If you spend much of your free time in front of your PC, console or on your mobile phone playing games, you’re definitely not wasting your time. Gaming has its own competitive sub-genre called esports, where gamers just like you compete in virtual and real life events for pride, prizes and even cash! In South Africa certain games have become extremely popular for casual fun and as competitive titles. Here are four games that have made the transition into esports and that you can compete in:

FIFA

Arguably one of the most popular games in South Africa, FIFA has become a competitive esport with local participants being able to take on the best in the world… and win! Each year a new FIFA title launches for console and PC. The football simulator allows you to play as your favourite real life teams and create teams comprising some of the legends from the game. When it comes to esports, South Africa is beginning to get noticed by the rest of the world. The local competitive scene brags hundreds of contestants for many tournaments. The FIFA franchise also has global competitions with options for players to compete overseas against other FIFA competitors.

Recently two players, Julio “Beast” Bianchi and Kaylan Moodley, won the South African qualifiers and represented their country as eDiski players in the FIFAe Nations Cup Online Qualifiers. South African player Beast faced off against a player known as MSDossary from Saudi Arabia, who was the 2018 FIFA World Champion and finished second in 2019. Beast was able to beat Dossary in their first match up, despite playing on 300 ping! 

Rainbow Six Siege

For those who like a traditional first-person shooter, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege might just be the title for you. Siege is available on Xbox, Playstation and PC. It has grown in popularity in recent years with a highly active South African casual community, especially because of the availability of local servers. The game has slowly started seeing more Esports interest with many community-led events being hosted during the year. Now is the best time to enter the game competitively, with the first “big” competition announced. Mettlestate, ASUS and Vodacom will be partnering for the ROG Invitational III - the first Siege competition in South Africa to offer a R100 000 prize pool. This event is sure to cement Rainbow Six Siege as a serious esports title for new PS players in the country. 

Fortnite

The Battle Royale with building additions has taken the world by storm. Whether it be real life dance moves or virtual music concerts with the likes of Travis Scott - the game has dominated pop culture. Fortnite can be played on any console, PC or even your mobile phone. In South Africa it has a vibrant and passionate community of young gamers who regularly champion for more international recognition. When real life events were possible Fortnite could easily brag hundreds of players in attendance, all desperate to drop in the custom lobbies.

There are weekly events and competitions, now held virtually, for any aspiring competitive players. South Africa’s best have also had an opportunity to pit themselves against the best in the world with the Fortnite Champion Series. In the recent FNCS qualifiers for the Middle East, Bravado Gaming’s Neymar alongside his trio of Travis and Bravado’s Woke, finished 24th in finals and qualified for FNCS Heats based on their performance. 

Fighting Games

For many South Africans, the memory of playing the likes of Tekken or Street Fighter at the corner shop forms part of growing up. We all remember feeding coins into the arcade machines and battling against our friends. Button bashing has come a long way with the most popular fighting games titles moving over to consoles and allowing you to compete with friends at home or online. It should come as no surprise that the Fighting Games community has an exciting and active competitive scene with players set on being the best. Tekken and Street Fighter are the two most popular titles. The growth of the local esports community even caught the attention of Street Fighter V Champion Tsunehiro “Gachikun” Kanamori, who flew to South Africa in 2019 to mentor the local players and feature them in a fighting games documentary he was hosting. 

While these four games are all seeing growing competitive attention, be sure to keep an eye on mobile game and battle royale, Free Fire, which is steadily growing in popularity as well. As the most downloaded game around the world and the introduction of Southern African servers, it will likely need to be added to the list soon. Once you’ve decided on the title you want to compete in, be sure to check out our guide on how to find tournaments and competitions to enter, here.

High-speed gaming with Vodacom fibre

Here’s a handy article on getting started with fibre that will give you guidelines on how fast your connection should be. When choosing how many GB to budget for each month, remember that the better your connection, the more you’ll want to surf, as you discover the joys of streaming on Showmax and Netflix. Uncapped fibre gives you the option to stream, surf and listen to music to your heart's content, without ever worrying about running out of data.

Next, check out fibre coverage in your area, and brush up on Vodacom’s latest fibre offers.