EA Sports Challenge Series Awards $1 Million to Top Gamers

Las Vegas, NV -- Virgin Gaming recently gave away a combined $1M to the winners of the EA SPORTS™ Challenge Series Powered by Virgin Gaming at Lagasse’s Stadium inside The Palazzo® Las Vegas. This annual series was played exclusively on the PlayStation ®3 computer entertainment system and is one of the largest video game competitions in the world. Through this series, Virgin Gaming helped to set a milestone for competitive gaming by offering one of the industry’s largest prize pools.

The event began at 9 a.m. on Saturday, where 640 gamers and 1000 spectators from all over the world lined up to enter the famed Lagasse’s Stadium at The Palazzo® Las Vegas. With more than 100 HD TVs, stadium-style seating, and Emeril Lagasse’s signature cuisine, Lagasse’s Stadium has been recognized as the best sports lounge in Las Vegas.

“In 2012, when we launched the inaugural EA SPORTS Challenge Series, we set the bar high for video game tournaments by creating a truly groundbreaking event for gamers from all over the world”, said Billy Levy, co-founder and president of Virgin Gaming. “Now in its second year, we witnessed once again the best competition for FIFA Soccer 13, MADDEN 13 and NHL 13 all playing under one roof for their share of $1,000,000. Our vision has always been to make competitive gaming more fun and accessible by doing what we do best- arming players from all corners of the world with the tools to win big cash prizes and epic opportunities, all from the comfort of their couch. Being able to run a live tournament that culminates all of the time and effort that the gamers put in to qualifying for the 2013 EA SPORTS Challenge Series, is incredible to witness firsthand and extremely rewarding for everyone involved.”

The EA SPORTS Challenge Series online competition began in September 2012, with over 100,000 people registering for the opportunity to compete against one another on EA SPORTS MADDEN 13, FIFA Soccer 13 and NHL® 13 games. Players went head-to-head in a series of qualifying and semi-final matches where the top 640 elite competitors from these matches were invited to Las Vegas to compete for the epic grand prize.

After an exciting day of music and gamers competing at their highest level, the grand-prize winners were finally crowned. Winners included Ivan Lapange, from Sweden, for FIFA Soccer 13 and Julian Fusco, from Canada, for NHL 13. For MADDEN 13, Eric Wright, from the United States, once again took home the coveted first place prize. This marks his 3rd win in a challenge series involving MADDEN. In total he has taken home over $390,000 playing the game through various tournaments.

The success of the EA SPORTS Challenge Series as well as other Virgin Gaming powered tournaments has made the company the premiere location for competitive video gaming. By allowing gamers of similar skill levels the ability to compete one-on-one for cash prizes they are helping to reshape the industry and what it means to be a gamer. For official rules and to learn more about daily tournaments visit: VirginGaming.com.

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports videogames, including Madden football, FIFA Soccer, NHL hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, SSX™ and Fight Night boxing.

For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com to connect, share and compete.