Microsoft gets deeper into eSports with Arena for Xbox

At E3 this week Microsoft laid plans to launch a new service on Xbox, Arena, designed to let people sign up for, compete in and watch tournaments for games.

While Microsoft debuted Arena alongside a handful of other new social features for the Xbox platform, including the addition of Clubs and a new "Looking for Group" matchmaking tool, Arena is the most notable because it showcases how the company is building eSports support directly into its network infrastructure.

This isn't the first step, of course -- earlier this year Microsoft partnered with the Electronic Sports League (ESL) to launch its Xbox Live Tournaments platform. Xbox Live Tournaments actually spans both Xbox and Windows 10, but it's yet unclear how (or if) it integrates with Arena.