According to Carla Massmann, show director of Comic Con Cape Town and Comic Con Africa, the event promises to boost the e-sports industry by providing accessible entry to casual tournaments as a starting point for players who are starting a new e-sports career.
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The event will also feature established and professional high-stakes tournaments.
“By offering both an entry point to the field as well as celebrating existing points of contact, Comic Con Cape Town is raising the bar for the e-sport industry in South Africa by providing a platform for local gamers to showcase their skills on a national level,” Massmann told IOL.
The South African e-sports industry is looking promising, with an increasing number of gamers and tournaments taking place across the country.
“We have seen more brands wanting to enter this (e-sports) space. This shows two things: as money comes in from large brands, the stakes are raised for the players, which ultimately leads to increased growth of the South African e-sports scene,” said Massmann.
She continued, “With larger prize pools, players are encouraged to hone their skills and ‘go hard’ in tournaments, which ultimately contributes to increasing the quality of e-sports players that South Africa can be proud of and send off to represent the country internationally.”
Massmann went on to say that competitive gaming is being viewed as a business rather than a hobby. South African e-sports are being taken more seriously as investment, sponsorship and other financial backing enter the e-sports scene.
“Although the industry is still relatively new, with the increasing interest and investment from various stakeholders, the future projections are very positive,” she said.
In response to IOL‘s question about how Comic Con Cape Town will help to improve the South African e-sports industry, Massmann stated that the event aims to raise the bar for casual and competitive e-sports by offering world-class products, working on event promotion and providing accessibility for players to compete and spectators to engage.
According to Comic Con Cape Town, by providing a platform for gamers to showcase their skills and compete against one another, the festival can play an important role in growing the e-sports industry in South Africa and giving more gamers the opportunity to turn their passion into a career.
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