Pokies are simple to play, are usually low-cost to spin, but offer potentially much larger rewards. Due to this set-up, the classic casino game has stood the test of time, barely changing since its inception in 1894. However, the shift to internet platforms welcomed a wave of new innovations to the storied form of casino gaming.
Along with the ability to use new themes, animations, symbols, and game build – such as with varied reels, rows, and paylines – online slots also expanded into features that couldn’t exist in land-based forms. Now, the next stage of pokies evolution has arrived, and it follows in the footsteps of one of the biggest trends in gaming: online multiplayer competitions.
Pokies get the competitive gaming treatment
It seems as though the whole gaming world is becoming increasingly obsessed with online multiplayer games. The thrill of perfecting your gameplay and then taking on a new player or team in a top-draw game is so popular, in fact, that it’s forged a new sports industry. Recognising the widespread allure of competition in gaming, Social Tournaments was established to offer players online slot tournaments.
Powered by a classy selection of Pragmatic Play pokies, Social Tournaments features a stream of tournaments starting regularly and taking different forms. There’re daily and monthly tournaments, as well as multi-stage weekly contests, and special competitions that mix up the formula further. With the tournaments taking place across several different games, players can pick their favourite and play to win a piece of the prize pool.
Despite the controversy surrounding the introduction of 5G, the already popular online gaming scene will only continue to grow, becoming even more prominent when the next generation of internet arrives to the masses. With gamers actively looking to compete online, the innovative pokies tournament platform has already won over thousands of players, with over 37,000 winners crowned already.
Competitive gaming bigger than ever in New Zealand
Around a decade ago, if anyone had proposed an industry purely based on gamers competing for money and people tuning-in to watch them play, they may have been laughed away. Now, the industry known as eSports is a colossus, especially in New Zealand. In 2020, audiences hit an all-time high, with local viewership increasing by around 90 to 100 percent and held near its peak thereafter.
The competitive gaming scene continues to grow around the world, with eSports viewership expected to climb to 646 million by 2023 from the 454 million recorded in 2019. Just as notably for the industry, investments have increased drastically in recent years, increasing nearly ten-times over from 2017 to 2018’s count of $4.5 billion. These numbers alone indicate how massively popular game competitions are now and are expected to become over the next couple of years.
While it doesn’t command the same viewership figures – although, there are several highly-viewed YouTube channels streaming their slot gaming – the desire to compete against others in any form of gaming is well-established. While Social Tournament is unlikely to incorporate a form of spectator feature, its novel platform of competitive slot gaming is proving to be a hit, with the rankings and additional prize pools adding more purpose to pokies experience.
Player-vs-player gaming is all the rage right now, and Social Tournament is working to deliver the thrills of competition to the massive pokies fan base online.
