Having been recently introduced in Sony’s Playstation 4 v5.00 ‘NOBUNAGA’ firmware update, tournament compatibility now allows players to compete competitively against other players around the world in structured, organised rankings, with the opportunity to win free gear such as T-Shirts, monetary prizes and more!
Split into ESL Open Leagues (Minor rewards and lower bar to entry), ESL Major Leagues (Minor competitive scene and chance to be promoted to ESL Pro League; may have entry requirements) and ESL Pro Leagues (The large competitive scene, with huge rewards but a massive bar-to-entry), ESL Tournaments aim to bring a fresh, orderly and easy-to-use tournament system so that any player, of any skill level can compete in some way, shape or form.
As VooFoo Studios mentioned in their press release (Link can be found HERE):
“As announced in yesterday’s PlayStation Blog, Team-based tournaments are set to add a whole new dimension to the game, with players invited to join or create a team and race together online in competitive, team-based multiplayer events. Mantis Burn Racing’s fast-paced, bumper-to-bumper style racing is perfectly suited to eSports and with prizes up for grabs for the winning teams in select tournaments, winning has never been more important!
Mantis Burn Racing is proud to be one of only a select few games to support Team Tournaments on PS4 at launch – with VooFoo Studios working to bring competitive racing to other platforms in the future.”
Alongside Mantis Burn Racing, Uncharted 4 and World of Tanks were two of the few titles actively supporting the ESL Tournament format, with many more releases expected to follow the competitive format where applicable. As detailed by Sony’s PS4 System Software Update 5.0.0 Notes (Link can be found HERE):
“The initial batch of titles supporting Team Tournaments will be Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, World of Tanks and Mantis Burn Racing, with more on the way. Head over to the Events section on your PS4 to check out details for different Events and Tournaments, and to start creating your team.
You can join or own up to a maximum of 60 different teams, and each team will have an owner and captain(s) who can manage the team. Only teams will be able to register for official Team Tournaments. Your team will have its own customizable team page where you can see team member information, and view upcoming and ongoing events that your team is currently registered for and competing in. In addition, you can easily check out your team’s results in past tournaments with a new bracket viewer that shows full tournament standings for Single and Double Elimination tournaments directly on PS4. Communicating and coordinating with your teammates is also simple via the integrated team chat feature.”
What games are you looking forward to compete in through the ESL Tournament framework? Personally, I’d love to be able to square off against people in some modern fighting games, like BlazBlue: Central Fiction or Tekken…Or perhaps hold racing competitions in Project Cars 2..? Who knows what the future holds for ESL Tournaments on PS4?
Check out ESL Tournaments HERE!