Esports

Why Riot Is Pissed Off At A League of Legends Streamer

If you’re a popular League of Legends eSports player, who actually owns the streams of your matches? That’s a complicated question, but in the case of ultra-popular pro Sanghyuk “Faker” Lee, the answer seems clear cut. Another streamer, however, found a loophole that’s thrown it all into question. And controversy. Twitch streamer StarLordLucian runs a…

The UK Is Getting Its First eSports Arena in March

When we considered last month whether 2015 will finally be the year that eSports gets big in the UK, we mentioned plans for Gfinity’s eSports arena in London. Well, it’s opening in March. There’s enough space for 600 people in the Gfinity Arena in Fulham Broadway, in the “comfiest seats in eSports“. It’s part of…

One Of League Of Legends’ Best Players Gets Benched

When the North American League of Legends pro team Team Curse picked up Korean player Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin last year, they thought they’d signed one of the best players in the world. Now just four months later, Piglet’s coach announced that he’s been replaced by a relative rookie in the starting line-up. The sudden change…

Riot released a lengthy statement about the recent revelations that a League of Legends team manager had threatened one of his players this morning. The company’s explanation of its investigation and the ensuing discussion on the League subreddit are both worth reading for fans of the game and eSports followers.

The White House Is Trying To Sell Obamacare To Gamers

The deadline for getting health insurance through Obamacare is February 15, and the White House has enlisted heavy hitters from the eSports community to encourage players to sign up. The White House explained how this came about in a blog post today, too: “Don’t know what eSports is? You should. Electronic sports — or eSports…

League Of Legends Team Fires Manager For Threatening One Of His Players

German eSports team Meet Your Makers (MYM) has “released” its manager Sebastian “Falli” Rotterdam following the revelation that he had threatened League of Legends player Marcin “Kori” Wolski to intimidate him against quitting the team. MYM announced that Rotterdam has been “immediately released” from the team as part of a lengthy message posted on its…

League Of Legends Player Tries To Quit Team, Manager Freaks Out

The new League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) is only just beginning, but the popular esports event has already been hit with a scandal as revelations surfaced yesterday that a manager of a well-known team threatened one player’s mother so he wouldn’t try to leave. The team in question is known as “Meet Your Makers”…

Valve To Counter-Strike Pros: Never Bet On Matches

Recently there have been accusations (some proven) of match-fixing and illicit betting in professional Counter-Strike matches. Valve announced their verdict against the trend, bringing their ban-gavel down on multiple bigtime North American players. Now, they’ve added some stern advice: pros should stop betting altogether. In a recent post on the Counter-Strike blog, Valve explained: “Professional…

One Of StarCraft’s Biggest Players Is Leaving For Dota 2

One of StarCraft II’s most accomplished and well-known esports players is retiring from the game after two and half years at the very top of its competitive scene. Sasha Hostyn, or “Scarlett” to her many fans, recently revealed that she’s stepping away to try playing Dota 2 instead. Scarlett explained her decision to step away…

The League of Legends tournament allowing one LGBTQ person per team has apologized and removed its widely criticized restrictions. “We’ll also be keeping our promise of having an open dialogue with all parties as we plan this and future events,” the group said.

Only One LGBTQ Person Allowed Per Team In LoL Tournament [UPDATE]

Garena, operator of League of Legends in places like Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and the Philippines, is hosting an all-women eSports competition. Hurrah! There’s just one problem: they’ve put a limit on the number of LGBTQ people allowed per team because they might offer an “unfair advantage.” It’s a puzzling policy that could’ve, admittedly, been mangled…

Two Of Pro Counter-Strike‘s Best Matches Yet

MLG X Games Aspen, the year’s first seriously big pro Counter-Strike event, took place over the weekend, and people were expecting big things. It did not disappoint. Not in the slightest. Day one actually saw many of the sport’s top teams—including Dream Hack Winter 2014 champs LDLC—lose in relatively inauspicious fashions, but apparently they were…

Competitive Hearthstone Had Serious DDoS Problems Over The Weekend

One of the most accessible esports going, Hearthstone also proved itself one of the most open to denial of service attacks over the weekend, as three online tournaments were interrupted by attacks in two days. The Daily Dotnot only reportedon the attacks that caused problems with Hearthstats Challenger League, Kinguin Winter and ESL events Friday…

American Counter-Strike Scene Hit Hard By Pro Cheating Bans

Recently, substantial evidence came to light that a number of pro players had been involved in a huge Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match-fixing/gambling scandal. Valve took their time investigating, but now they’ve finally decided to bring the hammer down. Hard. In the wake of a multi-team conspiracy that saw one of the best Counter-Strike teams in…

The first big Counter-Strike competition of the year is happening right now. MLG X Games Aspen just kicked off, and it’s running all weekend. GosuGamers has a good primer on the big storylines to keep an eye out for. Watch it all unfold below. If you want to know when various teams are playing, there’s…

‘Salty’ Was One Of 2014’s Best Words

And that’s not according to me, that’s according to the American Dialect Society, who earlier this month held their 25th Word of the Year awards. As the Wall Street Journal (via Daily Dot) report, “salty” was named as one of the winners of “Most Likely to Succeed”, a kind of heads-up award for a word…

One Of The Best Counter-Strike Teams Practices In A Spooky Mansion

Ninjas in Pyjamas—aka NiP—came so close to pulling off a massive upset and winning last year’s Dream Hack Winter finals that it hurt. But the stinging taste of defeat eventually fades, and I imagine having a rad (though weirdly spooky) mansion to train out of doesn’t hurt. Pro Counter-Strike teams like NiP pretty much have…

The Best StarCraft II Moments from Last Year

Even though we still have to wait for the second expansion, Legacy of the Void, the competitive StarCraft II scene is well and alive and had a great 2014. SC2HL‘s compilation is proof of that, showing the highlights of some incredible games from last year. Goosebumps/10 edit from beginning to end thanks to the commentary…

The 2014 Hearthstone Championship Trophy Is An Egg

Hearthstone is a game of ups and downs, where anything can happen at the drop of a card. That sentiment is even more true at competition level. This past weekend, China’s Blizzard operator, NetEase, held the quarterfinals to their new Gold League e-sports event, and the HearthStone competition was fierce. Announced and launched last year,…

Pro StarCraft Player Suspended After Longest Match Ever

There are many ways to win a StarCraft II match. Countless tactics, schemes, and ways of naming each of your beautiful baby zerglings that you love dearly I mean what no that’s crazy nobody does that. This, however, is probably not a strategy you should ever employ. No, that time stamp is not wrong. The…