International gaming tech company launches into SA market
UK-based gaming tech start-up, Skrmiish, has launched a first-of-its-kind gaming app into the local South African market, just in time for the festive season.
Skrmiish is the world’s first app-driven platform that allows streamers, online gamers, teams and brands the opportunity to create and monetise their own competitive experiences anytime, anywhere. The company opted to test their proof of concept within the smaller South African market before launching to a global audience.
Current available game titles in the BETA version of the Skrmiish app include PUBG and Fortnite.
South African gaming industry is booming
Aimed at a global market of 2,7 billion gamers, Skrmiish aims to stimulate engagement and revenue for the casual gamer as well as streamers. Traditionally, this space is exclusively occupied by the pros and ‘million-dollar’ players while the vast majority of the market remains under-serviced.
As the world’s economy reels from the impact of the pandemic and lockdowns, the online gaming industry has boomed and South Africa is no exception. Globally, gaming is rated the third biggest entertainment genre in the world after books and gambling and it is almost 10 times bigger than the film and music industries combined. The local online gaming market will continue to grow as it has done in many other parts of the world regardless of the state of the economy.
Competitive play for every kind of gamer
As with most sports, the road to becoming a professional is often out of reach. Skrmiish aims to give gamers of all levels and skillsets the ability to play competitively in a safe, fun, and engaging environment. Gamers have the ability to compete on their terms and choose their own stakes with the app’s built in Leaderboard Point (LP) match making system. Gamers can choose to play against their friends, other users or their favourite streamers in 1v1 Kill Race challenges. Results are automated through the app, minimising any unnecessary qualms between players.
Skrmiish works to bring all gamers into one ecosystem that’s been built for them by people just like them.
An improved competitive edge for streamers
For streamers, Skrmiish offers a way to switch on new revenue streams by driving quality viewer engagement and monetising their communities in a unique professional vs amateur (ProAM) style game experience. Through increasing engagement, Skrmiish affords streamers the ability to continue to build their communities while improving the competitive edge of their content.
“With the rise of streamer popularity and the cross-over into the mainstream, we identified a real need for better management and matchmaking systems in order to increase engagement with the streamers and the communities they represent,” says Skrmiish CPO, Roland Reed. “Everyone who works in the video games industry understands what a unique medium it is with vast variety. There is a game, community and streamer for everyone out there.”
Chris van Ysendyk, AKA DaDexo (www.twitch.tv/dadexo), is a well-known local PUBG streamer and the first official community manager at Skrmiish. He says that Skrmiish has helped him to reduce a lot of the pain points many streamers encounter when it comes to engaging and playing with their communities.
“Dealing with a community requires a lot of administration and is resource intensive. Skrmiish alleviates all these needs of someone running a community by acting as an automated bridge between you and your community. A plug and play connection,” he says.
“People want a place to play and a community to be a part of and Skrmiish can automate the process of that by making it a repetitive competitive experience of onboarding people to your community. For me, the entire gaming process begins and ends with Skrmiish.”
A new way to play
As the gaming industry continues to grow, Skrmiish is perfectly positioned to offer all gamers a never-before-seen competitive gaming experience with new gaming titles, tournaments and features set to be released from early 2021.
“This has been an incredible two-year journey with an exceptional and dedicated team,” comments the CEO Chris Heaton. “We have surmounted every challenge and we are super excited to unleash Skrmiish to the world and enable the next level of fun playing the games people love with the streamers they adore.”
For those wishing to experience a new way to play, visit skrmiish.com to download the desktop client. Once your registration is complete, download the BETA version of the app for free on iOS devices via the App Store and for Android devices via the Google Play Store and sync your account. It’s now time for your first Skrmiish.