Global esports organization, Gen.G, and McDonald's Southern California franchisees are kicking off esports initiatives focused on Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs.

Included are a multi-week play-in tournament for employees and a three-day NBA 2K21 All-Star tournament designed to find Southern California's best players, according to a press release.

"We know many Southern California McDonald's crew members are avid gamers at home, so we wanted to offer new ways for them to connect, have fun and show off their talents in what they're passionate about," said Chris Rowe, McDonald's Southern California franchisee and owner of eight McDonald's restaurants in San Diego County, in the release. "We're doubling down on our commitment to enhancing the employee experience for our restaurant crew and couldn't be more excited to partner with Gen.G on our first own esports initiative."

The McDonald's Crew League will kick-off on Jan. 12 with a six-week play-in tournament hosted for employees of Southern California McDonald's restaurants who will choose to compete in either NBA 2K21, FIFA, Smash Bros or Madden. The tournament will culminate in a live playoff broadcast on Twitch.tv with prizes awarded to top performing individual players and a trophy awarded to the winner's franchise location.

The goal is to strengthen crew connections, foster employee pride in McDonald's and offer current and future employees a way to engage with coworkers, according to the release. The Crew League has players competing from 38 franchise locations.

The McDonald's SoCal All-Stars begins on Jan. 31 with two days NBA 2K21 game play to determine the best young players in Southern California. The first two days will feature a play-in tournament where qualifying matches are held to help determine the top 12 competitors who will move on to compete live on Twitch.tv to determine the winners. Each team will be captained by a Gen.G pro player or coach during the finals.

"Our initiative with McDonald's really shows the power of gaming to connect communities in a whole new way," Jordan Sherman, Gen.G head of Revenue Operations, said in the release. "It's become even more meaningful when you have a partner like McDonald's who truly wants to innovate in this space to leverage gaming and esports to provide value and opportunity to their consumers and employees. We're really excited to watch the tournaments unfold."

McDonald's USA Southern California Region is comprised of more than 700 franchised and company-owned McDonald's restaurants in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Imperial counties. Gen.G is an esports organization connecting the United States and Asia.

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