Gamers are used to coming across a nasty troll during post-game chat. It’s usually a good idea to just let it go and get on with your next match. Sony will reward you for taking the high road this year with its annual Win-A-Thon.
The PlayStation Tournaments started on December 1, 2018 and will last until January 20,23. All you need is a PlayStation that’s compatible with PS5 Versions of its games are also available, along with a PlayStation Plus account, if you’re interested in trying your hand at any of the 14 games confirmed. (opens new tab) Set to award prizes if you meet the winning conditions. While PS4 users will be able to win a current-gen console, the Tournaments’ website lists loads of other Gaming goodies up for grabs (opens new tab), too.
This year, Sony’s blog post (opens in new window) announcing the event stresses their intention to create “meaningful and frictionless competitive gaming experiences for players of all skill levels.” Expect to be disqualified if you can’t be nice to strangers online; there are already chatbots keeping an eye on you.
For the controller, a soldier
What’s new in this year’s PlayStation Tournaments? Sony has made it much easier to sign up for the lottery.
“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,” reads the official blog post announcement.
You’ll be able to track your progress from the Win-A-Thon screen. “Succeed in any Win-A-Thon eligible tournament to have that victory count towards your overall ranking on your regional leaderboard,” explains the blog post. This means that come the end of January, you might be winning a DualSense Edge controller or even a PS5 if you’ve yet to snag one.
Scroll down to find tournaments or challenges and then hit the down button to see all active matches. You don’t need to be of a certain experience level to sign up, so there’s no need to be shy about it.
Although more players typically meant a longer challenge length in past editions of the Tournaments, the duration of each challenge will be capped to keep it fair – no matter how many people join in.
“We have introduced a new bracket capping feature to ensure a standard duration for every tournament,” the blog post details. “If the cap is exceeded, multiple brackets will be created for the same tournament – but prizing will remain the same for each.”
This year, you can check your results in real time from the control centre. You will also receive notifications to guide you through each tournament. These will allow you to track the start and finish times of each tournament, as well as other useful details that can help you succeed.
For goodness sake, be good
The Tournaments this year seem more inclusive than ever, and Sony wants you to know they’re looking out for you to make sure it stays that way. “PlayStation Tournaments on PS5 will create more meaningful and frictionless competitive gaming experiences for players of all skill levels,” they remind us at the end of their announcement in a gentle nudge that here, there is no room for harassment.
Xbox Over seven million Xbox Live accounts have been banned For violating user guidelines, individual game studios have taken steps to reduce toxicity in online gaming.
Ubisoft and Riot Games’ anti-bullying campaignZero Harm in Comms was launched in November 2022. They plan to use AI bots to monitor text and voice comms on their online gaming servers. This will allow them to collect data that will help autonomous systems detect and remove bullying and bad manners.
Ubisoft Rainbow Six Siege has been added to the queue as one title (opens new tab) It could be interesting to see the data that this campaign can collect from Win-A-Thon contests over the next two years.
