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Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced a new live competitive studio event to be hosted in London: PlayStation Tournaments XP.
The first finals event will take place on Saturday January 18th 2025 at a venue in London to be announced.
Qualifiers have begun on PS5 for Tekken 8, EA Sports FC 25 and Fortnite, and the Astro Bot qualifier will start on December 13th 2024. Winners will progress to a regional online closed final – win this, and they’ll reach the PlayStation Tournaments XP event in London.
The Fortnite PlayStation Cup will have a $125,000 prize pool. It’s not clear what the prizing is for the other games.
The Tekken tournament appears to be separate to this recent £6,000 Tekken 8 tournament, which was funded by PlayStation in partnership with Bandai Namco UK.
PlayStation Tournaments XP is a global tournament, with flights and accommodation provided to the finalists, who will be seeded into one of four teams (Triangle, Circle, Cross, and Square, named after the buttons on a PlayStation controller) to compete in matches and earn XP for their team.
Each team will also have a Team Captain and Specialists – a crew of ‘community favourites’ who specialise in one of the four featured titles. They will cheer their team on and participate in interviews, with a specialist from each team streaming their perspective. These personalities will be revealed in the coming weeks.
After four rounds of competition and surprise mini-games, the top two teams will compete to become the inaugural PlayStation Tournaments XP champions.
Viewers will also be able to watch the action via a livestream on the PlayStation Twitch and YouTube channels, and win prizes.
Sony said:
“This isn’t just about competition—it’s about connecting with the community, creating unforgettable moments by challenging and making new friends along the way. Whether you’re aiming for the win or just enjoying the ride, XP is all about good times, great games, and unforgettable experiences.”
Sony Interactive Entertainment
“It’s time to level up! So grab your DualSense controller, join the fun, and let’s see if you’ve got what it takes.”
There are also other casual tournaments running this month, with gamers able to unlock PS5 avatars as part of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
Elsewhere, Utilita Arena Birmingham will host a separate ‘PlayStation: The Concert’ music event on Monday April 21st 2025, featuring live music from God of War, The Last of Us, Horizon franchises, Ghost of Tsushima and more.
There’s more info at compete.playstation.com
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
