Esports

Digital Chaos Wins Its First Big Dota 2 Tournament

Just a week into 2017, Digital Chaos showed that their best days are still ahead after taking first place at the ESL One Genting event and making it their first big tournament win since becoming a Dota 2 team back in 2015. After placing second at TI6 last August, the esport’s biggest event of the year,…

The Weekend In Esports: The Smite World Championship Returns To Atlanta

2017’s only just started and there’s already a ton happening in esports this weekend. If you’re snowed in or just looking to completely ignore the world around you, we’ve got you covered. Here’s when and where you can watch the biggest events happening in pro gaming this weekend. Smite The World Championship for Smite is…

We’re Hiring–Come Work With Us

Kotaku and Deadspin are teaming up to cover esports, and we’re looking for some fresh talent to help make it happen. We want people who are fearless in their reporting. We want people with an intolerance for hype and bullshit. We want people who can spot stand-out moments and amazing plays in anything from Counter-Strike…

The Best Esports Plays Of 2016

In 2016, esports experienced even more highs and lows than the previous year. That’s what it means to be growing. But while the industry surrounding competitive gaming continues to expand on the backs of enthusiastic investors and hype-men, it’s important not to forget why anyone actually watches it in the first place: the people playing…

Look At This Damn Jersey

Imagine having to wear this thing on a basketball court, or during practice, or in public. Yikes.

Nebby Gets Out of The Bag, Destroys A Pokémon Team

The only two moves that Cosmog can learn are Splash and Teleport. Surely, then, a Cosmog would be useless in a Pokémon battle? Not necessarily! PIMPNITE was challenged by YouTube fans to set up a “sweep” with Cosmog, meaning, a battle in which Cosmog takes out the entire enemy team. Nobody really thought it was possible—the…

The Rise and Fall of Competitive Pokémon’s Most Hated Bird, Talonflame

Talonflame, a fire/flying Pokémon, took over the competitive scene after it was added to the monster compendium with Pokémon X & Y. For the last three years, wise competitive players made sure to prepare for Talonflame’s appearance on the enemy team. Everything changed after the release of Sun and Moon. At first, many believed Talonflame…

Watch The MLG Overwatch Invitational Going On Right Now

The Major League Gaming Las Vegas Invitational for Overwatch is about to resume with the semifinals of the winners bracket. Powerhouse Team EnVyUs is facing Cloud9, followed by FaZe Clan vs. Fnatic. The winners of those games will than face each other later today in the grand finals with a $100,000 prize pool at stake.…

Samsung Galaxy beat Kongdoo Monster 3-1 in the League of Legends finals at IEM Gyeonggi. They managed to meet expectations coming off of a solid performance at Worlds 2016, with Lee “Crown” Min-ho showing he continues to be one of the best mid-laners in the world, going on to win MVP of the tournament

Rob Corddry And Al Madrigal Host Most Cringe-Worthy Esports Tournament In Recent Memory

Backstabx just won $15,000 and took first place at this year’s Crown Duel, Clash Royale’s biggest tournament of the year. But Rob Corddry probably still doesn’t remember his game, despite chatting with him several times throughout the two-hour event. The tournament was co-hosted by both Corddry and fellow former Daily Show correspondent, Al Madrigal, two…

The Weekend In Esports: Intel Extreme Masters, Smash Bros, And Rob Corddry

The last Intel Extreme Masters event of the year is taking place this weekend in Gyeonggi, Korea, featuring a host of tournaments ranging from StarCraft II to Overwatch. But there’s lots of action this weekend to be found in the ELEAGUE for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as well as little mobile game called Clash Royale. You…

League of Legends Lands Seven-Year, $300 Million Streaming Deal

Today, League of Legends publisher Riot announced an unprecedented $300 million deal with Major League Baseball spin-off streaming company BAMTech, who will handle LoL broadcasting. Among other things, BAMTech will releasea streaming app for the esport and oversee tournament streams on Twitch, the Wall Street Journal reports BAMTech, in which Disneyrecently bought a $1 billion…

Valve’s Dota 2 Boston Major Ends Like The Battle Of Thermopylae

An epic game three between OG and Ad Finem in the Grand Finals of this weekend’s premier Dota 2 tournament showed both teams were going to leave everything they had on the stage that night. While the superior OG eventually took the series 3-1, winning $1,000,000, it wasn’t before their Greek opponents could etch their…

A Quick Look At Why Everyone Just Lost It At This Weekend’s Dota 2 Tournament 

A giant Dota 2 tournament wrapping up tonight in Boston just reached a dramatic peak after favorites OG fell to underdogs AD Finem in a stunning game three that went into the 80th minute. The match ended when one of AD Finem’s players managed to sneak into the enemy base undetected using an invisibility buff…

The Weekend In Esports: Dota 2 Returns To Boston

As the year draws to a close, most of the bigger competitive gaming events of the year are behind us. All except for one: Dota 2‘s Boston Major. After a number of roster shuffles and evolutions to the game’s meta following the summer’s International 2016, the Boston Major is a chance for new teams to…

A Modern Controller Is Splitting The Smash Bros. Melee Community

A popular Super Smash Bros. Melee controller’s potential ban from big-time esports tournament Genesis 4 has sparked a debate throughout the Smash community over what constitutes a tournament-legal controller for a 15-year-old game. The controller’s creator says its ban would be “devastating” for his business. Over a dozen years after Melee’s release, nearly everything about…

Will Ferrell Starring In Movie About Esports

Will Ferrell is making a movie about esports. ESPN says it “will have similarities with the role he had in Talladega Nights”. His schtick, as exciting and unexpected as you may find this, will be that he’s an old dude playing in competitions where nobody else is over the age of 30, and esports powerhouses…

The Highest-Ranked Overwatch Player Mains Roadhog, Suckers

Overwatch playerEvermore is a one-man apocalypse. It’s not an overstatement—he’s the top-ranked Overwatch player, and, somehow, he got there with Roadhog. Evermore’s sitting pretty with a capped 5,000 skill rating he reached just hours after Season 3 launched. Evermore is a Korean Overwatch pro named Koo Kyo Min of Team KongDoo Panthera and he’s over…

The Weekend In Esports: We Have Lift Off

This weekend, whether you love strategy or twitch reflexes, fighting games or sports, there’s something going on in the world of competitive gaming for you. So let’s get right to it, and as always, let me know what you’ll be watching in the comments or if there’s something I’ve missed. Rocket League After several weeks…

Plays Like This Are How You Go Undefeated In A Dota 2 Tournament

Team Liquid just went undefeated on every map in the DreamLeauge Season 6 tournament hosted at DreamHack Winter 2016. People have been waiting for the talent on the team to coalesce into something very special, and we might be on the verge of finally seeing that happen. While everyone on the team, from Lasse “MATUBAMAN”…