Ubisoft partners with Virgin Gaming for online tournaments

Virgin Gaming has partnered with French publisher Ubisoft to provide the company's online multiplayer tournaments.

The first title to be part of the deal will be squad-combat title Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

"Ubisoft is one of the leading videogame publishers in the world and we are thrilled to offer our members the opportunity to compete in some of their best multiplayer console games," said Virgin Gaming CEO Rob Segal.

"Virgin Gaming is a unique convergence of social networking, videogames and competitive gaming, and we are excited that Ubisoft shares our vision for the platform and its potential," he added.

Virgin Gaming unveiled its plans to host cash-tournaments for publishers at this year's E3, announcing that over $1 million (£627,235) in prizes would be given away during the first 12 months of the tournaments taking place.

"Ubisoft is thrilled to be partnering with Virgin Gaming on its new venture. We have an exciting lineup of multiplayer titles this year that we believe will be a perfect fit for gamers to play and compete against each other in a tournament setting," said president of Ubisoft North America, Laurent Detoc.

Currently, Virgin Gaming's pricing structure results in 88 per cent of the fees paid to take part in a cash tournament being paid as prizes to the winners - the remaining 12 per cent is retained by Virgin as a management fee.