By Sam Wright
Over the past few years, I've built a successful career in esports as a shoutcaster, broadcaster and sometime content creator. Most of my work now occurs on bigger European broadcasts, but I cut my teeth on local events. I regularly get messages from budding shoutcasters and players wanting to know how they can get involved in esports in South Africa.
Over the years I've created a considerable amount of content around how best to get started in the space. I'm putting all that content in one place now to make it far easier for you to find out how to get started, if that is something you want to do.
I want to start competing
If you believe you've got the skills to compete with the best in the country and turn your gaming hobby into a competitive career - you'll need a place to start.
I'd like to suggest you sign up with Mettlestate and ACGL to begin with. They're definitely two of the biggest tournament organisers in the country. They host weekly events for a host of different titles that are friendly to casual competitors as well. You don't have to have an established team or have been playing for a while. Both organisers also have discords running which will allow you to reach out and chat to other players who might also be looking for teams:
METTLESTATE: www.mettlestate.com
ACGL: www.acgl.co.za
Different titles have different tournament organisers, though the two I mentioned above cover most genres of games.
To get a better idea of what it takes to turn this into a career - I did a series of videos with Bravado Gaming chatting to their top FIFA and Fortnite players who are all signed to the organisation. In these videos they chat about their journeys, their practice regimes and how new players can find people to play and improve their skills. There is also a streamer interview for those more interested in streaming as opposed to playing professionally. You can find all the videos here:
https://techgirl.co.za/2020/09/14/learn-more-about-south-african-esports-and-streaming/
But how do I get signed by an esports organisation?
You'll regularly see names like Bravado Gaming and Goliath Gaming mentioned. These are the two premium esports organisations in South Africa. They sign top players and help them compete. They also offer sponsorship and money to cover expenses. The dream for any competitive player is to sign to an organisation like one of these. A question I get regularly is:
How do I get signed to Bravado or Goliath Gaming?
I did an interview with Michele "Stickalish" Brondani from Goliath Gaming, who is actively involved in scouting players and looking for new talent. He explained to me what the team looks for and how to get noticed by a bigger organisation in South Africa.
I want to be a shoutcaster
So you want to commentate on esports and get into shoutcasting? Nice! I wrote an article for Red Bull awhile back that covered the 4 tips for noob shoutcasters. This is a great piece to help you get started.
A taste of South African esports
Since 2016 I've been creating behind the scenes videos that not only document my travels and the events I've worked on around the world, but also give a behind the scenes glimpse of Esports in South Africa. If you'd like to learn more and see what an amazing scene we have, check out this playlist on my YouTube channel:
Hopefully this helps you on your journey. Welcome to South African esports. It is a wild ride!
*Sam "Tech Girl" Wright is an esports shoutcaster and content creator in South Africa, you can see more of her content here.