Division (CGD) and will offer official support for competitive EA titles like FIFA, Madden NFL, and Battlefield.

In the announcement, EA’s CEO, Andrew Wilson, had this to say about the new company’s new branch:

Today I am excited to announce that Peter Moore is moving into a new role as Executive Vice President and Chief Competition Officer for Electronic Arts, leading our new EA Competitive Gaming Division (CGD). As the latest step in our journey to put our players first, this group will enable global eSports competitions in our biggest franchises including FIFA, Madden NFL, Battlefield and more. The CGD will be built around three core pillars:

· Competition – To create highly-engaging competitive experiences with our games, officially supported by Electronic Arts.

· Community – To celebrate, connect and grow our community of players across all levels of expertise.

· Entertainment – To develop live events and broadcasting that bring the spectacle of competition to millions of people around the world.

Todd Sitrin also joins Moor as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the CGD who Wilson says will work “closely with our development studios to create an exciting competitive platform in our games.”

The move falls closely in line with similar eSports initiatives by companies like Activision and its new Call of Duty World League, as well as Microsoft and its Halo Championship Series. Other publishers like Valve and Riot Games have already enjoyed major success with their officially-supported eSports projects, proving that there is, indeed, an audience for competitive gaming.

EA says many more details from are to come, but we’re pretty excited to find out what it might mean for the studio’s next Battlefield game, due out next holiday in 2016.

Source: EA