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<p class="">Since hosting our first on-console tournament back in 2016, it’s been our pleasure to watch the growth of esports and competitive gaming across our platforms.</p>
<p class="">Over the past three months, we’ve been beta testing the next generation of our on-console competitive experience: PlayStation Tournaments for PS5.</p>
<p class="">The new experience streamlines competitive play with shorter tournament times, seamless on-console sign-up, easily discoverable tournaments, all-new UI, real-time match updates, and more improvements that address common barriers to online competitive play.</p>
<p class="">Today, we’re thrilled to roll out our first official PlayStation Tournaments for PS5 – featuring Guilty Gear -Strive, NBA 2K23, and FIFA 23.* You can now play and compete to win prizes across a range of special events, challenges, leaderboard competitions, and more with our global PS5 community.</p>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Kicking off with a special launch program</h2>
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<p class="">Between December 1 and January 31, you can take part in the PlayStation Tournaments: Win-A-Thon on both PS5 and PS4 consoles. There are lots of exciting prizes on offer, including cash, PS5 consoles, and new DualSense Edge wireless controllers.</p>
<p class="">The Win-A-Thon is a leaderboard competition where you can rack up wins and improve your overall ranking while taking part in PlayStation Tournaments.</p>
<p class="">Succeed in any Win-A-Thon eligible tournament to have that victory count towards your overall ranking on your regional leaderboard. When the results are tallied at the end of January, all players with the most points will win awesome prizes.</p>
<p class="">The best PS5 players will take home accessories like the new DualSense Edge wireless controller or Pulse 3D wireless headset, while PS4 owners could win PS5 consoles.</p>
<p class="">Look for the Win-A-Thon badge on a tournament card, sign up, and start your leaderboard climb for a shot at the prize. For a breakdown on prizing and eligibility <a href="https://playst.cc/winathon">click here</a>. For more information, see the full rulesets for <a href="https://playst.cc/winathon-rules-ps4">PS4</a> and <a href="https://playst.cc/winathon-rules-ps5">PS5</a>.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">New features on PlayStation Tournaments for PS5</h2>
<p class="">Thanks to community feedback, we have introduced some new features that make it quick and easy to take part in tournaments on PS5, including:</p>
<p class=""><strong>An easy discovery process:</strong> Tournaments are easy to find. Scroll to the relevant game on your PS5 home screen and press the down directional button to see a list of upcoming tournaments. Alternatively, view available tournaments by launching the Control Center with a tap of the PS button while playing a supported game.</p>
<p class=""><strong>Sign up on console</strong>: Signing up is quicker than ever. From the Control Center or Game Hub, simply select an available tournament and press the “Register” button to enter a competition.</p>
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<p class=""><strong>Bracket capping</strong>: Tournament length traditionally increases as more players compete. However, we have introduced a new bracket capping feature to ensure a standard duration for every tournament. If the cap is exceeded, multiple brackets will be created for the same tournament – but prizing will remain the same for each.</p>
<p class=""><strong>More tournaments: </strong>Everyone has different schedules. Tournaments will take place more often, and at regular intervals, so more players can find the time to compete.</p>
<p class=""><strong>All-new UI: </strong>The brand-new tournament UI utilizes the activity card framework to let you easily view tournament information. Notifications will automatically carry you through the experience, and you’ll be alerted when your next match is starting. The tournament can be launched from the notification, giving you time to train up in-game, or even play other titles between matches.</p>
<p class=""><strong>View automatic and real-time results</strong>: After registering for a tournament, all relevant details can be accessed via the corresponding activity card in the Control Center.</p>
<p class="">Results are automatically displayed and reported as the matches progress.</p>
<p class="">The status of the full tournament bracket is also viewable in the tournament card at any time.</p>
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<p class="has-text-align-left has-small-font-size"><em>*All depicted user-related content is fictitious. Used for demonstration purposes only.</em></p>
<p class=""><strong>Exciting prizing: </strong>Anyone eligible can sign up to win prizes, regardless of skill level.</p>
<p class="">Prizes can range from cash, in-game currency, PlayStation consoles or accessories, experiences, and even special collectibles received just for taking part.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Introducing a new Discord community hub</h2>
<p class="">PlayStation Tournaments on PS5 will also coincide with the launch of a new PlayStation Tournaments Discord server. Players will be able to connect here to engage more deeply with the PlayStation competitive community. In this destination, we’ll host interviews and play sessions with major figures in the esports community alongside other special content. <a href="https://playst.cc/3Ewk8nZ">Here</a> you’ll find regular updates on esports events, articles, videos, and gaming news.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">So much more in the new PlayStation Tournaments</h2>
<p class="">PlayStation Tournaments on PS5 will create more meaningful and frictionless competitive gaming experiences for players of all skill levels. We can’t wait for you to sign up, play, compete, and engage with the community across lots of fantastic games from PlayStation Studios and our third-party partners.  </p>
<p class="">We plan to share more information on new platform features, titles, and events in the near future. Stay tuned. </p>
<p class="has-default-font has-small-font-size"><em>*To participate in a PlayStation Tournament, users must be a resident of an eligible country, have access to PS5 versions of PlayStation Tournaments supported games and have a PS Plus membership and internet connection. PS Plus is a paid-for ongoing subscription with a recurring subscription fee, which is charged automatically at the then-current PS Store price at the frequency chosen until cancelled. Full terms apply: see PSN Terms of Service and PS Plus Usage Terms at</em><a href="http://www.playstation.com/legal"><em> www.playstation.com/legal</em></a><em>.</em><br/><br/><em>*PlayStation Tournaments: Win-A-Thon is not available in Croatia, Malta, Japan, Argentina, Turkey, North Korea, Russia.</em><br/><br/><em>*See PS5 Control Center and Game Hub to view upcoming tournament times.</em></p>
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