The North American branch of German automotive marque Porsche has announced the launch of the inaugural Porsche Esports Carrera Cup North America season.

The sim racing competition will take place from March 18th to April 22nd, with its qualifiers running from February 18th to 25th on the iRacing platform.

Qualifying rounds on the virtual versions of Road America and Sebring International Raceway will determine the top 40 drivers based on their aggregate times in iRacing’s Time Attack mode. Similar to the real-world Porsche Carrera Cup, drivers will use a default setup to ensure a level playing field.

Each of the six rounds will include a 60-minute practice session and 15 minutes of qualifying before drivers take to the grid and compete in a 40-minute sprint race. The race winner will receive 25 championship points, while two points will be awarded to the driver who earns Pole Position. The driver who sets the fastest lap during a race will receive a bonus point.

Porsche is no stranger to the world of sim racing, having operated several events over the past six years. In May 2025, the marque opened a dedicated facility at its Cologne headquarters for its factory team to practice and compete.

In addition to its North American championship, Porsche continues to host regional competitions in the UK and around the world. The UK edition attracts some of sim racing’s biggest names such as Team Redline driver Sebastian Job.

Despite the growth of sim racing slowing down following its initial boom period in 2020, the discipline continues to attract new stakeholders looking to enter the esports industry.

iRacing, the platform used for the Porsche Esports Carrera Cup North America season, remains one of the scene’s most popular titles. In January, it announced the return of the IndyCar Thrustmaster iRacing Pro Series, featuring a $50,000 (~£36,582) prize pool.

The Apex Legends shutdown topic is trending after news that Nintendo Switch support is ending, leading many players to fear the game itself is shutting down. In reality, most of the panic is rooted in mixed signals and outdated information.

Here’s what’s officially confirmed, why the rumors started, and what Apex’s future really looks like in 2026.

No. There’s no official announcement that Apex Legends is shutting down in 2026.

However, the game publisher EA released an official statement confirming that Apex Legends Season 29 would be the final update for Switch 1. From August 4, 2026, you won’t be able to play Apex Legends on Switch 1 anymore.

Many players misunderstood this information as meaning the entire game would shut down, which simply isn’t the case. Rather, Apex will continue on Windows PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch 2, with future seasons still supported.

EA and Respawn didn’t reveal a specific reason for their decision, but their announcement indicates a clear direction.

As Apex Legends evolves, the team wants to keep delivering a “high-quality experience.” However, the reality is that the Switch 1 cannot keep up with where the game is heading in 2026.

In general, publishing studios often phase out older platforms when the hardware can’t keep up anymore, especially in cross-platform games. This is because supporting one weaker version slows development, since features and performance have to be built around the lowest-performing system.

The good news for Apex Legends Switch players is that EA confirmed that all in-game progress, purchases, and earnings are linked to your EA account. This means that all items, including Apex Coins, will carry over to Nintendo Switch 2, even if the console is purchased after August 4, 2026.

Apex Legends Mobile shut down in May 2023, less than a year after its global launch. Despite strong initial downloads, long-term engagement and monetization failed to meet expectations.

The Apex Legends Mobile shutdown is probably a major reason players worry about the main game’s future. However, the two situations aren’t really comparable.

Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment discontinued Apex Legends Mobile after deciding it couldn’t be supported to the standard a live-service game needs.

Despite a strong launch, the team said the game’s content fell short in “quality, quantity, and cadence.”

Yes. Based on the current active player count across major platforms, Apex is very much “alive” in 2026.

According to SteamCharts, Apex Legends averaged 93,484 concurrent players on Steam in 2025, peaking at 262,219 active users in May of the same year. What’s more, it’s still trending strongly into 2026.

In January 2026, SteamCharts reported an average of 86,433 concurrent players, reflecting a 9.71% gain from the previous month.

In the end, the talk about Apex Legends shutting down boils down to confusion and misinformation—a classic case of “broken telephone.”

In August 2026, the original Nintendo Switch will be discontinued because it can’t keep up with new updates, but Apex will remain available on its main platforms with new seasons and updates. For most players, it’s merely a platform change, not the end of the game.

Fortnite can feel completely normal until Epic suddenly takes matchmaking offline. In most cases, it’s not a problem on your end, but rather scheduled Fortnite server downtime—basically, planned maintenance before a major update or hotfix is pushed live.

To help clear any confusion, you’ll find the latest Fortnite server status in this guide, along with a clear answer to when the Fortnite servers will come back online.

No, the Fortnite servers don’t appear to be down right now (last checked: 14:00 UTC on February 4, 2026).

The next Fortnite server downtime is scheduled for February 5, 2026, at 09:00 UTC, for the v39.40 mid-season update. Remember that Epic disables matchmaking roughly 30 minutes before planned maintenance.

If you’re not sure how long you have to wait until Fortnite server downtime begins, you can refer to the table below.

Note: These times are based on standard time conversions. Local start times may change by 1 hour due to daylight saving time changes in each region.

Fortnite server downtime usually lasts between 2 and 3 hours for mid-season patches. This means that, if maintenance begins at 9:00 AM UTC, you can generally expect the servers to come back online by 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM UTC at the latest.

It’s worth mentioning that downtime is significantly longer during the launch of a new Fortnite season or chapter. These updates involve massive map changes and technical overhauls, often keeping the game offline for 8–12 hours, or longer.

That said, you can usually start downloading the patch about 30–45 minutes after downtime begins, even while the servers are still offline. That way, you’re ready to explore the new content as soon as it goes live again.

Fortnite downtime usually follows a predictable schedule, but unexpected technical issues can occasionally cause delays or extended outages. This table tracks both past downtime periods and upcoming maintenance to keep you fully informed.

When Fortnite goes down, it usually isn’t random. Most outages occur because Epic is either taking the game offline intentionally (to deploy an update) or a key feature is experiencing issues and requires fixing.

Here are some reasons that Fortnite servers go offline:

Even when the game launches, you might still see matchmaking errors if core services are not stable enough. To check Fortnite server status, the following options are usually the fastest and most reliable:

To determine if Fortnite is offline only for you, or if you’re experiencing a regional or global outage, you’ll have to check the official Epic status page.

If the Fortnite status page shows that there are matchmaking and login issues, it’s usually not a local problem, and you’ll have to wait for the servers to come back up.

If everything is operational, then you can try the following fixes:

Cloud9 New York has parted ways with three of its four players ahead of the Call of Duty League’s (CDL) Major 2 qualifiers.

The franchise, operated by North American esports organisation Cloud9, finished the opening Major of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 season in last place.

While the franchise has yet to comment on its roster changes ahead of the next wave of online qualifiers, the trio of Reece ‘Vivid‘ Drost, Ben ‘Beans‘ McMellon, and Marcus ‘Afro‘ Reid have confirmed their free agencies following a disappointing opening Major.

The team’s season began on the back foot, earning a win-to-loss record of 1-6 during the five weeks of Major 1 qualifiers. Its sole victory came in week five, where Cloud9 New York scored a 3-0 sweep over Vancouver Surge.

The online qualifiers could’ve yielded a different outcome for the team, with five of six matches going to game five; however, the opponents emerged victorious.

“Sorry to the C9 fans that we couldn’t get the results needed to be better, and that’s on us,” wrote Afro on social media.

“No complaints,” added Beans. “Did not play anything like I know I can. Focusing on myself and locking in.”

With Makenzie ‘Mack‘ Kelley as the sole remaining player on the Cloud9 New York line-up, the franchise has a limited window to sign new players as it prepares for the Major 2 qualifiers.

Taking place online from February 13th to March 22nd, 12 teams will compete to earn CDL Points that determine seeding for the second LAN event of the season.

Unlike Major 1, only ten of the 12 teams will qualify for DreamHack Birmingham, the first CDL event in six years to be hosted in the UK.

2XKO serves as Riot Games’ first foray into the Fighting Game Community, and the studio is taking no half measures when it comes to making it a success. Based in League of Legends’ world of Runterra, 2XKO puts LoL’s champions in a more intimate arena to battle it out, and with its free-to-play build, it is theoretically one of the most accessible fighting games in 2026.

League of Legends is also known for being one of the most accessible MOBAs on the market, thanks to its free-to-play model, and it seems that 2XKO is following suit. Still, if you’re new to fighting games, or perhaps a veteran wondering if the game has enough meat on the bone for high-level play, you should know that 2XKO is a lot more complex than it seems.

So, let’s have a look at why 2XKO is approachable and seems easy on the surface, where the difficulty comes from, and the pros and cons of the game’s complexity.

2XKO is not a ‘legacy fighter’, as it is new and hasn’t got decades of titles predating it. This has its pros and cons, but for approachability, it’s a major pro, since 2XKO can put in a bunch of modern mechanics without upsetting a pre-established FGC audience. These mechanics include easy inputs for specials, auto-combos, and extensive combo training modes.

This means that beginners don’t have to learn movement inputs, like quarter and half circles, which you wouldn’t be able to take out of Street Fighter, for instance, as they have been a part of that franchise for decades. This also means that beginners don’t have to learn combos right away, and can thus ensure that they learn the basics first, like movement, the neutral game, and utilising assists.

As a 2D tag fighter, the 2XKO characters also share a fair few universal mechanics. This, along with easy specials and auto-combos, aren’t unique to 2XKO, but when combined, does make the game theoretically good to get players into the FGC. In a 3D fighter, this is something that Tekken 8 suffers from, since each character has dozens of unique moves; learning a character is a huge time sink.

The 2XKO roster is also from League, and thus, people want to play these iconic characters, yet there isn’t the preconception of who they should play, unlike legacy fighters. Still, learning the game might be a lot tougher than League of Legends players probably hoped for.

As a League of Legends fighting game, 2XKO largely follows a similar model to LoL, being free-to-play, offering paid cosmetics, and built to be one of the most approachable titles in its genre. This doesn’t mean 2XKO lacks complexity or difficulty.

When players graduate from auto-combos, they’ll quickly find there is a lot to learn. Despite the 2XKO release date being reasonably recent, pros have already discovered elaborate combo strings which can last for dozens of hits. Learning combos is often an intimidating yet exciting process for newcomers, although it’s already clear that there is a lot to master to get the most out of these combos, especially with the assist mechanic.

Then, there’s the movement aspect of the game. 2XKO is fast and frenetic, likely built to be as visually exciting as possible for esports purposes. It involves dashing almost constantly, yet if you dash at the wrong time and don’t get your spacing right, you’ll quickly find yourself open to a combo. The speed of movement will be something newcomers will likely struggle with when trying to climb the 2XKO ranks for the first time.

With 2XKO’s approachable mechanics and increased complexity when taking the game more seriously, it gives players an easy entry point into the fighting game genre. The obvious pro is that LoL fans can get involved without much experience, and play their main in two games. The con is that this could prove to be a bit of a red herring.

While they feel confident, they could quickly find that 2XKO’s layers are beyond what initial experiences portrayed, and climbing the 2XKO ranks is going to be gruelling. Then again, if you want to sell a gruelling grind to the top for anyone, League fans aren’t a bad audience.

A major pro about this approach is that complexity often leads to longevity for fighting games. While Mortal Kombat is a massive name in the genre, the games aren’t known for long life cycles, usually lasting two years competitively, largely because of how simple the games end up being and how that can lead to issues with balancing zoning. 

By contrast, Street Fighter 6 is approaching its third year and seems to be hitting its competitive peak, and even though it has had a rough road, Tekken 8’s second anniversary continues to bring competitive success. With 2XKO having a mix of approachability, yet a lot of complexity beneath the hood, and a free-to-play model, it’s a great way to get into FGC esports.

The flashy nature of the 2XKO roster and its speed might make it hard for beginners to play in ranked, but it does make the game a great watch. This design will hopefully help the game’s longevity and FGC esports success.

2XKO is very much a modern fighting game. It’s about speed, flashy visuals, and approachability to get Riot Games’ considerable existing fan base involved. Theoretically, everything about 2XKO’s approach should result in a strong casual audience and a healthy, competitive scene, especially because mechanics like auto-combos were a feature of another widely successful tag fighter, Arc System Works’ Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Fun, fast, and furious, 2XKO has the complexity necessary under the hood to keep players hooked and esports athletes competing. It’s important that Riot continues to add to the 2XKO roster to keep the game fresh, but since launch, things have been looking reasonably strong. Improving balance is another important step, but the foundations should be strong enough for the rest of 2026.

2XKO is easy to learn, hard to master, and this casual-friendly yet competitive complexity has become Riot Games’ approach. Hopefully, it can add another online giant to its roster.

100 Thieves has revealed plans for its Counter-Strike 2 roster as it prepares for the 2026 competitive season.

Since finalising its roster in January, the North American organisation has yet to compete in any tournaments to start climbing the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).

In a video posted on social media, Graham ‘Messioso‘ Pitt, Head of Operations for 100 Thieves’ CS2 division, shared insight into the team’s pre-season preparations. He revealed that the practice began a week later than anticipated due to a content week, during which the team filmed several videos for the the organisation’s YouTube channel.

The revamped 100 Thieves roster will make its debut in the open qualifiers for IEM Atlanta, taking place on February 7th. From there, the top four teams will earn a place in the closed qualifier on February 10th, with the top two teams advancing to the main event in May.

“I see these events as a good opportunity to gauge where we’re at as a team,” said Messioso. “We will need to focus more on the LAN events that will follow.” The team makes its first LAN appearance on February 19th at Roman Imperium Cup V, a 16-team Tier 2 event taking place in Portugal.

Following Roman Imperium Cup V, 100 Thieves will head to Bucharest, Romania, to compete in DraculaN Season 5, another Tier 2 LAN running from February 24th to 28th.

Alongside revealing the organisation’s February plans, Messioso also announced that 100T is in the process of finalising its March and April schedule with the aim to establish itself within a highly competitive Counter-Strike ecosystem.

The return of 100 Thieves to Counter-Strike kicked off the organisation’s 2026 season on the front foot, recruiting four-time Major winner Lukas ‘gla1ve‘ Rossander as coach following the end of his playing career.

Outside of Counter-Strike, the organisation has entered a collaboration with Japanese organisation Crazy Raccoon. During the ALGS Year 5 Championship, the two organisations joined forces to compete under the Crazy Thieves banner.