South Africa’s competitive gaming scene took over Canal Walk as the SHIFT Gaming Experience concluded its national tournament series, crowning champions across Beat Saber, EA FC 26™ Football and Brawlhalla.
The finale brought together some of the country’s strongest competitors after a tournament journey that stretched across eight Hyprop shopping centres. More than 42,327 competitors and visitors participated in or experienced the gaming series, turning shopping malls into temporary arenas for competitive play.
At the centre of the final showdown were three players who emerged from their respective competitions with national bragging rights: Ethan Luck, competing as Nova, claimed the Beat Saber crown; Mogamat Zaid April, known as Zaid April, won the EA FC 26™ Football title; while Jayden Devlal took victory in Brawlhalla.
From Shopping Centres to Gaming Arenas
The scale of the series points to something bigger than a conventional mall activation.
Gaming is increasingly becoming a social experience where competitive players, casual gamers and spectators can occupy the same space. SHIFT tapped into that crossover by taking organised tournaments directly into shopping centres rather than keeping competitive gaming behind the doors of specialist venues.
The EA FC 26™ Football tournament alone attracted 2,029 registered gamers, eventually narrowing the field down to just 12 finalists who travelled to Canal Walk for the national finals.
That progression—from thousands of registrations to a small group competing under the lights—gave the tournament a genuine competitive edge.
And with R350,000 in prize money awarded throughout the series, there was more than reputation on the line.
EA FC 26 Delivers the Final Football Battle
The EA FC 26™ Football final was one of the major attractions of the national finale, carrying a R50,000 prize pool shared among the top four finishers.
For the players involved, reaching Canal Walk meant surviving the pressure of a tournament structure designed to progressively eliminate the field. Every match carried more weight as competitors moved closer to the final four—and the money.
But the event also demonstrated the increasingly blurred line between gaming competition and live sport.
Players had to perform in front of spectators, deal with the pressure of elimination and execute when the stakes were highest. For fans watching from outside the arena, the action provided the same basic ingredients that make traditional sporting events compelling: competition, personalities, pressure and an outcome that cannot be scripted.
Three Games, Three Champions
The diversity of the final titles also reflected the breadth of the modern gaming audience.
Nova’s Beat Saber victory brought rhythm and physical movement into the competitive mix, while Jayden Devlal’s Brawlhalla win showcased a completely different style of precision and reaction-based competition.
Then there was EA FC 26™ Football, where Zaid April emerged as the national champion.
Together, the three titles showed that competitive gaming isn’t one-dimensional. Different games demand different skills, from timing and physical coordination to rapid decision-making and tactical execution.
A Bigger Platform for South African Gaming
Christie Stanbridge, Hyprop’s Brand & Campaigns Marketing Manager, highlighted the social side of the experience, describing gaming as a way of bringing people together to compete, support friends or discover new titles.
That accessibility may be one of SHIFT’s biggest contributions to the local scene.
Taking competitive gaming into high-traffic public spaces makes the culture easier to discover. Someone arriving at a mall to shop can suddenly find themselves watching a national gaming final, while an aspiring competitor can see what organised tournament play looks like first-hand.
For Canal Walk General Manager Mandy Bellamy, hosting the national finals provided a fitting conclusion to the series, with the atmosphere, competition and spectator support creating a memorable finale.
And there is already an eye on the next chapter.
Hyprop has indicated that it wants to build on the tournament’s success and make the experience even bigger in 2027.
All tournaments were operated by ACGL.
If that expansion happens, SHIFT could become more than a once-off gaming series. It could become another important bridge between South Africa‘s growing competitive gaming community and the wider public.
