Santa Monica, CA -- (SBWire) -- 04/25/2013 --The King of Corporate Gaming will soon be crowned. Teams from 50 diverse companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM, Twitch, Twitter, and Yelp, are vying for glory in Season Three of the After Hours Gaming League (AHGL). The AHGL is a computer gaming league for major corporations, offering a modern media alternative to the corporate sports clubs of the past, and a great opportunity for colleagues to bond while competing for charity.

More than 80 corporate teams joined the battle which kicked off in January. The StarCraft(TM) II Championship has culminated in Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, squaring off against Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker and champion of AHGL Season One. In the League of Legends Championship, Goliath faces Goliath as Season Two victor Amazon is set to compete against internet giant Google on the Fields of Justice. These corporate finalists will face off at Red Bull’s North American headquarters in Santa Monica on April 27th with their colleagues and fans cheering them on from the sidelines – and virtually via livestream.

Launched with eight high tech companies in 2011, the AHGL has exploded to over 80 corporate teams in 2013, more than double the participants from 2012. The teams compete in Riot Games’ eSports sensation, League of Legends and Blizzard Entertainment’s eSports flagship, StarCraft(TM) II. Donated in equal parts by Blizzard Entertainment and Riot Games, the 5,000 dollar prize purse for each game goes to the charity of each winner’s choosing.

Season Three of AHGL introduces a new element to the festivities, with the inaugural “So You Think You Can Cast?” competition. In this special viewer-voting showdown, up-and-coming commentators have the chance to enter the spotlight, show off their entertainment and analytical abilities. The first champion of “So You Think You Can Cast” will be crowned at the grand finals.

The AHGL was conceived by celebrity gamer Sean “Day[9]” Plott, who was recently named to Forbes “30 under 30” list for his work as a gaming sportscaster and “funsmith.”

“I’m still amazed to see the league grow from eight teams two years ago to 80 today,” stated Sean Plott, founder of AHGL. “The number of participating teams and their passion demonstrate the entrenched popularity of eSports as an amazing hobby, that gaming together is a fantastic way to have fun and bond with colleagues and friends alike.”

Eliminated along the way were teams from Adobe, AMD, Cisco, Dropbox, EA, Ernst & Young, Facebook, IBM, Intel, Motorola, Mozilla, NVIDIA, Oracle, Palantir, Pipeworks, Qualcomm, Quora, Raytheon, Twitter, Western Digital, Yelp, Zappos, Zynga and many others.

For more information visit: http://AfterHoursGaming.tv.

About Day[9]TV
Day9.TV was founded in 2009 by Sean Plott and Eric Burkhart, two university graduates of Harvey Mudd College who have become evangelists for gaming, eSports and the gamer lifestyle. Capitalizing on innovations in video streaming technology, Eric and Sean offer fresh, smart Internet television content for gamers, with more than 7 million views a month.