Take-Two Interactive Software and The National Basketball Association have announced plans to launch the NBA 2K eLeague. The game will be backed by the NBA and it will be a professional gaming league. This is the first time a gaming leaque that will be operated by a U.S. professional sports league.

The new joint venture is scheduled to kick off in 2018. The NBA teams will be managed by real NBA organizations. Each team will have professional eSports players. The teams will be announced in the next few months. The format of the league will be consistent with most American sports league. There will be head to head matches and a regular season, playoffs and a championship match.

Adam Silver, NBA’s commissioner said that this will be about the partnership. The popularity of NBA 2K with a vibrant and growing eSports community will provide a unique opportunity to develop something very special to the gaming community and our fans. He said that they look forward in combining Take-Two’s competitive gaming expertise and the best-in-class NBA team operators to create a brand new league experience.

Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two’s CEO states that the NBA 2K series is known throughout the world for capturing NBA’s authenticity and the passions of its fans. A growing segment of the gaming industry is eSports and the company aims to take the thrill of competition to new heights with the partnership of the NBA and Take-Two as published by Forbes.

Take-Two and the NBA have been in business with each other since 1999 for the widely popular NBA 2K series. The newest addition, NBA 2K17 has shipped just shy of 7 million units and is on pace to becoming the company’s best-selling sports video game. Overall, the NBA 2K franchise have sold well over 68 million copies throughout the world as reported by GameSpot.