South African voices in the world of esports deserve a round of applause! In the biggest events for this ever-growing sphere, a South African broadcast talent was in the mix:
Global (06 November 2023) — In the highly competitive world of esports, South Africans are making their mark beyond the gamers or teams themselves.
Local broadcast talents are chartering this new world of competition on major fronts through commentary, which is something that is not only a huge accomplishment in and of itself (as it would be for any traditional sporting league), but even more so when considering the local landscape they’ve flourished from.
South African tech icon Sam Wright (AKA Tech Girl) recently made a video spotlighting these talents, which got us thinking more and more about what it takes to become a commentator in eSports on a global scale.
Sam tells Good Things Guy that the three most popular esports are Counter-Strike, Dota2 and League of Legends; each showcasing various events where talent competes.
The biggest events are Majors for Counter-Strike, the International for Dota and Worlds for League of Legends. These are steamed across the globe on various platforms (and even in cinemas), attracting eyes and ears in massive numbers.
@techgirlza These South African talents did WHAT? 🇿🇦🎮 #esports #GamingOnTikTok #counterstrike #leagueoflegends #dota2 #theinternational #lolworlds #csgomajor #techgirlza #mzansi #southafrican ♬ original sound – Sam “Tech Girl” Wright
Sam spotlights how incredible it is that, in these huge events, there are South African voices and expertise at the forefront, especially when South Africa itself doesn’t have many opportunities for broadcasters in esports.
These stars of esports broadcast are Sean ‘Snare’ Rihlamvu, Trevor ‘Quickshot’ Henry and Sam ‘Tech Girl’ Wright herself.
“Every single one of these events had a South African in the broadcast talent for the live events. A huge accomplishment considering you can’t really make a living out of esports broadcasting/commentating locally. We have only one or two big events a year so the three people on these broadcasts all had to go overseas and have now done a host of massive events globally.”—Sam Wright.
Another reason to celebrate South African voices, expansion and achievement, and perhaps a big sign that more should be done locally to make even more opportunities for broadcast talents in esports to grow.
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