PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 is the latest stop on the Tier 1 Counter-Strike 2 event calendar, giving teams another chance to prove their worth in a LAN environment.

16 teams from September’s Valve Regional Standings (VRS) have accepted an invitation to compete at the event taking place at the PGL Studios in Bucharest, Romania, from October 24th to November 1st.

With several notable names in attendance, PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 is set to be an opportunity for teams to start building momentum before attention turns to November’s Budapest Major.

Following Legacy‘s triumph at the CS Asia Championship 2025, the Brazilian esports organisation has cemented itself as one of South America’s hottest prospects.

As the team continues to build Tier 1 event experience, Bucharest acts as an excellent opportunity to compete against others that have also earned their place at next month’s Major.

Legacy begins its Bucharest campaign with a CAC rematch against Team Liquid, another team that has started to find its feet following the arrival of Jonathan ‘ELiGE‘ Jablonowski.

Following consecutive top-six finishes at IEM Melbourne and IEM Dallas, GamerLegion seems to have transformed into one of Europe’s strongest teams.

However, a string of top-16 placements has seen the team’s form drop significantly ahead of its Masters Bucharest appearance.

The addition of Milan ‘hypex‘ Polowiec into the AWPer role has yet to yield the results expected of a team that was embarking on a trajectory towards the very top of the rankings.

GamerLegion faces off against FlyQuest in its opening Group Stage match. On paper, GamerLegion should best the Australian side, but if recent form is anything to go by, the Australians could begin their tournament on the front foot.

Having shown glimpses of brilliance since acquiring the former Eternal Fire roster, Aurora Gaming heads into Masters Bucharest with the highest VRS ranking of the teams in attendance.

Since finishing second at the Esports World Cup 2025, the team has struggled to find consistency within its Tier 1 appearances, scoring a top-eight placement at FISSURE Playground 2, a top eleven at ESL Pro League, and fourth at the Thunderpick World Championship.

PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 is the final event before Aurora Gaming heads to Budapest for the Major. A strong performance in Bucharest could act as a catalyst for a strong end to a turbulent 2025 season.

Aurora Gaming faces off against Fragadelphia Blocktober champions Fnatic in its first match of the event.

With several closely matched teams competing at the event, the Group Stage has the potential to be an exciting prospect. The top eight teams will advance to the Playoffs for a chance to compete for the lion’s share of the $625,000 (~£484,549) prize pool.

Based on recent form, Esports Insider expects the following teams to secure a Playoff place:

Legacy’s recent victory puts the Brazilians in a prime position to add a second trophy to its cabinet, while Team Liquid aims to score its first Tier 1 win since 2019.

Considering the highly competitive nature of the eight predicted teams competing, predicting an outright winner is a difficult task. Taking recent form into account, it wouldn’t be surprising to see 3DMAX and Legacy battling it out once more.

Predicted PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 winner: Legacy

It was two days before the Arc Raiders Server Slam that I decided, “Why not?”. I’ve been following the game’s progress on and off for about a year, so I know it was originally intended as free-to-play. I also know it was first announced in 2021, and maybe good things really do take time. So, the news about a free play test? Sure, it’s worth a go. 

But am I really going to pick up a $40 game after treating myself to Battlefield 6? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. After all, I honestly don’t like extraction shooters, and Arc Raiders would need to do something pretty special to get me tempted. And yet, sadly for my wallet, Embark Studios appears to have done just that. 

For the uninitiated, Arc Raiders has a bit of a Terminator meets Mad Max vibe going on. It’s a lore that works convincingly to explain why humans aren’t just freely roaming ‘Topside’, but are instead confined to underground settlements as the Arc robotic threat patrols the surface. It’s a lore I’m keen to dig into, and it undoubtedly has plenty to reveal. 

Of course, the Server Slam was just a play test, and players were confined to one map, the Dam Battlegrounds. Yet four additional maps or areas are visible in the larger world, for full release: Buried City, The Spaceport, The Blue Gate, and Stella Montis. Contained in the broader region known as South Calabretta, there’s undoubtedly plenty to learn out there.

Whatever the wider Arc Raiders world may teach us in time (and it’s seemingly set in or based on Italy), the Dam Battlegrounds was huge fun. Undeniably dystopian, storm and battle-ravaged, it’s populated with wide open, scattered, and built-up POIs. It was great to sneak and stalk around while seeking out salvageable goods and taking in the sights. 

The Dam Battlegrounds felt like a great choice for the play test, and what I hadn’t anticipated was the flexibility of this lone map. In fact, if all of Arc Raiders’ maps offer such range, we are in for a treat. Whether I wanted to skulk and loot around unseen or stalk other players from a distance, the play test could oblige. And largely, this was a lot of fun. 

Having previously played and been easily bored with Escape From Tarkov, and refunded Hunt: Showdown, I quickly found joy. The open and tactical nature of how you conduct your runs is highly appealing. Mainly solo, I largely avoided others, as I found other players mainly wanted to shoot me, though not always. Still, friendlies seemingly existed (per Reddit).

Nonetheless, the combination of proximity chat, not knowing other players’ intentions, and the very real Arc threat made each match a proper dice roll. Certainly, duoing or trioing up with friends would have offered greater fun and protection. Yet the thrill of extracting with whatever loot I could, while building my base and capabilities, felt rewarding.

Among the conversations during this Arc Raiders’ play test were many questions about the game’s decision to be third-person. To me, this works well and feels like a shrewd choice. Arc Raiders seems like a game that can draw in action-adventure gamers with lore, loot, and world-building. Yet it will also find FPS gamers in PvP, progression, and tactical planning.

For my part, seeing my customised character in the world made me feel more connected to them and their story, even if I felt a bit set back from the action. However, that’s okay in a visually satisfying environment where you can soak it in. It’s a useful perspective, too, because scanning a landscape and sky for robots feels easier over the shoulder. 

This genre-blurring view of who the game is for feels like a huge selling point for Arc Raiders. Unsurprising, then, the ‘Server slam’ event nearly tipped 190,000 players, placing the game among the top titles on Steam. But it’s that ‘one more match’ feel, exploration, and engaging combat that had me jumping back into one map time and time again.

It wasn’t all plain sailing in my view, though. I do think some tweaking can be done before the October 30 Arc Raiders release date. More than a couple of times, I deployed into matches right next to multiple Arc drones, having previously lost all guns and gadgets in the prior match. These flying death dealers weren’t friendly either, and my luck felt desperate.

Naturally, deploying with low-grade guns and no shields or medicine isn’t ideal. However, sometimes it was essential when I was on a bad skid. That makes surviving the PvE and PvP threats frustrating. My own inexperience may have played a part in such issues, true. However, it does feel like the title may need to balance things a little. 

Free player loadouts helped to get players back on their feet in the play test. But a softer learning curve, or a tweaked enemy threat level for low-geared players, may also be good. Certainly, not always being able to extract is a part of the game, but too many of those in a row can feel a little too punishing. 

Still, navigating to and hopefully successfully using an elevator was tense, joyous, deadly, and rewarding in Arc Raiders’ Server Slam. Extracting back to the underground felt like an achievement, too, even when searching for low-value essential items. Returning from runs? It felt rewarding and a little cosy to get back home.

Building out your own Raider’s space with various workbenches, crafting, and engaging with traders felt fine despite the capped access for the play test. I do wonder how extensive skill-trees, workbenches, and loadouts will get, and how this will impact action Topside. However, that’s a thought for the full release. For now, Speranza feels vitally decompressing. 

As it is, then, based on the Server Slam, Arc Raiders feels like it’s in a strong and compelling spot. Not just based on its position on the Steam most played list, but in its mix of action, adventure, self-powered play styles, and the potential for friendly or foe-ridden encounters. Unusually for me, and at $40, it’s an extraction shooter I can’t wait to get back to. 

The Halo Championship 2025 is the biggest Halo esports event of the year and the crown jewel of the esports scene. The best Halo Infinite players from across the globe will return to Seattle for the HCS’ biggest prize.

The Halo Championship Series (HCS) has announced that it will retire Halo Infinite at the end of the 2025 season. This makes the Championship 2025 the last to use the game, and it promises to be a celebration of Halo unlike any other.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Halo World Championship 2025, including its schedule, participating teams, structure, prize pool, and how to watch the event. 

As the biggest HCS event of the season, Halo World Champs 2025 takes place towards the end of the year. It will begin on October 24 and end on October 26, with all tickets for the event already sold out.

The Halo World Championships 2025 is the final HCS event of the season, and will thus be the esports swansong for Halo Infinite.

There will be 16 teams competing for the biggest prize that the Halo Championship Series has to offer, beginning with a pool play stage. The teams and the regions they represent are as follows in seeding order:

The qualified teams are seeded depending on three factors: performance in the recent Charlotte Major, which determines the top eight, global HCS points, which decides seeds 9 to 12, and the last chance qualifiers, which make up seeds 13 to 16.

Teams qualifying for the Halo World Champs 2025 through their Charlotte Major position are ranked purely for that. Only teams that did not finish in the top eight at Charlotte need to rely on HCS points or last chance qualifying to be a part of the tournament.

The Halo World Championship 2025 is a 4v4 tournament that will begin with a 16-team pool play stage, essentially acting as a group stage. There are four pools, and the 4th placed team in each of these pools will be eliminated. The remaining 12 will advance to the Champ Bracket.

This Champ Bracket stage is double-elimination, each match being a best-of-five until the final championship match, which is a best-of-seven.

Outside the main 4v4 tournament, there is also the Halo Infinite free-for-all, with qualification taking place on-site, on a first-come, first-served basis. Those on-site should also look out for the Halo Community Stage, providing a ‘Halo-fest’ type of experience and eight hours of programming each day.

Those who were unable to get tickets before they sold out will be able to follow the Halo World Championships on official broadcasts:

The Halo World Championship 2025 prize pool is split into two sections, one for the main 4v4 tournament and one for the free-for-all. The 4v4 tournament has a total prize pool of $1,000,000, which is split up as follows:

The free-for-all tournament has a much smaller prize pool of $25,000, although these winnings don’t need to be split up by a team and are distributed as follows:

The Halo World Championship 2025 is a must-watch for all Halo fans, whether it be for the esports tournaments or Community Stage. It is the apex of the Halo Championship Series and promises to close out 2025 with a bang while also providing Halo Infinite with its competitive swansong. With Halo esports making a comeback, now is the perfect time to get involved with the scene through the World Championship.

League of Legends: Wild Rift and aespa member Ningning have announced a collaborative song set to drop in the near future.

According to the teaser graphic on Weibo, the collaboration will likely be titled ‘Miss this life’.

K-pop group aespa made its debut in November 2020 with its hit single ‘Black Mamba’. Its members, Karina, Giselle, Winter and Ningning, have released numerous successful songs since, popoularising the metaverse concept and hyperpop music in K-pop.

Ningning, or Ning Yizhuo, has also occasionally worked on solo projects in the past. For instance, in 2023, the Chinese singer and rapper released the single ‘WYA’ with fellow K-pop idol Jay Park.

Today, aespa’s Weibo account dropped the first teaser for the collaboration with Wild Rift: “League of Legends: Wild Rift x NINGNING. COMING SOON…”

Released in 2020, League of Legends: Wild Rift is the mobile version of Riot Games’ MOBA esports title, League of Legends (LoL).

Considering the rising popularity of esports and K-pop worldwide, it’s unsurprising that these two phenomena have produced joint art and events for several years.

In addition to the upcoming project with Wild Rift, aespa teamed up with fighting game Street Fighter 6 and performed at the 2025 PUBG Nations Cup (PNC)

Other examples from this year alone include LE SSERAFIM’s collab with Overwatch 2, BABYMONSTER x PUBG Mobile and the PNC marketing campaign, featuring virtual K-pop group PLAVE.

Wildrift developer Riot Games also has a long history of K-pop projects such as the 2023 LoL World Championship anthem performed by New Jeans.

Levelling up in a new game enough to unlock all weapons, gadgets, and attachments is quite a slog. Luckily, it didn’t take long for players to figure out the fastest Battlefield 6 XP farming methods to climb the ranks quickly.

Even though you’ll be able to unlock the best weapons in Battlefield 6 relatively early on, our XP farming guide will put weapons like the M44, TR7 and KV9 in your hands without spending hours in full-blown gameplay.

BF6 XP farming allows players to level up in non-competitive environments, leaving players to earn XP points without investing as much time and concentration into the gameplay. This mostly happens against bots, so players can ensure they take all the kills for themselves.

XP farming is a prevalent concept far beyond Battlefield 6. It’s a common practice in nearly all games with roleplaying or progression aspects, including Call of Duty, Pokémon, and Elden Ring.

In fact, so many people are currently using this method of XP farming that there are limited slots and availability on EA’s servers. We’ll get to that a bit later.

One of the drawbacks to XP farming is that it takes away many of the enjoyable experiences of playing progression-based shooters, as you don’t have much connection to the weapons and gear you’ve earned. One of my core gaming memories (from the Battlefield franchise, no less) involved unlocking the G53 carbine rifle in Battlefield 3. To do this, you had to kill at least one enemy using the Repair Tool, ordinarily used to fix tanks. This took, as you would imagine, a very long time, and finally unlocking that weapon felt enduringly rewarding.

But that was back when I was 11 years old, and I no longer have enough time on my hands to spend hours on trivial challenges anymore. So what if Battlefield 6 XP farming takes away from some of the enduring challenges of grinding if, at the end of the day, it lets you have more fun? 

Even though we’re going to show you how to XP farm in Battlefield 6, we should warn you that it’s not particularly fun. You will spend all of your time shooting incompetent bots, completing non-competitive games, and a whole lot of time on your own. Even if it’s the fastest way to level up, I wouldn’t say it’s the most rewarding.

You will first need to head to the server browser and locate the “Experiences” sub-section. Once you’re here, you’ll be able to search in the toolbar for “XP farms”, which are different community-built portals designed specifically for XP farming.

You’ll want to choose a game mode that is fast to progress and provides a strong chunk of XP upon completion. For me, this is Rush, but Team Deathmatch is also a great shout.

You also get more XP for completing games in Hardcore mode, which can make it slightly harder at times, but you are playing against bots, so there shouldn’t be too many issues here.

After you’ve found the ideal experience, you’ll have to host the game yourself. This means you won’t have other players joining you, and you can ensure you’re playing against bots the entire time.

As mentioned before, this is a really popular method for XP farming, meaning that many of the available Portals are already in use. You should keep trying, though, because as soon as another player closes their Portal, you can begin yours.

Due to the sheer volume of XP farming servers taking up space on the Portal system, players hoping to actually play in small groups with their friends have been unable to do so. EA is now “developing adjustments” that will mitigate the effects of this.

“With so many servers focused on farming XP rather than active play, it’s become noticeably harder for players to create and find experiences to play with other people,” EA said in a community post.

“Implementing this will require some maintenance on the backend,” suggesting that EA won’t outright ban XP farming, but instead open up more server space to facilitate farming and genuine online play. These updates will go live “over the next week”, although there isn’t a specified date just yet.

Despite some of the difficulties of finding a usable server to stock up on BF6 XP, it’s a worthwhile shortcut to getting some of the most valuable weapons in the game. Though you will be eliminating some of the more intimate experiences of the game, it’s definitely the fastest way to become overpowered.

It’s not quite clear if EA is will look to ban XP farming, or if it’s planning to facilitate an equal way for players to both farm and play without the expense of the other. Ultimately, if this method is removed from the game, there will be plenty of other ways to stack up on Battlefield 6.

ZETA DIVISION has announced the departure of VALORANT players Hikaru ‘CLZ’ Mizutani and Kim ‘TenTen’ Tae-young.

The news comes roughly a month after both athletes began exploring other options for the 2026 season as restricted agents.

Previously a professional Fortnite player, CLZ transitioned to VALORANT esports in 2020, where he won several Challengers Japan competitions. In October last year, the Japanese player signed with ZETA ahead of the 2025 VCT Pacific season.

“Thank you very much to my teammates, staff, and fans who have made their voices heard at all times,” shared CLZ in a press release.

“We will not waste the experience and frustration we have gained here, and we will continue to challenge ourselves to the next stage with all our might.”

Unlike his former teammate, TenTen has only been part of ZETA’s VALORANT roster since April this year. The younger brother of Kim ‘Meteor’ Tae-oh commenced his esports career in late 2022. 

Prior to his time at ZETA, TenTen played for T1’s Academy team with which he placed third at Challengers 2025: Korea Stage 1.

TenTen also commented on today’s announcement: “I was really happy to be able to make my debut in the Pacific League in Japan and with my dreamy team, ZETA DIVISION, with my best friends. I hope you will continue to receive a lot of support from now on!”

ZETA DIVISION has been competing in VALORANT since 2020, growing a significant fandom especially among the game’s Japanese audience.

One crucial reason for the organiation’s popularity is its association with former roster member Koji ‘Laz’ Ushida. Even after his retirement, ZETA kept Laz signed as a content creator who helps attract impressive viewership numbers for his team.

As a partner team, ZETA has a secure slot in Riot Games’ franchised VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) until 2027. However, the Japanese organisation has struggled to keep up with other VCT Pacific competitors year-on-year.

Following a third-place at Masters Reykjavík 2022 and a Champions attendence in the same year, ZETA has failed to qualify for another international tournament. This trend persisted throughout 2025 as the roster suffered early elimination at VCT Pacific’s Kickoff, Stage 1 and Stage 2 competitions.

Interestingly, though, ZETA was the only team in Stage 2 to defeat Masters Toronto champion Paper Rex, highlighting the slumbering potential of the former roster.

Paper Rex has officially parted ways with Aaron ‘mindfreak‘ Leonhart following his move to the organisation’s inactive roster in July 2025.

The Indonesian VALORANT player has been part of the squad since its formation back in 2020 and also represented the Singaporean organisation in Counter-Strike.

“Aaron has been part of Paper Rex since our founding in 2020, starting first on our CS:GO roster and transitioning with the team to VALORANT. We will never forget the journey we took together, the clutches, the memes, and the memories we made,” the organisation announced.

mindfreak might not have an international VCT trophy to his name; however, he played a key role in helping the team become one of the most dominant sides in the Pacific region. During his time on the active roster, he also qualified for nearly every international VCT tournament.

He was then replaced by the young Patrick ‘PatMen‘ Mendoza and was allowed to explore new opportunities, though he was often seen sitting alongside head coach Alexandre ‘alecks‘ Sallé while Paper Rex competed at the highest level.

“The End. Cant believe how time flies so fast, its been 5 years. We started from literally nothing to where we are right now. Its safe to  say its not one of the best, but the best moments and journey of my life. I’ll see you around, Adios mi amigos,” mindfreak shared on X (Twitter).

There is currently no information on which team he will be joining ahead of the 2026 VCT season.

2025 was arguably one of the best seasons for Paper Rex so far, as the team lifted its first-ever international VCT trophy, the moment fans had been waiting for over five years.

The roster performed consistently throughout the year, finishing third in VCT Pacific Stage 1 and winning Stage 2. The team concluded its 2025 VCT campaign with a fourth-place finish at VALORANT Champions 2025.