Virgin Gaming, a leader in online console gaming, will be giving away over $1 million in cash over the next 12 months through video game tournaments in which players can compete from their own homes.

"People have been playing competitively for a very long time, ever since a guy picked up a rock and said he could throw it further than the guy next to him," said Richard Branson, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies.

"In the videogame space, the competitive gaming landscape has only been open to pros and the elite players. At Virgin Gaming, our mission is similar to what Sony is doing with PlayStation Move and Microsoft is doing with Kinect -- we're broadening the scope for everyone."

With the global gaming business raking in $60 billion last year, Billy Pidgeon, analyst for M2 Research, believes brands like Virgin Gaming will be able to capitalize on avid gaming audiences around the world without any legal issues.

Over the coming months, Virgin Gaming will align itself with major game publishers and mainstream sponsors to launch tournaments for thousands of players to compete.

William Levy, president of Virgin Gaming, said there are about 20 companies that currently offer gamers a chance to win real prizes for virtual play.

One of those, Galaxy4Gamers, welcomes the Virgin Brand and the awareness it has already generated for the niche gaming space.

Tournaments, large and small

"Millions of gamers have competed in video game tournaments over the years, but now the mainstream audience will be introduced to this competitive arena," said Michael Casazza, president of Galaxy4Gamers, which caters to 18- to 40 year-old members with disposable incomes.

"Our members are usually playing a couple times per month for cash and prizes. We offer one-versus-one tournaments to 64-player Clan tournaments and members can challenge our top video game professionals for cash prizes through our Beat A Pro platform."

Levy and Zack Zeldin launched the beta of WorldGaming.com in April 2009 and have since grown into the largest competitive tournament gaming site with 40,000 active users.

Those numbers attracted Branson, who is now putting competitive skill-based gaming on the map.

"Beyond the cash prizes, we're going to offer unique packages that only Virgin can deliver like a trip to the bottom of sea in one of Branson's subs or exotic vacations aboard Virgin Airlines," said Levy. – Reuters