October 2025 saw a significant year-over-year decline in total gambling expenditures in Denmark, primarily due to a sharp drop in betting activity.

According to data released by the Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden), the total amount spent on gambling for the month was DKK 599m (£70m), a decrease of 3.4% from October 2024.

The betting segment experienced significant movement, despite the market as a whole showing a slight decline. The monthly data shows that betting gross gaming revenue decreased 46.0% from October 2024, making it the only vertical to show a decline.

In contrast, during the same time period, gaming machines, land-based casinos, and online casinos all saw year-over-year increases.

Online​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ casinos were major contributors to growth in October as its expenditure went up by 24.4% compared to the same month last year.

Compared to the previous year, local casino spending rose by 6.0% whereas gaming machines recorded a slight increase of 0.6%.

Due to the increase in these other product areas, the total betting expenditure decreased by 3.4%.

Consolidated​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ figures from the previous months show that the numbers for October are just a continuation of the fluctuating pattern in betting in Denmark.

In September 2025, the Authority conveyed that Denmark’s total gambling expenditures had dropped by 0.9% year-on-year, a major part being a 34.9% decrease in betting as compared to September 2024. Yet again revenues for online and land-based casinos had gone up.

The October report aligns with this statement, noting that betting remains the primary factor contributing to the decline in overall gambling performance, while digital casino play continues to grow in the regulated market.

Valve has applied an update to the Counter-Strike 2 Tournament Operating Requirements (TOR) alongside adjusting its Limited Game Tournament License, restricting how companies can use its intellectual property (IP).

As a result of the change, CS2 tournament organisers are now required to stop teams from promoting skin betting and case-opening websites through player jerseys during Ranked and Unranked events.

The update to the TOR and the tournament license now aligns Unranked and Ranked CS2 events, where no logos or advertisements from case-opening, skin trading or skin gambling sites can appear during broadcasts.

According to the Limited Game Tournament License, event operators “must not distribute or display, including on team jerseys or in any other content that may be visible during the broadcast, any content or material that either violates Valve IP or the terms of the Steam Subscriber Agreement.”

Additionally, the license specifies that tournament organisers can no longer sign sponsorships from sponsors “that generate revenue through activities that violate applicable Valve agreements or violate local law or rely on Valve’s game economics.”

It is worth noting that this change will not affect non-skin-related gambling sponsorships and platforms.

First reported by Dust2.us, the changes could have a significant impact on the Counter-Strike 2 ecosystem. Several teams competing in high-profile events are sponsored by skin gambling and case-opening sites, and have previously featured those logos on their jerseys.

The full impact of Valve’s changes to the TOR and its tournament license has yet to emerge as organisations and tournament operators adjust to adhere to the new ruling.

Teams competing at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 seemingly had advanced warning of the change, with the SkinRave sponsorship from NRG‘s jersey disappearing. Moreover, CSFAIL‘s logo vanished from Aurora Gaming‘s apparel.

With teams and individual players frequently collaborating with skin sites on various initiatives, it will be interesting to see the long-term effects of Valve’s latest adjustment to its guidelines.

Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the postponement of the Battlefield REDSEC Elite Series due to the result of an ‘unforeseen technical issue.’

The delay will impact all three participating regions for the Elite Series, including Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

In a statement on social media, Battlefield’s official account wrote: “After a thorough review, due to an unforeseen technical issue that impacted the integrity of the competition, we’ve made the difficult but necessary decision to postpone the Battlefield REDSEC Elite Series in all regions. “

The professional tournament series was originally scheduled to run from December 10th to 18th, 2025. However, the decision was made to delay the competition after in-game issues were reported by participating players and creators.

EA has not provided a new date for when fans and competitors can expect the Elite Series to return, though the developer will share more updates in the new year.

Despite the setback, the team behind Battlefield REDSEC stressed that they remain ‘fully committed’ to creating a competitive scene ‘built to last’.

The announcement was met with mixed reception from the community, with some pro players expressing disappointment with the delay, while other content creators voiced appreciation for the transparency.

EA announced Battlefield’s venture into esports earlier this year with a $1m  (~£763,850) circuit, which marked a significant turning point for the franchise. The gaming giant unveiled the Elite Series, where professional players competed at the highest level, and the amateur Open Series.

However, Battlefield’s inaugural esports scene has gotten off to a rough start as both the Elite Series and Open Series have now been delayed. The Open Series was postponed to early 2026 as a result of an ‘in-game issue’ specific to the competition.

Battlefield also faces issues outside of the esports scene, as the player base reports bugs from the recently added 1.1.3.0 Winter Offensive update.

Riot Games and UVS Games have unveiled that TCG (Trading Card Game) Riftbound will add French as an officially supported language.

Announced during the Teamfight Tactics Paris Open, the publisher will initially roll out French translations of Riftbound: Origins, the first expansion set, around mid-2026. This will then be followed by Spiritforged and subsequent expansions, with the goal of having global release convergence as soon as possible.

This marks the third official language alongside English and Simplified Chinese. More details on French product availability and rollout timing will be shared early next year.

The Spiritforged set, which is based on the Spirit Blossom Skins, is the second collection of Riot Games’ TCG and is currently scheduled for release on December 12th in China and mid-February for the English version.

Dave Guskin, Game Director for Riftbound at Riot Games, commented: We are excited to offer Riftbound in French, as we have received very positive feedback from French-speaking players who are eager to dive into the game in their native language.

“We will continue to look for ways to further expand access to Riftbound for players through additional regional expansions and localisations next year.”

Given the early success of the card game, Riot Games has been making significant steps to quickly expand the game across regions and exploring localisation initiatives. There will be additional regional rollouts starting in 2026, alongside its release in APAC.

Officially launched on October 31st across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and Oceania, Riftbound has also announced dedicated tournaments for the game. Earlier last week, the first English Regional Qualifier took place in Houston, Texas, with over 1,3000 players signing up, according to a blog post by Riot Games.

The top finishers in the Regional Qualifier will progress to the Regional Championship, where the top players will secure a spot in the Riftbound World Championship, the crowning event of the competitive scene. The upcoming two Regional Qualifiers will be held in Bologna from February 20th to 22nd, 2026, and Las Vegas from February 27th to March 1st, 2026.

French esports organisation Team Vitality has earned over $700,000 (~£525,117) through ESL‘s and BLAST‘s revenue-sharing initiatives.

The programmes operated by the tournament organisers offered teams that regularly compete in their Counter-Strike 2 tournaments a chance to earn additional revenue in addition to prize money.

Both initiatives from ESL and BLAST reward teams for frequent appearances at their respective tournaments. ESL considers average concurrent viewership to determine the share for teams competing in ESL Pro Tour events. BLAST awards ‘Tokens’ for teams attending at least four of its events, along with event placement.

Launched in late 2024, the ESL Annual Club Incentive rewards organisations competing across ESL Pro Tour events throughout the year, in addition to viewership contributions and promotional activities. A total of 16 teams this year received a share of $2.95m (~£2.2m) based on the size of the organisation’s contribution.

The size of the contribution is determined by the number of viewership points earned across ESL Pro Tour tournaments and the number of tournaments a team competed in.

Saudi Arabian esports organisation Team Falcons topped this year’s Annual Club Incentive, attending seven events, earning 74.5 viewership points and totalling 521.5 points. As a result, the organisation secured $407,422 (~£305,521), the largest share (13.8%) of the $2.95m on offer.

Team Vitality claimed fifth place in the standings with 336 viewership points earned across the seven events it attended. By ending the ESL Pro Tour in fifth, the organisation took home $262,500 (~£196,903).

Below is the full list of the top 16 teams that earned a share from this year’s Annual Club Incentive:

Following the conclusion of IEM Chengdu 2025, ESL says the Annual Club Incentive will be paid to the top 16 organisations in the first quarter of 2026. For 2026, the standings are reset, with the initiative resuming at IEM Kraków 2026, taking place from January 28th to February 8th.

The BLAST Frequent Flyers Programme uses a token system to determine which teams are eligible to earn a share of a $2m (~£1.5m) annual pot.

Tokens are distributed to teams competing in multiple BLAST events across the year, in addition to winning or reaching the latter stages of a tournament.

Across 2025, Team Vitality earned 12 Frequent Flyer tokens, securing $461,538 (~£346,441) in revenue. Combined with revenue earned from ESL’s Annual Club Incentive, the organisation earned $724,038 (~£523,519) across the two initiatives.

Team Spirit ended this year’s programme in second place with 11 tokens to its name. As a result, the organisation took home $423,077 (~£317,561).

Notably, Team Falcons and The MongolZ didn’t earn a share of the revenue due to not meeting the Frequent Flyer Programme criteria.

The 11 teams earning a share of the BLAST pot are as follows:

European esports organisation G2 Esports has announced Marcin ‘Jankos‘ Jankowski as its latest content creator.

One of League of Legends’ most iconic figures in the European esports scene returns to G2 three years after he last played for the team. In this new role, Jankos will support G2’s content strategy and media output going forward.

The announcement came in the form of a humorous skit published across G2’s social media channels. The video features the Polish player wandering the G2 facility and being rejected from becoming G2’s new player or coaching staff. In the final frames, he then announces his return to the organisation to co-stream the LEC for 2026.

The former jungler spent the majority of the 2025 season as a co-streamer for Rogue first and then Natus Vincere, following the acquisition of Rogue’s slot in the LEC.

As one of the members who were part of the G2’s legendary roster that came close to completing the golden road, Jankos was often considered the best jungler in Europe throughout those years.

Thanks to his proactive gameplay and leadership, Jankos won five LEC championships during his tenure on G2, alongside a Mid-Season Invitational title and a Worlds final appearance in 2019, making it the most successful roster the LEC has ever produced.

At the end of 2022, Jankos then moved to Team Heretics, where he wasn’t able to repeat the same results from his previous stint. Throughout the two years, his best result was fourth place, achieved in the LEC 2023 Summer Split.

This year, while transitioning to streaming, he played as the starting jungler for NORD Esports in the Northern League Championship (NLC). That being said, Jankos’ main focus was still on content creation as the team was considered a streamer team, similar to Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont’s Los Ratones.

While it’s unclear whether Jankos will continue to compete in the tier-two scene while co-streaming for G2, the Polish content creator will support the team when the new season kicks off in January.

Ubisoft has revealed its latest Share Bundles for Rainbow Six Siege X (R6), themed around competitive esports teams.

The bundles include coloured drones, gun charms and operator card backgrounds inspired by teams LOUD, M80, and FURIA Esports (FURIA).

The 2025 Support Kits are available to purchase through the official web shop for 720 R6 Credits (~$5/£4.80). The bundles are a part of Ubisoft’s R6 Share partner programme, with 50% of profits generated directly supporting the associated team.

Fans who wish to support LOUD, FURIA, and M80 further can also purchase Full Kits or Weapon Kits released earlier this year.

These kits are the latest additions from Ubisoft aimed at supporting or promoting esports organisations. This year, the developer released pro team bundles featuring unique operator skins for various partnered teams, along with legacy sets to honour the best moments from Rainbow Six esports history.

M80 has had a fairly successful run in the 2025 season so far, winning the North America League Stage 2 after defeating Spacestation Gaming 2-0 in the Grand Finals. The organisation has also successfully qualified for the 2026 Six Invitational in Paris after winning the BLAST R6 Munich Major back in November.

FURIA’s highlight of the year was becoming the champion team of the R6 RE:L0:AD 2025, one of the first events to feature the Siege X update in a competitive setting. Other spotlight moments include the squad winning the South America League Stage 2 after defeating W7m Esports 2-1 in the Grand Finals. FURIA also placed third at the 2025 Six Invitational, but only time will tell whether it can make it all the way at the 2026 crowning event.

LOUD is a new contender in the space that entered R6 esports scene back in March 2025. It acquired the RazaH Company Academy roster, a team that placed sixth out of 20 at the 2025 Six Invitational. The Brazilian organisation has not qualified for next year’s invitational yet, but it could secure a spot by winning the South America Last Chance Qualifier.

ActiveVoices, an AI-powered content distribution platform owned by OverActive Media, has secured a multi-year dubbing agreement with an unnamed global media rights company.

The deal will see the platform provide a range of services for the unnamed UK-based company’s ‘international catalogue’ of content.

According to a release, ActiveVoices will provide translation, script adaptation, and multilingual voice production for the company, which specialises ‘in premium entertainment rights management’.

The partnership follows the company borrowing C$1m (~£542,040) to scale the growth of ActiveVoices, aiming to enable ethical content distribution and help content creators overcome language barriers to reach a larger audience.

“By securing this agreement with this major global rights-holder, we are demonstrating the immediate commercial relevance of ActiveVoices and its ability to solve real distribution challenges,” said Adam Adamou, CEO of OverActive Media.

“This agreement is aligned with our strategy to build ActiveVoices into a scalable, technology-enabled platform.”

In addition to the unnamed partner, the platform has already joined forces with Aview to assist with supporting AI-powered voice and localisation technologies.

Notably, OverActive Media is the parent company of esports brand KOI and Call of Duty League franchise Toronto KOI. KOI is known for its League of Legends roster, currently competing in the LEC. For 2026, it retained its 2025 roster for the upcoming season.

In November, the company released its Q3 financial results, reporting a 14% increase in revenue from 2024 along with a 3% decrease in operating expenses as a result of consolidating brands under a single platform.

Since appearing at this year’s China Esports Conference in Shanghai, ActiveVoices is growing into an AI-powered platform that has the potential to attract stakeholders looking for new methods to distribute content across the world.