A tense online gaming battle with Kim Dotcom is proving cost effective for one Tauranga teen who scooped a $1000 sponsorship deal with the internet mogul.

Brookfield teen Reef Galloway, 16, is creating a buzz in the New Zealand gaming world after a close game with Kim - world Number 1 - during the launch of the latest Call of Duty: Ghosts.

MEGA Gaming's Reef Galloway takes time out from his Call of Duty practice. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Call of Duty is a first-person and third-person shooter video game that includes Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, 3 and 4. The game simulates the infantry and combined arms of World War II.

'We played each other for number one spot in the world on the league boards [Reef online at his Brookfield home]. After a while he asked if I play the game competitively and offered me sponsorship for me and my team to compete under MEGA,” says Reef.

'I was very nervous at first but after playing with him but after doing it over and over again I found it more interesting and fun. The games last 10 minutes unless you get 30 kills.”

MEGA is a cloud storage and file hosting service launched last January by Kim coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the seizure of Megaupload.

With Kim and Mount Maunganui's Elite Apparel's help, Reef and three other gamers from Auckland were able to set up MEGA gaming, with a goal to become one of the best Call of Duty teams in New Zealand and Australia in 2014.

'It would be awesome; that's my goal to go to America and start competing against the American teams,” says Reef.

'Obviously Call of Duty have just announced their Call of Duty championships and you have to be 18. I'm only 16 so I have two years and have a long time to practise.”

Last weekend the team placed a close third at the AvT Auckland LAN 2014 – Adversity gaming – with hundreds of New Zealand and Australia's best Xbox gamers going head-to-head for the top spot in their respective games.

Mother and team manager Sharlene Nuthall is rapt Kim is backing her son after the impromptu online meeting and is happy to see Reef able to set his sights on global achievements.

'He basically said to him well you should be playing in America and should be playing in the big league but he didn't know how old he was,” says Sharlene.

'He said ‘you should definitely get there and I'm happy to help you on your way'. It was just great.”