The next leg of one of the largest national gaming tournaments in South Africa, the SHIFT Gaming Experience sponsored by MTN and Hyprop, took place at The Glen Shopping Centre from June 30 to July 2.
Between April and August, players around South Africa will compete in online heats and face-to-face qualifying rounds at malls, like The Glen, across the country.
At the national final, the finalists will battle it out to see who will be crowned as the country’s greatest gamer who will walk away with the R20 000 grand prize and the R10 000 and R5 000 prizes for the first and second runners-up.
A Call of Duty tournament will run concurrently with the final, with the opportunity to win a share of the R60 000 prize pool.
Gamers from around the province will compete in the Football Tournament, played on FIFA 23™ to take home preliminary round prizes and go to the national final at Canal Walk from August 25 to 27.
Apart from the nail-biting FIFA 23™ action, The Glen hosted several additional competitions ranging from F1™ and Fortnite™, to fighting games and Minecraft, where gift cards and spot prizes were up for grabs for the winners and runners-up, along with giveaways for spectators.
Players and onlookers played their hand at games like Rocket League, Brawlhalla and Aim Lab.
In MTN Arena +, they experienced the country’s first cloud gaming platform and could take part in a keyboard rebuild race for the chance to win a keyboard.
Dylan Rosser, from African Cyber Gaming League (ACGL), said they have been doing gaming-related stuff with a variety of brands for at least 10 years. This year they expanded to collaborate with Hyprop on a series of events leading up to the final in Cape Town.
“We are holding such a tournament because we are searching for talented FIFA players for the major tournament at Canal Walk Cape Town, with multiple qualifiers across the country.
“It was an interesting experience, especially for Joburg, as this is the first time it has happened there. We are trying multiple hits in this three-day tournament, and each day has multiple hits wherein people compete. This tournament is about playing and having fun, regardless of age or gender,” said Rosser.
Zaid April won the Fifa tournament at The Glen and will go to the finals at Canal Walk.
Prianka Singh, marketing manager of The Glen, said: “The event was an amazing success and we look forward to hosting a gaming event of this magnitude again at The Glen with ACGL as our partner.”
