Marvel Rivals has shared the first details for its in-game esports bundles for teams competing in this year’s Marvel Rivals Ignite series.

The hero shooter title will feature bundles for Deadpool that will be available for fans to purchase in late March.

Unveiled on February 12th, the bundles for Deadpool are the first esports-focused cosmetics for the title. Each of the Partner Teams will receive a bundle, with money generated from the sales split among the organisations as part of the programme’s revenue-sharing initiative.

NetEase Games says the initiative will support the ‘healthy development’ of the Marvel Rivals esports ecosystem, which enters its second year following a successful debut in 2025.

Deadpool arrived in Marvel Rivals as part of the Season 6 update as a multi-class hero, offering players a versatile option when building a team composition in casual and competitive matches. In the Season 6.5 update, Deadpool received a buff alongside a range of other heroes with the aim of shaking up the existing meta.

The reveal of team bundles follows NetEase Games’ revealing the 12 partner teams ahead of this year’s Ignite season. Among the partner teams is 2025 Ignite champion Virtus.pro, which joins the likes of 100 Thieves, TSM, and Sentinels.

As NetEase Games continues unveiling details ahead of the new season, attention turns to the start of Marvel Rivals Championship events that determine which teams join the partner teams in regional tournaments.

Open qualifiers for the Marvel Rivals Championship begin on February 14th, with teams from across the world competing for a spot in the closed qualifiers taking place on February 21st and 22nd.

League of Legends personality Marc Robert ‘Caedrel‘ Lamont has announced that his esports organisation, Los Ratones, is closing its doors.

The news follows the ERL (EMEA Regional League) team’s elimination from LEC 2026 Versus, where it narrowly missed out on a place in the playoffs.

Announced in a YouTube video published on February 12th, Caedrel confirmed the shutdown before revealing the team would’ve ceased operating at the end of 2025 if it didn’t receive an opportunity to compete in the LEC in 2026.

Founded in November 2024, the tier-two team quickly rose in popularity, in large part due to Caedrel and his star-studded roster that included the likes of Tim ‘Nemesis‘ Lipovšek, Martin ‘Rekkles‘ Larson and Simon ‘Baus‘ Hofverberg. In July 2025, Caedrel also competed for the team in the NLC as its support player.

“It’s a really bittersweet ending,” said Caedrel during the farewell video. “The first week in the LEC was horrible; it felt like the whole world hated us. Our fate was in our hands, and we let it slip; there are no excuses.”

Caedrel also shared that there’s no chance of Los Ratones returning in the future with a new team. “Highly likely that it never comes back,” he added. “It starts and ends with that group, and it starts and ends with those players.”

Over the past two years, Los Ratones quickly established itself as one of the most popular teams in European League of Legends. In June 2025, the NLC Spring Split recorded over 220,000 viewers as fans tuned in to see the team defeat NORD Esports in the Grand Final.

Following a run of notable tier-two victories, which included winning two EMEA Masters events, the team was selected as one of two ERL organisations that would compete in the LEC for its opening split.

The team’s presence at LEC Versus has also resulted in impressive viewing figures for the league, reaching a peak of 591,691 viewers during Los Ratones’ match against Team Vitality.

“I want to say thank you to everyone for making this possible,” added Nemesis in the video. “It was probably the coolest experience of my life. Although it feels like the end, I don’t think it is.”

The 2026 Brawl Stars Championship season is underway, and Supercell has announced rewards for predicting the winner of individual matches.

Players can submit their predictions during a specified window around the Brawl Stars esports livestream, which will award points towards a reward track that includes items like icons, pins, and drops.

To participate, players need to head over to the Brawl Stars event website and log in with their Supercell IDs. For every correct guess, the reward is 75 points, while 10 additional points are given just for predicting.

With the Monthly Finals broadcast split across two weekends for different regions, players can earn up to 1,000 points. In week one, the rewards include Starr Drops and a left profile icon.

The reward track continues where players left off in week one, rewarding more Starr Drops, a Wish Pin, Chaos Drop, and a right profile icon. These rewards are for the February Monthly Finals and will change throughout the season.

The Brawl Stars Championship 2026 features six regions, namely North America, South America, East Asia, EMEA, Chinese Mainland, and SEA.

The total prize pool is set to be $2m (~£1.46m) in 2026, with six monthly seasons taking place from February to August. In May, the Brawl Cup will take place.

This will be followed by the Brawl Stars Championship LCQ in October, before the best teams converge at the 2026 World Finals.

Teams can sign up to participate each month through the in-game Championship Challenge, where 15 wins will grant them a place at the Monthly Qualifiers.

The top eight teams from each region’s qualifiers will move to the Monthly Finals, where players can earn rewards by predicting the winners. Supercell has not revealed the venue for the Brawl Cup and the World Finals yet.

The major change for 2026 is that BLAST has taken over operating the Brawl Stars Championship from ESL. At the time, BLAST had said that it would deliver an elevated broadcast and arena program along with standalone live events.

FIFAe has revealed that over 120 nations will feature across its esports ecosystem during the 2026 season.

The esports branch of global footballing body FIFA says the nations will compete across the ecosystem’s qualification pathways to earn places at FIFAe’s biggest tournaments.

This year’s FIFAe season features events in Rocket League and eFootball for consoles and mobile, offering players of all platforms a chance to compete and represent their nation in high-profile competitions.

FIFAe reveals that more information on the nations taking part in tournaments will be announced at a later date.

Qualifiers for the events take place throughout the year and begin with the FIFAe Nations League. The league lays the foundation for nation-based tournaments, with teams from the Nations League earning places at continental qualifiers to compete for places at the FIFAe Finals taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, later this year.

The eFootball Mobile event features a new two-versus-two format for 2026, aiming to highlight team-based esports while mirroring eFootball’s console tournament that also uses a similar format.

Alongside new formats, FIFAe will display its World Rankings and the FIFAe Performance Index on its website. According to a blog post, the additions are “designed to enhance storytelling throughout the year.”

Following FIFA parting ways with EA Sports in 2022, the governing body has continued to expand its esports offering through collaborations with other footballing titles. In December 2025, FIFAe confirmed the return of Football Manager esports as part of the FIFAe Club World Cup.

Players from around the world will compete in a nation-versus-nation competition to determine the best virtual football managers in the world. 2024’s event saw Indonesia’s Ichsan Taufiq secure the first FIFAe Football Manager esports trophy, winning the lion’s share of its $100,000 (~£73,236) prize pool.

FIFA’s esports efforts continue to show signs of impressive growth, with more than half of its Member Associations taking part in what is set to be the largest FIFAe season in its history.

South Korea has selected the esports coaches who will support its players competing in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Taking place from September 19th to October 4th in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, the esports portion of the event sees a variety of participating nations compete across 11 titles.

Revealed on February 12th, the four selected coaches will be responsible for selecting 37 players to compete across nine medal events. Kang Sung-hoon will spearhead South Korea’s fighting game efforts, recruiting players for Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and The King of Fighters XV competitions.

Elsewhere, former KT Rolster Head Coach Kang ‘Hirai‘ Dong-hoon is in charge of assembling the country’s national League of Legends roster. The country will be hoping to defend the title it won at the 2022 Asian Games with a star-studded roster including six-time world champion Lee ‘Faker‘ Sang-hyeok.

For PUBG Mobile, Nongshim RedForce coach Yoon Sang-hoon will pick a team to compete in the battle royale title, while Jung Myung-hoon will choose players to compete in eFootball, Gran Turismo 7, and puzzle game Puyo Puyo Champions.

The selected coaches will collaborate with the national team to create rosters capable of achieving success. South Korea will share further details on the player selection process at a later date.

Notably, South Korea will not field rosters in Pokémon Unite, Honor of Kings, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

In addition to its League of Legends victory, South Korea won three other medals during its 2022 Asian Games campaign. The country’s PUBG Mobile roster scored a silver medal, while Kwak Jun-hyouk took home bronze in the EA Sports FC Online competition.

South Korea’s second gold medal of the Games came in Street Fighter 6, with Kim ‘M.Lizard‘ Gwan-woo defeating Bruce ‘GamerBee‘ Yu-lin Hsiang in the final.

With the selection of coaches with plenty of experience spanning several genres, South Korea looks to build on the success of the 2022 Asian Games, with more medals this year.

2XKO is Riot Games’ foray into the fighting game community, a project that has been in the works for some time. Since its early access began, it is clear that Riot has made a mechanically sound, smooth, and stylish fighting game, and that has only improved since the 2XKO release date.

As far as the fighting game community is concerned, Riot Games has a gem on its hands, something with the mechanical basis to sustain an esports presence and longevity. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been the success that Riot had hoped for, and has led to a brutal decision.

2XKO has suffered layoffs, but why is this the case, and what will that mean for the fighter going forward?

Despite positive reception from the fighting game community, Tom Cannon, the executive producer of 2XKO, released a statement revealing that the 2XKO team had been reduced. This is due to the game not reaching the levels required for a team that size, despite resonating ‘with a passionate core audience.’

The goal seems to be sustainability, something that isn’t possible with the current size of the team. It has been revealed that this downsizing has been a major one, with around half the development team, around 80 employees, having been laid off. 

This might be part of the issue, as that means the 2XKO team began with roughly 160 developers. While this isn’t a massive team by any means, it feels quite large for what 2XKO ultimately became. For context, in 2024, Arc System Works had a total of 233, which famously includes the developers of Team Red and Blue, as well as non-developer staff, and is a fighting game studio with immense pedigree. 

As shocking as the 2XKO layoffs are, it wasn’t as though the game’s development was smooth. Gameplay for the title was first revealed in late 2019, and with the game’s full release in early 2026, some say they worked on it for 10 years. This is a long development cycle for a fighting game, especially with one as light as 2XKO with a team of around 160 employees.

2XKO only started looking like the game we know today around four years ago, despite a potentially 10-year development cycle. While the quality of the final product is admirable, a relatively smooth development cycle shouldn’t have taken this long, and it has meant that Riot has invested heavily in the game.

Putting such a heavy investment into a fighting game was always going to be tough. The fighting game genre has a mix of heavy competition, with many long-lived IPs, and a niche playerbase, meaning there aren’t many players compared to shooters, for instance, and it isn’t friendly to new IPs. With a team of roughly 160, working for 10 years, it was always going to be tough to get the investment back at launch with a free-to-play title.

The marketing, in hindsight, was a bit strange too, considering how there didn’t feel like a big bang for the release. The difference between early access and Day 1 wasn’t the most noteworthy, and perhaps delaying Warwick and Teemo’s release until the full release might have generated more buzz.

The layoffs were announced soon after launch, and while 2XKO has done about as well as a new fighting game IP can realistically hope to with its marketing and roster, appealing to a niche core, it wasn’t enough for Riot Games. Questions then arise about whether Riot Games’ expectations were realistic, considering the genre and product produced.

For 10 years, with a team of 160, the game itself doesn’t offer a lot either. There are currently 12 2XKO characters, a relatively small roster, especially compared to a spin-off tag fighter like Dragon Ball FighterZ. There isn’t a story mode, and not much of an arcade-style mode, two modes casuals typically start with when getting into a fighting game.

Considering that 2XKO is the League of Legends fighting game, the small roster doesn’t help its case either, as the LoL cast is massive. A bigger roster would have helped the game appeal to the LoL audience, which was needed for greater impact. Riot Games’ goal with 2XKO has clearly been its competitive and esports side, but this isn’t where fighting games get big player numbers from. 

The casual playerbase, that enjoys dabbling in vs AI and maybe some unranked matches, comes in with a bang, then leaves maybe a month after launch, but often makes fighting game launches look impressive. The ones that stick around are the competitive fans, and even the biggest fighting games don’t have massive player numbers. For instance, Street Fighter 6 peaked at around 70K concurrent players, but was down to 38K less than a month later, and now has a daily peak of around 30K according to SteamDB.  

The 2XKO layoffs are a major blow. There’s no way around it, but claims that 2XKO is dead feel far-fetched. One major advantage Riot Games still has is that its fighting game is very well made. It’s stylish, fast, watchable, and it feels great to play. This isn’t a title people in the fighting game community feel lukewarm about, like how many FPS fans feel lukewarm about Highguard.

2XKO esports success is still on the cards, especially with how recognisable the cast is and how watchable the game is. Riot Games has already got its foot in the fighting game esports door, so potential remains for success on the competitive side, but fighting game esports doesn’t have the same money behind it that Riot might be used to with VALORANT and League of Legends.

We will have to wait for more information, but the downsizing likely means that the 2XKO roster will see fewer frequent additions than initially planned. Given that 2XKO feels like a success from a purely mechanical standpoint, it almost seems like Riot had unrealistic expectations for a fighting game. It’s a niche genre, with a lot of competition, and 2XKO’s future likely hinges on how well it does competitively.

The 2XKO layoffs are a huge shame, and it is such a tough situation for those who have lost their job, but this does not seem like the end for Riot’s fighter. It is well-made, great fun, and its stylish watchability gives it a great shot at a modicum of esports success, granted Riot Games keeps its expectations realistic.

Ultimately, 2XKO is a good fighting game, and provided those who remain in the team can continue to improve it, it could be a great one with plenty of life, especially competitively. Hopefully, Riot Games is willing to stick it out with 2XKO, although it currently remains another brutal and sad story in the gaming industry.

Riot Games has revealed that the VCT EMEA Stage 2 finals will take place at the Olímpic Arena in Barcelona, Spain.

In January, the publisher had initially announced Madrid as the host city for the region’s final competition in the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT).

“We needed to adjust our plans for the event, but we’re staying in Spain and bringing the full VALORANT experience to fans across the country and beyond,” stated Riot Games in a press release.

Like in previous years, the VCT 2026 calendar consists of three regional tournaments, Kickoff, Stage 1 and Stage 2, supplemented by three global events, two Masters and the season-ending VALORANT Champions competition.

However, Riot Games has introduced a wider variety of host locations across the four VCT regions (EMEA, Americas, Pacific and China) to better connect with the game’s audiences globally.

Most notably, all Stage 2 finals will take place in new locations: Barcelona, Spain, for VCT EMEA, São Paulo, Brazil, for VCT Americas and Busan, South Korea, for VCT Pacific. 

VCT China has received a roadshow with several host cities throughout its VCT 2026 season, including Chengdu for the Stage 2 Playoffs. Moreover, VCT Pacific recently unveiled Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, as the location for its Stage 1 finals.

VCT EMEA Stage 2 will be held between Masters London in June and Champions Shanghai in September. In its latest press release, Riot Games has confirmed August 28th to 30th as the Stage 2 finals dates.

The tournament will feature 16 VCT EMEA teams competing across a Group Stage, Play-Ins and a double-elimination Playoffs bracket. 

Moreover, for the first time in VCT history, teams from the tier-two Challengers circuit will have the chance to earn a slot in the Stage 2 Playoffs and qualify for VALORANT Champions 2026.

The Japan Esports Union has announced that the country will not take part in the League of Legends event at the 2026 Asian Games to be held in Aichi and Nagoya.

Japan will be sending esports representatives to seven competitions, confirming its absence in four tournaments.

The exact reasoning behind this decision hasn’t been revealed by the Japan Esports Union. Alongside its absence in League of Legends, the host country will not participate in the Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Naraka: Bladepoint events.

Apart from Japan, Thailand also announced its withdrawal from League of Legends on February 7th. According to the announcement, this was to “ensure that the implementation is in line with the policy and appropriate budget with the National Sports Development Fund.”

Meanwhile, the Japan Esports Union has opened the selection process for Gran Turismo 7, eFootball, Puyo Puyo eSports, and team-based fighting games. Details regarding Pokémon Unite, PUBG Mobile, and Identity V will be announced at a later date.

The Asian Games will be returning to Japan after 32 years, with esports being an official medal sport and featuring 13 tournaments across 11 titles. All esports competitions will be held from September 23rd to October 2nd at Aichi Sky Expo, also known as Aichi International Exhibition Center, located in Tokoname City, Aichi Prefecture.

The previous Asian Games held in 2022 featured seven esports titles, highlighting a massive expansion heading for its 20th edition.

Talking specifically about League of Legends, South Korea won the gold medal with a roster featuring T1’s core line-up (Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, and Ryu ‘Keria’ Min-seok).

Editor’s Note: Some of the information above has been translated from Japanese and Thai, so there may be slight variations. 

Cloud9 New York has unveiled its new Call of Duty League (CDL) roster, which will make its debut in the upcoming CDL Major 2 qualifiers.

The franchise, operated by North American esports organisation Cloud9, has signed four players from the Call of Duty Challengers circuit.

Revealed on February 11th, Jacob ‘Hide‘ Bustillos, Jordan ‘Encourage‘ Byrd, Jonathan ‘Nejra‘ Pabo’n, and Arnel ‘Okis‘ Avdagic join the franchise after stints representing several notable organisations competing in tier-two.

The pair of Hide and Encourage spent the majority of 2026 competing under the Stallions banner operated by former player and content creator Thomas ‘ZooMaa‘ Paparatto. Both players competed at the CDC Dallas Open, scoring a top-24 placement.

Nejra also earned a top-24 finish in Dallas, competing for High Treason. Since making his Call of Duty debut in 2020, he has represented the likes of Team Evictix and CABAL Esports during the early stages of the Black Ops 7 season.

For Okis, Call of Duty is the second title he has competed in as a professional player. From 2020 until 2025, he competed in Fortnite, achieving a wealth of success. In August 2024, Okis scored a second-place finish at the Esports World Cup, taking home $40,000 (~£29,314) in prize money.

Cloud9 New York’s 2026 CDL campaign has started in disappointing fashion, with its previous roster recording one victory out of the eight best-of-fives played during qualifiers and the Major 1 LAN.

As a result, the franchise parted ways with its entire roster to fully rebuild its starting line-up in time for Major 2.

With a brand-new roster filled with some of the strongest Challengers talent, Cloud9 New York has a chance to turn around its poor start to Black Ops 7. This starts with having a solid showing during the six-week Major 2 online qualifiers. The new line-up makes its CDL debut against G2 Minnesota on February 15th.

Treyarch has revealed plans to remove aim assist from sniper rifles in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Ranked Play mode.

The change will mirror the rules and restrictions used in the Call of Duty League (CDL) and Call of Duty Challengers circuits.

While teams opted to restrict the use of sniper rifles in competitive play, the decision was quickly reversed after it was revealed that aim assist for the category can be switched off, creating a skill gap among players using the rifle in Search and Destroy matches.

Aim assist remains an integral mechanic of the Call of Duty franchise, helping players keep track of targets by providing automatic rotational adjustments. For Black Ops 7, changes to rotational aim assist have reduced its effectiveness, but it remains strong when using a sniper.

In addition to the CDL adopting sniper rifles without aim assist, Treyarch will make the same change to Black Ops 7 Ranked Play to ensure the mode follows the same restrictions featured at the highest level.

“We’ll be disabling sniper auto aim in Ranked to match the new CDL settings in an upcoming update,” said Lawrence Metten, Associate Director, Design at Treyarch, on social media.

With sniper rifles remaining in the weapon pool following the Season 2 update, the competitive meta remains unchanged, with players continuing to use the VS Recon alongside the Dravec 45 submachine gun and the M15 MOD 0 assault rifle.

With minimal changes to the maps and weapons used in Call of Duty esports, the community’s attention turns to the online qualifiers for the second Major of the season.

Taking place from February 13th to March 22nd, the six weeks of online qualifiers determine which of the ten teams book their places at the Major 2 LAN taking place as part of DreamHack Birmingham from March 27th to 29th.

Teams seeded seventh to tenth will compete in the Play-Ins to earn a place in the double-elimination playoff bracket, where the remaining teams compete for the lion’s share of a $365,000 (~£267,570) prize pool.