Xbox Live eSports Series, "xSports", Coming Later This Month

Editor's Note: The astute amongst you will have probably noticed the date on this article already. This April Fools gag was brought to you by GameGrin.com

Competitive gaming is becoming bigger and bigger. The Global eSports market is worth $748m and is expected to reach $1.9b by 2018 according to market research firm Superdata research. With such a lucrative market, it’s no surprise that Microsoft want to get involved. Today, they launched their eSports initiative, called “Xbox xSports”. They aim to have at least five tournaments complete by the end of this year, but they’ve started with their most popular game, Minesweeper.

It might seem like a bit of a unusual choice, but with 223.6 billion hours played since its launch in 1989, the puzzle game that started life as part of The Microsoft Entertainment Pack and became an integral part of Windows is the most played game that the Cupertino-based developer have ever created.

A celebratory “Gold Edition” of the game will be coming to the Xbox One and PC this year, with the PC edition supporting Oculus Rift and 4K. It is this version of the game that contestants at the first annual “Sweep Spot” contest will be playing, hoping to take home the grand prize of $1 million and the trophy, which is appropriately a solid gold version of the iconic smiley face with sunglasses that winners of the game are presented with.

Taking place on April 31st at the eSports Arena in Orange County and with a prize pool of $4m, this is a contest for serious players of the classic puzzler only. World record holder Matt McGinley will be in attendance as the only seed, the remaining 63 places will be awarded to players of the game on Windows 10. Microsoft defended their decision to only support their latest operating system by stating:

“With online support and the Xbox Live platform embedded, Windows 10 is the platform of choice for those eSports professionals who are serious about getting their game on and earning a place at the first Xbox xSports contests. Also, seriously, it’s free. What’s wrong with you people? We give you something for free and you still complain. What do you want us to do? Do you want us to do a little dance or something? Would that make you happy? Look, I’m dancing, are you happy now? You ungrateful little…”

At this point the line cut off and when we tried to call back the spokesman from Microsoft, his carer answered and told us he couldn’t come to the phone again. We will have more news for you on the event just as soon as his medication kicks in.