Bud Light Getting Into eSports With New "All-Stars" Program

Bud Light is moving beyond traditional sports, announcing today that it's sponsoring a new eSports program. The initiative is called Bud Light All-Stars, and its roster will be made up of players from popular professional gaming titles, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm.

The beer company will announce its preliminary choices for athletes on May 7 at the DreamHack Austin event. In a statement, the company said players were "carefully selected with experts in the field."

Which athletes make the final roster will be decided by the community, as fans will be be given "full control" through a voting process to take place in the future. On June 14, during E3, the five athletes with the most votes will be officially named to the Bud Light All-Stars.

This will be broadcast live on Bud Light's Twitch channel.

Those selected to the Bud Light All-Stars program will host Twitch streams throughout the summer, participate in eSports events, and appear in a behind-the-scenes series from Machinima. Additionally, the Bud Light All-Stars will compete in a three-round elimination tournament at TwitchCon 2016 in October. Bud Light says this tournament will be "unlike anything seen before"; each round will feature "surprises," while there will be some level of community interaction, according to the press release.

"Bud Light has always been the beer that sports fans--regardless of what they're watching--reach for and enjoy together," Bud Light vice president Alex Lambrecht said in a statement. "Esports is a new and exciting frontier for us and we're looking forward to providing another opportunity to bring fans around the country together to cheer for their favorite athlete."

In other eSports news, the ESL has banned YouPorn's pro gaming team, while StarCraft II players have been arrested in Korea for match-fixing.

Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Bud Light All-Stars was an official team, but it is actually a program sponsored by the beer company. GameSpot regrets the error.