Over the last 20 years, rAge Expo has built, hosted, and grown many of South Africa’s most significant and exhilarating esports events and rAge Expo 2022 is gearing up to be no different. Mettlestate, an esports/gaming organiser and production company, is bringing multiple huge esports events to rAge for fans to enjoy and to revolutionise the face of competitive African esports.
If you’re interested in watching esports (or maybe feel like giving it a try for the first time), here’s what you need to know about the Mettlestate events happening at rAge 2022.
Incredible, Predator and Mettlestate have announced the Incredible All-Star Gaming Rocket League tournament with another R50 000 prize pool on the line.
As per the well-established All-Star Gaming format, teams will be split into groups. The top 2 from each group will advance to playoffs, where the teams will battle until only the best of the best remain. After the semi-finals, the top 2 teams in the country will go head to head in the grand finals held at rAge.
Rocket League has seen incredible growth in global popularity over the years. It combines two of the most popular topics in the world: cars and football. The vehicular mayhem that plays out on the pitch is entertaining, but it demands skill and strategy from its players. Teams compete to score goals on a football field in cars. They must hone their agility, craft and speed to out-manoeuvre the opposing team.
Mettlestate’s project manager, Carly Twaddle, can’t wait to see more competitive Rocket League action. “Mettlestate regularly hosts casual cups for Rocket League, but it’s been a long time since the community saw a large tournament for this title. They deserve it, and the world of gaming needs to see just how great both the game and the players are”, says Twaddle. “It’s so exciting to have Predator on board for this league, as many Rocket League players play on PCs & Laptops. Now they have a serious and powerful brand supporting what they love. That’s what this is all about.”
The All Star Gaming Rocket League finals will take place on the Incredible All Star Gaming stand on Saturday from 14:30 to 16:30.
On Friday, the Incredible All Star Gaming stand will host TechGirlZA as a guest speaker who will be doing an interview and talk on Friday from 12:00 to 12:30.
And on Saturday, the stand will host a cosplay panel from 12:00 to 13:00.
Throughout rAge, multiple giveaways and competitions will be happening at the Incredible All Star Gaming stand, from a FIFA competition to F1 22, Dance Dance Revolution and even Tekken.
The stand will also host the All Star Spot Cups for the following games:
Fortnite – Saturday, 9:30 – 10:30, 11:00 – 12:00, 17:00 – 18:00
League of Legends – Sunday, 10:00 – 11:00, 11:30 – 12:30
FIFA King of Kings – Sunday, 14:00 – 15:00
Tekken King of Kings – Sunday, 15:00 – 16:00
The Intel Africa Masters teams will be doing meet and greets and a captains’ Q&A on Friday. 12:00 – 12:45: Outlaws (Nigeria), 13:00 – 13:45: 15AverageGang (North Africa), 14:00 – 14:45: Cairo City Gzzz (Egypt), 15:00 – 15:45: Bravado (South Africa) and 16:00 – 16:30: Intel Africa Masters captains Q&A session.
Between all of the fun and madness, there will also be a Bravado meet and greet on the stand on Sunday from 12:00 to 13:00.
Mamelodi Sundowns and Mettlestate are partnering for a massive R200k FIFA 23 tournament, with the finals happening at rAge 2022. The finalists will be flown out to the top 8 tournaments held at the rAge Expo at the Gallagher Convention Centre from 9-11 December 2022.
The Chairman of Mamelodi Sundowns, Tlhopie Motsepe, hopes the competition’s launch will excite the esports participants. “Many of the people in our football club are fans of the FIFA series and are aware of the passion that South African gamers have towards the video game”, says Motsepe. “That is one of the reasons that the moment Mamelodi Sundowns was announced as the latest African team to be included in FIFA 23, we knew that we had to give our supporters and fans of the game a chance to celebrate with us.”
“We hope this kickstarts local excitement around football while giving gamers and lovers of FIFA series the chance to play in a competition that was made especially for them. This is our first project in the esports industry and we are excited to see where this leads us. I’d like to thank our staff members, our partners and our board for helping us make this possible,” concluded Tlhopie Motsepe.
Those who want to watch the Mamelodi Sundowns FIFA23 Championship must head to the Sundowns stage on the Friday and Saturday of rAge.
Friday will see the four quarter-final matches, with Saturday seeing the two semi-final rounds, battle for third and the grand final.
On Sunday, guests at the expo can join on the stand for some Sundowns trivia and FIFA23 action to celebrate the team’s inclusion in the FIFA23 game. Sunday will also see a Q&A with Mamelodi Sundowns players on the Sundowns stage from 10:15 to 10:45, as well as an autograph session from 10:45 to 11:15.
Mettlestate has also partnered with Intel to revolutionise the face of competitive African esports. Welcome to the Intel Africa Masters happening at rAge Expo 2022.
The Intel Africa Masters is a cross-continent CS: GO Tournament. Players in four regions will compete for the title of best CS: GO team in Africa. The Tournament will consist of teams grouped according to their country or region; Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and North Africa.
To help accommodate as many players as possible, Mettlestate and Intel have collaborated with esports agencies around the continent. Gamr and BME Esports are supporting in making this incredible opportunity a reality. The Intel Africa Masters will undoubtedly change the game for African esports fans and establish Africa as a worldwide competitor.
The top four teams will battle for their share of the R450 000 prize pool. The following is the breakdown:
1st: R150 000
2nd: R120 000
3rd: R100 00
4th: R80 000
“Mettlestate is honoured to be a part of this incomparable esports tournament”, says Mettlestate’s managing director, Barry Louzada. “Africa has been consistently left out of global events. We need something that exclusively showcases African talent. We have a rich pool of esports competitors, they are hungry for competitive opportunities that rival that of international tournaments. It’s time we feed that desire.”
Nitesh Doolabh, Intel Country Lead South Africa says “Intel is pleased to launch the inaugural Intel Africa Masters, a gaming tournament designed by Africans for Africans. Intel has identified the need to invest in the African gaming community to provide African gamers with a platform to showcase their talent. At Intel we know gaming, and, over the years, we’ve continued demonstrating our commitment to it by delivering CPUs and platforms that push the boundaries of performance to unprecedented levels”.
Fans who want to watch the Intel Africa Masters CS: GO Tournament go down can head to the Intel Africa Masters stage on Saturday and Sunday of rAge.
Saturday will host the two semi-final rounds and battle for third, and Sunday will be the showmatch and the grand final.