Dota 2 Fantasy picks for TI 2026: best players, Emblems, and more
Dota 2 Fantasy returns for The International 2026 (TI 2026), giving everyone another way to follow the action and earn rewards throughout the tournament. Available directly inside ...
Can Counter-Strike 2 break the EWC 2026 viewership record?
The Esports World Cup (EWC) mega-event is well underway in Paris, boasting an eye-watering $75 million prize pool, spread across 25 tournaments and 24 titles. As one of the most si...
“Before you do a pull-up, you should be able to hang on the bar”: NA pros and coaches aren't worried about the East, they're worried about fixing the path to pro first
FlyQuest jungler Johnson “Griffynn” Le moved to Korea at 16 years old to try and climb up the region’s brutal League of Legends player development system. It was uncomfortable, esp...
“Unacceptable conditions”: The VALORANT Challengers Americas LCQ disaster highlights potential pitfalls of the 2027 VCT ecosystem
The question of how much freedom versus top-down control game publishers should implement in their respective esports ecosystems is often raised in discussions of esports sustainab...
BLAST Open Porto 2026 preview: schedule, format, teams, and more
BLAST Premier returns to Portugal, but this time it’s breaking new ground. After three stops in Lisbon, BLAST Open Porto 2026 will take the world’s top Counter-Strike 2 teams to Po...
Gambling in esports: Oddin expands, BIG partners with Razed, League of Legends grows at Kalshi
“We are not taking an esports product and placing it in a casino lobby,” Market Suchar, the co-founder and managing director at Oddin.gg says. Suchar’s comments came as Oddin annou...
Nobody is playing fighting games anymore, and Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls isn't helping
My X feed is basically everyone and their mom talking about how unplayable Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is after ongoing PC performance issues. And it sucks, because I was looking ...
Alright, I've watched the Tekken 8 EWC tourney so far, and here is my prediction for the Top 8
The excitement never ends for the FGC at the Esports World Cup, with Tekken 8 currently in full swing. Even in just the first two group stages, the competition has already shown th...
AI vs expert: Return of the bots for LEC week three predictions
Week three of the LEC Summer Split is upon us, and the humans-versus-robots scoreboard is starting to take shape. Look away now, clanker nay-sayers. After week one, it was Claude a...
Valve has finally made Dota 2 worth grinding again with the latest MMR system update
It’s no secret that professional Dota 2 players have been breaking MMR records like twice a year. Most recently, we had PARIVISION’s wonderkid Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov ...
Warzone esports is at risk of being ruined by controversial audio tunes
In battle royale titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone, audio plays a critical role for players dropping into the action. With optimal audio settings, it’s possible to hear the foot...
“The struggle has to exist!”: The FGC is finally realizing games don't have to be hard to be good
The fighting game community has a gatekeeping problem. When Evo attempted to bring in a mainstream gaming audience by inviting streamers to have showmatches at the large fighting g...
Does gaming really burn calories? What the science says
Anyone who’s crawled out of a tense ranked match or double-overtime game knows an all-too-familiar feeling. Your palms are sweaty, your heart is pounding, and you leave the match f...
I'm either a psychic or I cursed 2XKO to fail: Riot's fighter could be on its last leg at CEO 2026
I've been saying that 2XKO is a dead game for a while. I know we all love to say that in the esports industry, but it just felt like a matter of time. While my colleague has argued...
“It's important to foster the grassroots nature of TCGs”: T1 CEO Joe Marsh talks entering Riftbound, T1 bundle cards, and grassroots communities
Back in June, T1, the most decorated esports organization in League of Legends, revealed it had signed Nick “LS” De Cesare as its inaugural Riftbound signee. For those ...
Supernova and CEO are coming, but the discourse has muddied the excitement. The FGC complains way too much, I'll admit it
I never thought I'd say this, but the FGC complains too much. Yes, even for me. There are a ton of fighting game events coming up. The Esports World Cup (if you care) has Tekken 8,...
Community is the key to the esports industry's success, not winning tournaments, says Fnatic's former CEO
Esports is going in the wrong direction, if you ask me. And nobody has asked me. But all this focus on bravado, mainstream appeal, and flashiness won't spell long-term success. To ...
Riot Games' suspension of League of Legends player Syzyf raises questions
Last week, Riot Games announced the suspension of Polish League of Legends player Jakub “Syzyf” Ruta. Riot announced a 12-month ban for the player, who allegedly allowe...
It’s time for Call of Duty esports to return to an open ecosystem
Over the past decade, the Call of Duty esports scene has experienced a wealth of peaks and troughs as a result of format changes that have managed to gatekeep one of gaming’s most ...
AI vs expert: Human to bounce back for LEC Week 2 against Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT?
Week two of the LEC Summer Split is here, and so is round two of —drum-roll, please—humans versus robots. Last week, I handed Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini the opening-weekend LEC fi...
EWC 2026 viewership recap: which games attracted the most viewers?
The Esports World Cup (EWC) returned in 2026 with a life-changing $75 million prize pool, spread across 25 tournaments and a cross-title Club Championship. However, even the magnit...
Marvel Tōkon Fighting Souls beta broke Steam records, but its future in the FGC seems dire
If you thought the fighting game community was going to have a quiet, peaceful weekend during the Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls open beta, you clearly do not know the FGC. Between m...
“If you slow things down too much, you risk hurting the gameplay”: The FGC is conflicted and salty about fighting games getting too slow
Fighting games have been around since the late 90s, with tournaments following shortly. Like other esports scenes, this one is undergoing constant evolution. Fighting game tourname...
“Take out your feet and do it”: Whether it's for $0 or $100,000, Huntsman will never stop competing in the Smash 64 Combo Contest
There is one frustrating downside to having too many hobbies: you miss things. I missed the massive Supernova Super Smash Bros. tournament last year for Monterey Car Week, and sadl...
Dota 2 Meepo hotfix targets game-breaking item duplication exploit
On Jul. 28, 2026, Valve released a Dota 2 hotfix addressing a critical Meepo exploit that allowed players to duplicate items and generate practically infinite amounts of gold durin...
League of Legends World Championship tickets are appearing for over $3,000, but Riot may not be the one to blame
The esports community is raging after the 2026 League of Legends World Championship finals tickets went on sale. Passionate fans set their alarm, verified their account through thr...