In a boon to the future of PlayStation esports, Sony has acquired a technology platform called Repeat.gg. The company is known for hosting esports tournaments that don’t require direct competition, tracking player performance without players needing to be online concurrently. Repeat.gg boasts over 2.3 million users in over 100,000 tournaments, and currently features popular multiplayer games such as Fortnite, League of Legends, Dota 2, PUBG, and Call of Duty: Warzone.
Why Sony acquired Repeat.gg for PlayStation esports
Repeat is excited to announce we are now a part of the Sony Interactive Entertainment family, the home of @PlayStation and many amazing game studios.
Read more here -> https://t.co/YSTWDqCIMO pic.twitter.com/Nxa02HE4HF
— Repeat.gg (@Repeatgg) July 18, 2022
Steven Roberts, president of global competitive gaming at Sony Interactive Entertainment, believes that this purchase of Repeat.gg will help broaden what competitive gaming can mean for players, in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz. He says:
At PlayStation, our vision for esports has always been about breaking down barriers for gamers to compete at all levels. Together with the talented Repeat.gg team, we’re excited to explore more ways for players to engage in competitive gaming and expand the breadth of our esports offerings. This is just the start of our journey and we look forward to sharing more updates with our community in the future.
Repeat.gg CEO Aaron Fletcher explains that the platform is meant “to enable new tournament formats that are easy to enter and scalable to million of players” and open to all gamers “regardless of their skill level.” The platform will continue to support PC, mobile, and other consoles outside of PlayStation.
On its website, Repeat.gg offers both free and paid-entry tournaments. All users need to do is connect their game accounts to their Repeat profile, so that the platform can track their performance automatically. Players accumulate coins depending on their placement in tournaments and can spend them on a wide variety of gift cards, including those for PSN, Steam, Nintendo, Xbox Live, and Amazon. It’s unclear if or how this platform will integrate with PlayStation platforms, but we can imagine how it might pair well with the newly-announced PlayStation Stars loyalty program.
This acquisition marks PlayStation’s continued investment in eSports, following Sony’s acquisition of fighting game tournament EVO in 2021 and its continued support of PlayStation Tournaments which brought esports to the PS5 earlier this year.
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