Esports

Dota 2 Fans’ Reactions To Hong Kong Protests Take Over Twitch Chat Of $33 Million Tournament

We’re just days away from the biggest Dota 2 event of the year, the annual International tournament with its $33 million prize pool. Normally, this would be a time of celebration, but throughout the group stages leading into the August 20 main event, hardly anybody in Twitch chat has been talking about the games. Instead,…

Rick Fox’s League Of Legends Team Is No More

After months of internal strife following the news that one of its investors had called a fellow shareholder the n-word, the esports organization co-founded by Rick Fox has officially lost its coveted spot in the League of Legends Championship Series, Riot Games announced today.  “On August 13, the LCS and Echo Fox entered into an…

Overwatch League’s Role Lock Changes Still Can’t Please Fans

Overwatch League fans asked for change, and they got it. The season’s fourth stage kicked off three weeks ago with the introduction of a 2-2-2 role lock that requires teams to be made up of two tanks, two DPS heroes, and two supports. This change would finally put the long-reviled “GOATS” meta, which involves three…

Competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee Is Back With A Vengeance This Weekend

If you were pining for some high-level Super Smash Bros. Melee after organizers cut it from last weekend’s Evo, the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, you can get your fix this weekend. Super Smash Con’s Melee tournament, going on now in Virginia, is studded with crowd favorites like Justin “Plup” McGrath, Juan “Hungrybox”…

Smash Bros. Takes Center Stage At The Biggest Fighting Game Event Of The Year

For the first time since it was released in 2016, Street Fighter V won’t be the final headlining event that concludes the Evolution Championship Series this weekend. Instead, that honor goes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This is the first time in the history of the series that it’s ever received top-billing at the event.…

Rick Fox Accuses Fellow Esports Organization Investor Of Trying To ‘Engineer A Firesale’

In a new interview with The Richard Lewis Show, Rick Fox accused fellow Team Echo Fox investor Amit Raizada of being a “bully,” “self-dealing,” and holding the company “hostage.” “For me, unfortunately, two years in I discover the nature of who he is, and shame on me for not going to Google,” Fox said during the…

Competitive Farming Simulator Is Like An Adorable Tortoise Race

Farming Simulator, a game about planting and harvesting crops using giant pieces of agricultural machinery, held its first tournament since launching an esports league this past weekend. The results were surprisingly chill and wholesome to watch. The team Trelleborg, which came in second at last year’s FarmCon competition in Germany, found itself on the winning…

Bugha Wins Fortnite World Cup Solo Finals

Fortnite player Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf won the World Cup Solo finals today. The 16-year-old North America East player finished with 59 points and takes home a prize of $3 million. The Solo finals kicked off with a concert by electronic music DJ Marshmello, which drew fans into New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium hours before the…

Fortnite World Cup Crowd Cheers Defeat Of Notorious Cheater

Fortnite fans have had mixed opinions of North American East duo XXiF and Ronaldo since they qualified for this weekend’s World Cup Finals after serving a 14-day ban for cheating. At today’s Duos finals, the crowd booed XXiF when he appeared on the feed, then cheered when he was eliminated. In May, XXiF and his…

Nyhrox and Aqua Win Fortnite World Cup Duos Finals

Fortnite duo Nyhrox and Aqua won today’s World Cup Duos finals. The European pair scored 51 points and splits a prize pool of $3 million. The competition took place today in New York City’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, with 50 teams from across North America East, West, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Brazil facing off. NA East…

The $30 Million Fortnite World Cup Kicks Off Today

The event that competitive Fortnite players have been waiting for finally gets underway today at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. Hundreds of pros will be present at the three-day Fortnite World Cup, and thousands or millions more will be watching. When all is said and done a few will end up a…

Report: Rick Fox’s Esports Organization Plans To Sell League Of Legends Slot To Rams, Arsenal Owner

Former LA Laker Rick Fox’s esports organization Team Echo Fox plans to sell its slot in the North American League of Legends Championship Series to Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, according to a new report by ESPN It’s the latest development in an increasingly complex drama that’s been unfolding since late April when an…

Call Of Duty Pro’s Controller Stops Working In The Middle Of The Finals

Sometimes a controller breaks and it’s frustrating. Sometimes a controller breaks and you’re forced to remap buttons in the middle of a tense come-from-behind win at a major Call of Duty tournament with $200,000 on the line. That’s what happened to Gen.G’s Chance “Maux” Moncivaez this past Sunday at this year’s Call of Duty Pro…

Last Year’s Underdogs Now Have A Shot At This Year’s Call Of Duty Championship

Colt “Havok” McLendon watched the 2018 Call of Duty World League Championship from home. This year, his team could go all the way to the finals. “Before this year started, I told myself, ‘I’m going to do competitive all or nothing, or I’m going to be a streamer,” McLendon, a member of the team Gen.G…

Overwatch League is officially leaving Los Angeles next year. Well, for the most part. Season three will consist of 52 “homestand weekend events” at venues in teams’ home cities. Teams will be split into four divisions based on relative travel distance between their locations. All games will take place on weekends, as opposed to Thursday, Friday,…

Riot Delays Taking Action Against Echo Fox Over Investor’s Racist Remarks

Back in May, League of Legends Championship Series commissioner Chris Greeley gave esports organization Team Echo Fox an ultimatum: oust investor Amit Raizada over racist remarks he made in the past, or face consequences that could jeopardize Echo Fox’s future in the world of competitive League of Legends. The commissioner gave Echo Fox 60 days…

2018’s Worst Overwatch League Team Just Won A Championship

Around this time last year, the professional Overwatch team Shanghai Dragons had just finished up a history-making 0-40 season. At the time, nobody would have expected that just one year later they’d be leaving the league’s top three teams in a heap of black-and-blue bodies on the ground. Maybe they should change their name to…

Samurai Shodown Competition Heats Up At This Weekend’s Fighting Game Tournaments

Evo 2019, the premier fighting game tournament, is less than a month away, and players are spending the weekend getting ready. With their game having only released in June, it’s an especially important time for Samurai Shodown players. Nine-time Evo champion Justin “JWong” Wong hasn’t wasted any time getting up to speed after announcing in…

A Dog, A Duck, And A Wario Walk Into A Smash Tournament…

This week, America celebrates declaring its independence from England with hot dogs, fireworks, and, apparently, tanks stationed around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. But don’t let that stop you from catching Europe’s biggest Smash Bros. tournament of the year go down at Emirates Stadium in London. Currently boasting over 1,000 entrants, Albion 4 will…

The Race To Have The Biggest Prize Pool In Esports History

When Epic Games announced $30 million in prize money for this July’s Fortnite World Cup, it seemed set to be the largest ever for an esports event. That increasingly looks like it might no longer end up being the case, thanks to Valve’s Dota 2 The International 2019, the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the…