All articles tagged with #esports
Evo France 2026, set for October 9–11 in Nice, France, announced its eight-game main lineup: Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls (first Evo appearance), Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, 2XKO, Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, with Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls slated for an August 6, 2026 release.
LG has announced the UltraGear 25G590B, a 24.5-inch Full HD monitor with a native 1000 Hz refresh rate, marketed for esports and twitch-based FPS players. It can run at 1080p natively without dual-mode rebooting, and research suggests extreme Hz can reduce motion blur, but returns diminish on smaller screens and the price is expected to be premium. Pricing and market demand remain unclear, with potential buyers weighing the extra cost against established 240–360 Hz options.
Combo Breaker 2026 has banned 2XKO’s Teamfight Fuse, a duo-mode feature that lets two characters be active simultaneously but changes attack behavior to mids and disables unblockables; organizers say it disrupts Duo vs Single dynamics and will not be usable at CB2026 (May 22–24, 2026), despite some players advocating for keeping it legal.
Red Bull Knockout 2XKO in Paris was a one-day, €20,000 prize-pool fighting-game tournament. The Japanese duo Zeta|Haru and Zeta|Toshi won the main event, defeating FLY|SonicFox and SR|Inzem in the finals (3–1); USA and France teams also reached the semi-finals, with Last Chance Qualifier winners Wade and Noka earning a spot in the main draw. The prize distribution awarded €6,500 to the winning duo, with smaller shares for 2nd (€3,500), 3rd (€2,500 each), and lower placements. The event was streamed on Red Bull.
Marvel Rivals Season 8 launches May 15, 2026, introducing Devil Dinosaur as a new playable hero along with fresh stories, bundles, the Project: Heroic Age Battle Pass, and the Devil Dino Hide and Seek event. The update also adds Twitch Drops, the Ignite esports integration, and various UI/feature enhancements (Esports hub, crosshair replication, match previews, and timeline predictions) plus balance tweaks (Loki, Thor) and bug fixes for Black Widow and Captain America, plus updated College Perk costumes and a slate of new in-game content and rewards.
A podcast discussion argues that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund funding of LIV Golf, videogaming ventures, and other entertainment properties is faltering, risking major assets and soft-power aims as divestments ripple through sports and the gaming industry, with concerns about authenticity, profitability, and potential deal disruptions (e.g., EA) if the money dries up.
Texas Showdown 2026 in Houston features a star-studded lineup including MenaRD, SonicFox, Saint, Bleed, KingReyJr and Anakin, with hundreds of entrants across Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and other titles. The event is streaming on multiple channels, and day-one results cover a wide slate of games (Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear, Mortal Kombat 1, Street Fighter Alpha titles, Virtua Fighter 5, Soul Calibur 6, Capcom vs. SNK, among others) as qualifiers and top placements begin to surface.
Patch 20260326 adds new store content (Cloak & Dagger, Captain America, Brett Hendrick outfits and bundles), major visual effects for ultimates, and time-limited items including 12 esports team bundles; a free Jeff the Land Shark emote is available for April Fool's during a 3‑day event, then moves to the store. The Flight Mode! World Tour Merch Vol.2 brings Namor, Magik, and Star-Lord costumes with Times Square appearances, and PC sharing with YouTube, X, and Facebook is added. A Times Square era lead dancers event and other promos are also included.
Season 7 launches March 20, introducing the new hero White Fox, a major overhaul of Competitive mode (personal placement tracking, three bans per side, shorter ban rounds), the Tablet of Life and Time Battle Pass, an in-game Esports hub with live streams, replays and standings, plus new content like the Album feature, a Basketball Challenge mini-game, new bundles, Twitch Drops, and various fixes and optimizations.
In a small study of 14 casual esports players, drinking sparkling water during three-hour sessions helped preserve attention and reduce fatigue vs plain water, with higher enjoyment and better perceived control, while heart rate, glucose, and cortisol stayed the same. The authors hypothesize carbonation may raise arousal via TRP receptors, but the mechanism wasn’t directly tested. The study was partially funded by a sparkling-water company whose employees worked on it, and results were not directly compared to coffee or energy drinks, warranting broader replication.
Former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan revealed on Lex Fridman’s podcast that he left Blizzard in 2021 due to corporate pressure, notably the Overwatch League’s profit-driven push and a CFO-mandated revenue target that threatened mass layoffs. He says the shift diverted creative work, even though he supported Overwatch 2 and had a plan for live updates; Kaplan is now developing The Legend of California at his new studio, while still praising Blizzard as a place for game development.
A University of Tsukuba study finds unsweetened, highly carbonated water during three-hour esports sessions helps players maintain mental focus and reduce cognitive fatigue compared with plain water, boosting executive function and enjoyment while also reducing fouls. The effect is achieved without sugar or caffeine, likely via the throat sensation that stimulates brainstem-to-prefrontal pathways, and heart rate and glucose levels remained unchanged.
Drini Gjoka, a 26-year-old from McKinney, Texas, won Madden Bowl at the Madden NFL 26 Championship Series in Redwood City, CA, earning $250,000 and pushing his career earnings past $760,000; he entered as the 13th seed but prevailed, saying gaming has changed his life and he plans to train 10–12 hours daily for Madden 27.
2XKO reveals its 2026 Competitive Series calendar, outlining major and Challenger events from Frosty Faustings in January through Battle Coliseum in November, with several dates/links still to be confirmed. The schedule is decoupled from in-game seasons to allow more flexibility and broader support for events. A Frame Perfect skin bundle launches January 29 (Ekko and Ahri) to fund prize pools and TO costs, with proceeds applying to future Competitive Series events after the bundle leaves the store.
The UK military is increasingly integrating gamers and coders into its recruitment and training strategies, recognizing the skills developed through gaming—such as hand-eye coordination and quick decision-making—as valuable for modern warfare, especially in cyber defense and drone operations.