There was no shortage of spicy roster shuffles, controversial opinions, and behind-the-scenes drama in the Dota 2 scene this past week.

I’ve spent the time digging around forums and socials to present you with the most impactful stories from the past few days. One thing’s for sure, Dota 2 esports is never quiet.

If there was one managerial strategy Team Spirit has constantly relied on whenever things start looking shaky, it’s digging into their pseudo-academy roster, Yellow Submarine, and promoting players to the main squad.

It’s no secret that the two-time TI-winning team has not looked like its usual selves throughout 2026, and changes have felt inevitable. As a result, the squad has benched their newest recruit, Nikita “panto” Balaganin, in favor of Yellow Submarine prospect Alexey “not me” Kosmynin. The move has also shifted Aleksandr “rue” Filin to the position five role, while not me has stepped in as the team’s new position four.

At its first rodeo at DreamLeague Season 29, Team Spirit is starting to look like it’s found its rhythm again, going 6-1 in groups and already locking in a top-six finish at the time of writing.

Not me has immediately looked like a great fit for the roster, constantly running around the map like a shark and looking for plays. As a result, we’ve seen Team Spirit easily take the fights they were always so good at winning. It feels like they’ve returned to their old identity, and it’s always a treat to watch.

The team is still searching for its first trophy of the 2026 season, and with how they’ve been playing at DreamLeague, this wait might not last much longer.

While the new Team Spirit roster is off to a roaring start, one party that got the short end of the stick was Panto, who received the bad news after only seven months with the team. Fortunately for him, it didn’t take long before the European squad MOUZ came calling, signing him as the team’s new position five player on loan.

MOUZ recently parted ways with three-time Major-winning captain Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp, who decided to hang up the mouse and retire from pro play entirely. In my eyes, there really aren’t too many strong position five players on the market right now, which explains why the German organization wasted no time bringing Panto on board. 

On paper, the move makes sense for both sides. Panto gets another shot on a competitive roster, while MOUZ adds one of the most experienced players available – someone with plenty to prove after his short stint on Team Spirit. 

After winning PGL Wallachia Season 6 in November last year, MOUZ have yet to post any notable results. With the Esports World Cup and The International right around the corner, it’ll need this roster move with Panto to work out. 

We all love a little bit of drama, right? Chinese superteam Xtreme Gaming hasn’t had the greatest showing at DreamLeague Season 29, especially in their group stage series against Nigma Galaxy.

In the first game, star carry Wang “Ame” Chunyu was picked off around the 31-minute mark, and immediately rage-quit despite the game still looking playable. He immediately typed “gg” in all chat, forcing an early concession. 

Sure, things were looking bleak in the game, but the team could have at least gone for one last hurrah before Ame ripped the two letters. 

According to Chinese insiders on Telegram under the handle “Chinese Muesli,” the team has been unhappy with how coach Zhang “xiao8” Ning has handled drafts, which may have contributed to internal tensions during the series. 

After the series, xiao8 was no longer seen drafting in the following matches, with the team’s assistant coach Wang “Maps” Yutian taking the helm instead.

This does look like a very messy situation, considering how long xiao8 and the Xtreme Gaming core have worked together. Seeing such a long-running partnership potentially fall apart mid-tournament is something you hate to see, especially for Chinese fans.

Tundra captain Neta “33” Shapira was brought in for a post-match interview after a series in DreamLeague Season 29, which also happens to be a qualifier for the upcoming Esports World Cup. 

With Tundra Esports locking in their spot for the event, 33 was asked for his thoughts leading up to the tournament:

“EWC is going to be a great tournament, I always enjoy playing it. This time, it is ‘only’ 2 million dollars, which is the same as having DreamLeague into BLAST in like two weeks time. So in that sense, it’s not the most important tournament – sorry to say that on an ESL stream. But everyone still really wants to play it, and $2 million is of course a really big amount.”

Now, 33 wasn’t sounding ungrateful for playing in a multi-million dollar tournament or anything – but I get his point. The only thing EWC really had going for it was its monumental prize pools. 

The 2023 iteration featured an insane $15 million prize, even exceeding The International’s that year. However, it has since dropped to $5 million, then $3 million, and now just $2 million this year. 

Yes, $2 million is still a lot of money – don’t get me wrong – but the Dota 2 scene has million-dollar tournaments happening almost every month. So the upcoming EWC, with its current prize pool, does feel like just another event – maybe slightly above a standard one at best. 

Fans on Reddit were largely in agreement with his sentiment. One Redditor put it bluntly: “Honestly, even that is a bit too much considering how low the viewers were on the recent tournaments. Won’t be surprised to see them lower the prize pool next year.”

To end the recap on a lighter note, we have a pretty funny story from REKONIX’s former coach Gregorius “Sundabule” Prasetyo.

Being Indonesian himself, Sundabule worked with REKONIX to help revive the local Dota 2 scene, and was pretty effective in doing so. The team qualified for several S-Tier events, and even though they finished last in most of them, they were at least putting their country back on the map. 

However, the 25-year-old eventually left the team in April, saying he wanted to focus on his master’s degree. The team respected his decision and let him go. Well, clearly there was a change of plans, as SEA rivals OG announced his signing as the team’s new analyst. 

Indonesian fans have been memeing the move, joking that he’s now studying at “OG University.” It’s also hilarious that Indonesians and Filipinos have a long-standing, healthy rivalry in the scene, and that Sundabule essentially jumped ships. 

Jokes aside, OG, with their newest member Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, still has plenty of work ahead of them. An extra pair of hands from an experienced coach like Sundabule will surely help the team figure things out.

Following a surprisingly quiet week in the Counter-Strike esports scene, Valve’s first-person shooter roared back into life with the climax of two Tier 1 tournaments laying the foundations for a potentially enthralling Cologne Major. 

With NAVI and Team Spirit adding a trophy to their respective cabinets, a once-unbeatable force falling in the quarter-finals, and the unveiling of another high-profile event for 2027, there’s plenty to dissect from across the globe.

Having played second fiddle to the dominant Team Vitality roster for the first four months of 2026, NAVI finally got its hands on a Tier 1 trophy with victory at IEM Atlanta 2026. The Ukrainian esports organisation swept aside GamerLegion in the Grand Final thanks to a stellar fragging display from Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov. The Ukrainian rifler topped the scoreboard with 60 eliminations across the three maps, often outclassing the opposition. 

Ahead of the Grand Final, NAVI had already caught the attention of the Counter-Strike scene, besting a fatigued Team Vitality side in the quarter-finals.

“Won’t lie, I’m exhausted and the team as well,” wrote in-game leader Dan “apEX” Madesclaire on social media.

Despite the fatigue, NAVI demonstrated its ability to excel on the big stage, comfortably beating GamerLegion to win its first Tier 1 trophy since StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025.

Victory marks another step forward for the organisation that’s often on the cusp of standing on the top step of the podium. Heading into the Cologne Major with another title to its name puts it in with a chance of lifting a Major trophy, a feat the organisation hasn’t achieved since 2024.

For the first time in nine months, Team Spirit has emerged victorious in a high-profile Counter-Strike tournament. 

Instead of making the trip stateside to Atlanta, the Russian organisation was one of several teams that opted to compete in Kazakhstan for a chance at championship glory.

Spearheaded by yet another standout showing from Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, Team Spirit completed a flawless run through the playoffs, rounded off by a 3-0 sweep of a Team Falcons roster that continues to adapt with Finn “Karriga” Andersen in the starting lineup. 

Donk began the Grand Final on the back foot, starting Dust II 0-6, but immediately made an impact in the first round of overtime with a one-versus-three clutch, demonstrating his excellent utility usage and time management.

After finishing second at IEM Rio, victory in Astana is a continuation of Team Spirit’s upward trajectory back towards the top of global Counter-Strike. Alongside NAVI, the team is certainly in contention for a strong Cologne Major campaign. 

Alongside producing some of Counter-Strike’s biggest names, Poland has cemented its place as a prime destination for tournament organisers to host events. For several years, the city of Katowice has hosted Intel Extreme Masters, an event that remains one of the scene’s most prestigious tournaments. 

This year saw the city of Kraków take centre stage, after ESL FACEIT Group decided to move the event from Katowice. Nonetheless, Katowice still holds a place within the Counter-Strike calendar and will host the ESL Pro League Season 24 playoffs in October.

It’s not just ESL utilising Poland as a destination for Counter-Strike esports. Fellow tournament organiser PGL has revealed plans to host an event in the city of Lodz in March 2027, marking the first time since 2017’s Kraków Major that it has held an event in the country. 

Poland’s place as an esports destination is thanks to a variety of factors. In addition to strong infrastructure and a hugely passionate fan base, support from the country’s government also plays a pivotal role. 2017 saw the Polish Act on Sport receive an update, declaring “any form of competition based on intellectual activity, which aims to achieve a sports result” should also be considered as a sport.  

As a result of Team Vitality’s early exit from IEM Atlanta, cracks in the once impenetrable armour are starting to show ahead of the Cologne Major. A lack of practice combined with fatigue has played a role in a slight downward turn of form for the world’s best Counter-Strike team ahead of the title’s biggest event. 

Combined with NAVI and Team Spirit’s recent victories, the first Major of 2026 is starting to shape up to be a hotly contested event instead of fans tuning in to see Team Vitality steamroll any opponent it comes across.

For Team Vitality, a win in Cologne would be the team’s third straight Major win, an accolade only achieved by the legendary Danish core of Astralis, which won the London, Katowice, and Berlin Majors in 2018 and 2019.

With several teams discovering form at the right time, along with best-of-threes in Stage 3 for the first time, the Cologne Major will see the very best teams book their place in the LANXESS Arena for a chance to win Counter-Strike’s biggest prize. 

Over the past 12 months, China’s Counter-Strike scene has exploded onto the world stage, with several teams frequently qualifying for Tier 1 tournaments and making an impact against established names. 

Following a string of strong regional results, Lynn Vision continued its run of form during the Asian Champions League, the sole regional qualifier for this year’s Esports World Cup. The Chinese team breezed past the likes of Alter Ego and THUNDERdOWNUNDER, with all five members of the squad contributing to wins across Group B. 

A 52-round map of Dust II between Lynn Vision and JiJieHao opened the Grand Final, with the former scraping an early lead before securing Ancient 13-6 to move within one map of a trip to the Esports World Cup. 

Despite a spirited fightback from JiJieHao in game three, Lynn Vision closed out the best-of-five with a 3-1 scoreline to become the first team to earn qualification for the tournament. 

The Esports World Cup remains a hot topic of conversation within the community, with reports that plans to relocate from Riyadh to Paris, France, are underway due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. 

A move to the French capital could be a hugely positive decision for the organizers. The event is a form of sportswashing, a tactic used by the Saudi Arabian government to distract from its human rights record. Relocating to France gives the event a chance to capitalize on a genuinely passionate fan base, giving fans from Europe and across the world an opportunity to attend the event to witness some of the biggest organizations battle for huge prize money.

The fighting game esports scene is growing, defying the whole “esports is dead” discussion.

As sponsorships and Saudi Arabia fuel the general esports scene, esports fans are chasing that authenticity that’s been lost over the years. And they’ve found it in the FGC. The proof? Combo Breaker‘s massive attendance.

Combo Breaker is a massive fighting game event taking place this weekend. There are over 20 fighting game titles with tournaments spanning three days, from popular games like Street Fighter 6, 2XKO, and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves to retro titles like old-school Mortal Kombat.

This year, nearly 6,900 fighting game competitors and fans are in attendance. For an independently-run event put on by local orgs like TheHadou and Gaming Generations, that’s huge. A Reddit post also showed the growth over the years. In 2025, there were 5,899 attendees, 4,525 in 2024, and 2023 had 3,426.

The jump in recent years seems to be directly correlated with the esports scene losing its hype. As games like League of Legends, Call of Duty, and Counter-Strike continue to see a lack of news, exciting moments, and meaningful growth, the FGC is rapidly growing. Why is this?

The FGC isn’t like the rest of the esports scene. While mainstream esports is largely fueled by overhyping events with smoke, dramatic entrances, massive broadcast productions, merch, and sponsored activities, the fighting game scene has remained pretty separated from this world.

There are big events like Evo, of course, but the FGC doesn’t have as much organization and support leading up to those. Tournaments are largely independently run, there is no publisher-funded circuit, and players are often not sponsored. There are no theatrics. It’s not meant to emulate a traditional sports match.

The atmosphere at fighting game events is different. You feel the passion, grit, and raw intensity on stage. You can watch players practice and compete in brackets right in front of you on the main floor. Some pros will even do money matches with fans. This is a community-run event and you can feel it.

“I remember when Combo Breaker was only confined to a one-size hotel ballroom for 400 people,” recalled one fan.

But you don’t need to be an old-school competitor or fan to have fun at a tournament. The FGC has become very welcoming to newcomers. Games like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 offer beginner-friendly controls and plenty of training modes. Pro players are available to coach you in games like Super Smash Bros.

Said one fan ahead of Combo Breaker: “I’m going, will be my first tournament ever (I’m a fairly new Street Fighter 6 player). Pretty excited to see the whole spectacle. I fully expect to go 0-2, but I’m just going to be happy to be there.”

Plenty of older fans told them that going 0-2 is part of the initiation process, a right of passage, if you will.

While the FGC can be very gatekeepy when it comes to expansion, heartfelt new-gens are not the problem. No, the FGC fight against content creator showcases, expensive skins, corny advertisements, and Saudi Arabian purchases. Seeing Evo expand to a circuit after it was purchased by a Saudi Arabian company has been a huge wake-up call. The over-the-top production of the Beast’s Path was a disappointment, detracting from the event’s old-school seriousness.

That grassroots feeling is disappearing.

But meanwhile, you can cling to events like Combo Breaker and Port Priority to experience what the FGC is all about. To escape all the over-processed hype.

While teams’ power levels are usually clearer the closer we get to the mid-way point of the League of Legends season, this year things seem to be way harder to predict.

The LCK is no longer just about Gen.G dominating domestically, and four-way fights are popping up nearly across every region. With only two spots for each league at MSI, the race for a ticket to Daejeon, South Korea, is still wide open.

For T1, the win against Gen.G is more than just a W on the scoreboard. Throughout the past years, Gen.G has often prevailed over T1 in the LCK, making the current world champions look like the #2 team. 

This time, however, T1 showed up strong and made a comeback after dropping the first game of the best-of-three series. The main highlight of the series is none other than T1’s bot lane, which has struggled to find success in the past weeks. 

Their comeback can be mainly attributed to two reasons: the recent meta change that brought back the rise of the dragon-stacking strategy, as well as the glow-up from T1’s players, namely Peyz and Doran. 

The top laner has been able to withstand the pressure by going back to his comfortable weak side picks while also occasionally winning counter matchups when required. Peyz, on the other hand, seems to have found his footing as the main carry on the team, topping the damage per minute charts, according to data site Games of Legends.

“Peyz is not a passenger. Peyz is driving the bus. T1 once again showed insane resilience in an incredibly high-stakes match,” said LCK caster Wolf in a post on X. “One of the best comebacks I can remember. The Camille draft in Game 3 was risky, but the execution of the duo was crisp.”

For Gen.G, the concern is more direct. Their bot lane has looked somewhat off as of late, becoming the squad’s weak link. In a meta where the bot lane is a key element to how a team executes the early-mid game, Gen.G is looking way more vulnerable compared to previous seasons. 

Speaking of the top teams, KT Rolster’s recent win against the first-place team Hanwha Life Esports has made the fight for the top playoffs spot all the more closer. HLE is still first with a 12-2 record, but KT Rolster is one victory away, and both T1 and Gen.G are lurking behind them. And with Dplus Kia also in the picture, the fight is on.

On paper, however, HLE still look like the team with the highest ceiling. Whenever they are able to plan on their terms, this team looks the strongest. The issue is composure: they enjoy playing on the edge, a common pattern seen by teams led by jungler Kanavi.

KT recognized this and prepared accordingly.

“KT did very well to track Kanavi around the map,” said a user on Reddit. “The mistake a lot of teams have been making is letting Kanavi run rampant around the enemy jungle and getting ridiculous gank angles. If Kanavi is behind, a lot of HLE’s firepower disappears very quickly.”

While it’s only one series and HLE has shown its ability to adapt, the fight for the Road to MSI is set to be one to remember.

Among the top regions, the LPL is probably the one where the playing field looks a bit clearer, as Bilibili Gaming has quietly sent another warning to the rest of the world. 

The 2026 First Stand champions finished the regular season with a 12-2 record and an impressive 75% win rate, making them once again the clear split favorites and the best candidate to represent China at MSI.

The record is only one part of the story. BLG had some hiccups mid-way through the split but it was clear that the team was just doing some testing by giving themselves uncomfortable drafts. When you get to the point when you allow yourself to train on stage, you know there is a fair bit of confidence to succeed when it matters the most.

The main protagonist of BLG’s regular season run is mid laner Knight: he achieved an average of 7 kills per game, the highest in the LPL over the past 12 years and the third highest in LPL history.

The question now is shifting to who will be joining BLG at MSI? On paper, it looks like it will be a three-way fight between Top Esports, Anyone’s Legend, and JD Gaming, but don’t count on dark horses like Weibo Gaming and Ninjas in Pyjamas, who have shown the ability to take wins in the most unexpected fashion.

Even though the LEC took a week break after the road trip event in Madrid, the EU teams were still busy with the Esports World Cup qualifier.

In the end, it was G2 Esports and Karmine Corp who took the two slots. While the result itself isn’t particularly surprising, G2 took a clean 3-0 victory over KC, giving fans a first taste of what could happen in the LEC Spring Playoffs.

Once again, it looks like G2 has found that extra step in their gameplay, as happened in the LEC Versus playoffs, which led them to win the tournament and fly to Brazil for First Stand. For KC, the recent trend in performance seems to be a bit worrying: top laner Canna has not been able to create the same overwhelming lane differences as he used to, and KC’s teamfighting also looked more disjointed as of late.

A Reddit user said: “I’m saying since the beginning of the competitive year, KC are all hands no macro. They win solely on hands diffing in teamfight.” 

While KC is still one of the top EU teams, the recent struggles could severely harm the team’s chances of qualifying for MSI, especially considering how Team Vitality performed during the regular split. 

The LCS may not get as much attention as other leagues, but its playoffs got all the more interesting thanks to FlyQuest.

The team beat LYON in the last match of the regular season, finishing fourth with a 4-3 series record and showing steady improvement since the start of the year. FlyQuest has also started using unconventional picks, like Nasus in jungle, to disrupt the meta.

And even if FlyQuest doesn’t make it to MSI, there is still a major incentive to get into the top three since it would guarantee a funded bootcamp in South Korea, alongside all other MSI squads.

With no official matches and worries of potentially leaking strategies, FLY could become the perfect sparring partner for the top teams, further accelerating their development.

I recently saw a post from Street Fighter 6 pro Kakeru Watanabe that announced he’d developed tendonitis. This came from playing Street Fighter nonstop after Worlds. The accompanying image has Kakeru wearing wrist braces and looking forlornly into the distance.

“I want it to heal by the end of the month when Ingrid comes out, so I’ll be taking a break from practice until the pain is completely gone,” Kakeru said.

In the world of esports, I think Kakeru is pretty lucky. It’s a condition that can improve, and he is not being dropped by his organization in the meantime. It reminded me of all the esports pros who have retired due to mental and physical health issues, even in their early 20s.

Esports is often seen as very separate from traditional sports. It’s not considered physical activity because players are seated in a gaming chair. I mean, I distinctly remember Cody Schwab almost passing out from doing an intense anti-pop-off aimed at Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma. Even though it was meant to mock his opponent, he ended up needing to hold onto Hbox for support.

But that brings up a very important topic: Esports pros need better physical health.

This is not a new topic. Esports organizations (back when money was flowing in from investors and such) had physical therapists on staff and gyms inside their team houses. In China, where esports is still a big deal, I toured an esports home arena and saw all kinds of gym equipment and doctors’ offices. But it most definitely has not been taken as seriously as it should.

While esports is seen as just “sitting,” you need to be in shape to sit with your back straight (or leaning forward) for 10-plus hours a day, year-round. If not, your back will be extremely sore. And any hand injuries are a huge deal. You need to stretch your fingers and wrists, maybe even strengthen them. But in general, you should be overall healthy to be in the right mental and physical state to compete at a high level in anything.

Despite this, very young players often retire from mental strain, exhaustion, and hand-related injuries.

Call of Duty pro Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto is a controller player that had to quit at 25 years old due to a weakness in his thumb and wrist. He had surgery on it a few years back, causing a lot of anxiety and stress as he attempted to recover. Unfortunately, the injury returned once more, “making it really hard for me to compete at the highest level against some of the best players.

“Playing through the weakness and pain in my hand just isn’t possible anymore,” he tweeted.

He isn’t the only controller player to have retired due to hand injuries. Keyboard and mouse players are also easily injured, including StarCraft II, Counter-Strike, and League of Legends. One person on Reddit even recalled: “It used to be a badge of honor to have carpal tunnel surgery scars for StarCraft players, or at least it was extremely common.”

Royal Never Give Up’s Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao ultimately retired from League of Legends due to ongoing issues with his shoulder. It impacts his entire arm, with a doctor allegedly telling him his arms are similar to those of a 50-year-old. Cloud9’s Hai “Hai” Du Lam also retired due to ongoing wrist pain from tendonitis. He was unable to keep up with the grueling practice.

The best esports player of all time, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok notoriously has wrist pain that comes and goes. In 2023, he had to step down from T1 to recover from cubital tunnel syndrome. His hands are insured for nearly $1 million.

The list goes on. Countless careers ruined from early wrist and hand injuries, brought on or exacerbated by constant playing. Clinton “Fear” Loomis retired from Dota 2 after being diagnosed with tennis elbow following ongoing arm and wrist injuries. Aziz “Hax” Al-Hami had to step away from Super Smash Bros. Melee after undergoing multiple hand and wrist injuries from repetitive stress on his joints. Issa “Issa” Rahim retired from Fortnite due to a persistent hand injury. He was just 19.

These players are all relatively young. But that is often part of the problem. These younger players often don’t feel the need to work out and stretch. They aren’t focused on their health. They are developing bad eating habits and posture. They fear taking breaks. They don’t want to slow down.

More support is needed. Esports organizations should require stretching and additional exams for affected body parts. Nobody in their early 20s should be retiring from constant wrist pain. While many joke that esports is not a sport, there are still real injuries from constant practice and competition. And they shouldn’t be treated as a joke.

Let’s hope Kakeru can recover and make a return. Japanese fans are wishing him well, even saying he makes the wrist bandages look cool. Let’s hope he has the resources to overcome this.

This week, the FGC has been relatively mellow compared to the Evo Japan week, but that might be what the community needs before the gargantuan event this weekend: Combo Breaker 2026.

However, that doesn’t mean that absolutely nothing happened over the weekend, so I’m here to break it down for you guys, going over the highlights from DreamHack Atlanta to Red Bull Knockout.

From Alan “Nephew” Sun qualifying for the Esports World Cup alongside Kobayan to the twins, Toshi and Haru, fulfilling their destiny of being the best duo in 2XKO, here’s everything that happened last week in FGC!

Team Liquid’s bad luck with qualifying in the FGC side of the EWC continues as Nephew, a player the team had let go earlier this year, has qualified for the Esports World Cup after taking second place at DreamHack Atlanta 2026.

Nephew’s run at the tournament was nothing short of impressive. He beat the six-time EVO Champion Zeng “Xiao Hai” Zhuojun to qualify for the top eight on the winner’s side, then he proceeded to sweep the house on his way to the grand finals. However, Kobayan was also having one hell of a tournament, and the two titans clashed in the grand finals and grand finals reset, reaching game five.

Ultimately, Kobayan won the whole thing, but Nephew will be more than happy to take second place and the last-minute qualification for EWC.

Last year, Team Liquid let go of Son “Qudans” Byeong-mun and Michael “Riddles” Kim, both of whom qualified for EWC 2025 shortly after. This year, the two are still looking to qualify for the million-dollar tournament.

According to Liquipedia, 10 slots remain for the Street Fighter 6 EWC 2026. Two will be handed out this week at Combo Breaker 2026, two at Evo Vegas 2026, one at an unnamed tournament, and five at a last chance qualifier tournament, which will be held near the main event’s date. 

Over on the Tekken bracket of DreamHack Atlanta 2026, Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique has finally clinched a spot at EWC after finishing third in the tournament. It’s important to note that Arslan Ash seems to still have problems with finding a character in this season of Tekken, as he used Nina, Anna, and Alisa in rotation this tournament.

Tekken is filled with character loyalists and specialists, with a lot of them looking down on people hopping onto whoever is strong that season.

With that said, he gave the eventual champion Han “Mulgold” Jae-gyun a run for his money with a five-game set. Mulgold managed to wiggle out of Arslan Ash’s grasp, however, and moved on to the grand final. Arslan Ash fell 0-3 against the Kazuya specialist Takaba “Keisuke” Keisuke in the loser’s bracket. Both Mulgold and Keisuke have also qualified for EWC 2026 for their performance in this tournament.

After winning the tournament, Mulgold sent out a tweet saying that he hasn’t practiced Claudio much because he got nerfed in season 3. However, after seeing Hafiz Tanveer’s Claudio at Evo Japan 2026, he got inspired and picked the character back again. Hafiz Tanveer got third at Evo Japan 2026 and lost to the legendary Tekken player Bae “Knee” Jae-Min.

Liquipedia lists that there are 15 slots left for Tekken 8 at EWC 2026. The tournaments Combo Breaker 2026, Evo 2026, SOOP Super Tournament 2026, The MIXUP 2026, and the Last Chance Qualifier are all handing out slots.

Notably, Tekken legends such as Yuta “Chikurin” Take, Daichi “Nobi” Nakayama, and Jeong “Rangchu” Hyeon-ho have yet to qualify for EWC 2026. If the Team Liquid Curse (or blessing?) kicks in, Marquis “Shadow20z” Jordan has a chance to qualify for this EWC because he was dropped by the team earlier this year. Only time will tell.

While Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 still have quite a few tournaments handing out invites for EWC 2026, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves only has three left and 12 slots remaining. Shoji “Fenritti” Sho has clinched an EWC invite to DreamHack Atlanta 2026 by winning the whole tournament.

Fenritti won the whole tournament without dropping a set. His grand finals opponent was Daniel “Dany” Fuentes Garcia, a player he had sent to the loser’s bracket earlier in the tournament. Together with Fenretti, Luo “Vxbao” Yanxin, Kao “RB” Fu-pin, and Charalampros “H-DOPE” Lamprou have also received an EWC invite for their performance in the tournament.

On Twitter, the player simply celebrated with a single tweet, saying he can finally rest after securing the EWC ticket. If you’re interested in seeing who else will qualify for EWC, Combo Breaker 2026, Evo 2026, and the Last Chance Qualifier are the three final tournaments that send invites to the top four placers.

If one of the top four placers already has an invitation, the invite goes to the next highest placing player who doesn’t have one.

This is quite possibly the highlight of this weekend.

Red Bull Knockout 2026 happened on May 16, 2026, where eight dous duke it out for the title of the best team in 2XKO! And would you believe it, the actual twins, Haru and Toshi from Japan, won the whole tournament! This is the twins’ first big win, as they have always fallen short of expectations in the tournaments that they’ve entered.

In Evo Japan 2026, they lost to Ikura and got 17th place, and at Frosty Faustings XVIII, they lost to Dominique “SonicFox” McLean and Lenwood “INZEM” Arnold and got 25th. However, they seem to have beaten their demons in this tournament as they finally took the title of the best 2XKO duo in the world after beating SonicFox and INZEM in the grand finals.

SonicFox talked about the loss on Twitter, saying they’ve played against the twins so much that they’ve adapted to their playstyle. He then congratulated the two and told them he’s looking forward to running it back against them at Evo Vegas.

The twins, on the other hand, are very ecstatic about their first big international win. They’ve also acknowledged SonicFox’s tweet and told them that it’s an honor for them to be recognized as the fighting game legend’s rival.

Haru was amazing in this tournament. His fearless Yasuo gameplay has sparked conversations about a specific moment in the grand final where he ran up to SonicFox’s Ahri and did a raw ultimate to call out the grab in the final moments of the match. It was the only way the twins could have won the round, and Haru’s callout exposed the duo from the United States. The FGC legend Justin Wong saw the clip and said it should be considered for the Evo Awards’ Moment of the Year.

With this win, expectations for the twins are sure to rise as they’ve just ended the titleless slump they were in. Is it finally time to see a dominant duo in 2XKO? Only time will tell!

Over on Twitter, Street Fighter 6 top player Adel “Big Bird” Anouche published a tweet complaining about the schedule of Street Fighter 6’s World Warrior online tournament in his region, the Middle East.

He tagged Capcom and Qiddiya and asked them why the pools are going to be played in one day, then the top eight 11 days after. He adds that there’s no reason for the tournament to be two weeks long. Then, in a reply, he further criticized the tournament, saying that there’s “nothing right” in this season’s World Warrior. He notes that pools start at 8pm on a random weekday instead of a weekend, making him even more frustrated.

World Warrior is a series of regional online tournaments hosted by Capcom, which awards points to the top 50 players. By the end of the season, a number of players will receive an invite to Capcom Cup if they’re within a certain rank in the leaderboard. This is a great way to showcase talents from different parts of the world, however, it seems like Capcom might be slipping up with how they’re doing the tournament in other regions.

Capcom needs to make this tournament work, as it’s a huge theme in the Street Fighter franchise to travel and fight strong opponents. You can’t really declare yourself as the strongest fighter in the world without fighting people from other places, right?

The Super Smash Bros. esports scene is notoriously broke. The tournaments are often crowdfunded, with prize pools reaching only a few thousand. This hasn’t stopped players from grinding Melee for hours every single day, which is what makes the scene special… And maybe a bit stupid.

One of the most notorious examples of the Smash scene’s lack of career paths? Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman. Whether competing, coaching, or streaming, Mew2King can’t seem to make a living in Smash, despite dedicating his entire life to the scene.

The Smash community has been worried about Mew2King for quite some time now. He’s gone through a lot of emotional trauma, bullying, and hardship. Through it all, he has continued to stay focused on Smash, a scene where he has spent the majority of his life deeply analyzing the mechanics more than anyone.

While he was competing, Mew2King was dropped by Echo Fox. He no longer had a sponsor flying him to events or paying him a steady salary. Instead, Mew2King was relying on streaming and coaching, which has never really gone well for him.

In January 2026, it was revealed that he earned only $2 per hour while streaming on Twitch. Even Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma urged him to get a part-time job at that point. A job in the real world.

Mew2King had no interest: “I’m just gonna do what I love, which is gaming. I’m just gonna do that forever.”

However, things have gotten even worse going into May 2026.

StreamElements announced it will be shutting down this month, leaving Mew2King begging his fans for help. For the past two to three years, StreamElements has been 40% of his income, according to a Google Doc the pro released on the urgent matter.

Despite the shutdown, Mew2King said he will be continuing to stream full-time and coach. However, he also told his fans that he is offering free coaching if they will sponsor him in Marvel Strike Force, a mobile game. He also begged fans to subscribe to him on Twitch or even do some Twitch Raids.

Meanwhile, he has cut down on ads on Twitch. The Smash player came under fire earlier this year when he was accused of running a crapton of ads on his streams, making them unbearable. Of course, this was to make a bit more money. The backlash, however, caused him to lose viewers.

“I have limited options now, sadly, for livelihood,” he said.

The desperation brought out the trolls.

One reply said: “Get a f***ing job already. You can’t be a loser for three decades straight. The Melee train is over, you squeezed all you could out of it, and look at how long it lasted. Now it’s time to get back to the real world and live in reality, which is working 8 hours a day every day.”

A nicer reply added: “You really should find a part-time job. You can pursue your passion for gaming while making some money on the side.”

It should be noted that Mew2King is not currently independent. He has Asperger’s Syndrome and has discussed having a caretaker in the past. I’m not sure what his current situation is, but I’m assuming he would have a tough time finding a well-paying job, although a part-time job could maybe be possible depending what it is.

Either way, I think the real topic here isn’t Mew2King’s exact situation, but the state of Smash, and esports in general.

It feels like esports is dying.

Most scenes are not financially stable. While some appear successful from the outside, with high player salaries and large prize pools, the actual organizations are suffering as a result. And it’s far more common for scenes to not have any money at all, relying on sponsors and Saudi Arabia to survive. Even Street Fighter 6’s massive Capcom Cup only has a $1 million prize pool because the rest of the circuit has almost no money on the line.

The last time I brought up Mew2King’s predicament, I mentioned that Hungrybox had a full-time engineering job even when he was at the height of his pro career. He was traveling to tournaments and winning, but he was also working a “real” job to survive. Now, Hungrybox is part-owner of Team Liquid and has other sources of income. But competing itself didn’t help him financially.

It’s sad. High school esports clubs are still selling the dream that esports is a career path. Colleges have esports programs now. But there is no money or stability once you’re out there in the real world. Very few esports pros are making bank. Most college students in esports programs will likely never become coaches for major organizations or top players in a Tier 1 league.

Not all esports pay well, but the ones that do require you to be in the top 0.1% to get anywhere near a six-figure salary.

But it’s not only because most people suck too much to be in that 0.1%. It’s because there are not that many opportunities. In fact, the opportunities keep dwindling. Organizations are dropping out of titles left and right. Some organizations are packing it up completely. Players and talent are often owed money for months, even years. BLEED Esports currently owes over $300,000 in unpaid salaries.

Seeing someone dedicate their entire life to a competitive scene, including competing at a top level and coaching other top players, and be completely broke as a result is a wake-up call. Other competitors may not be in the same exact boat just yet, but it does shine a light on the fact that competing in esports is still a passion industry. You’re not likely to make much money, if any at all. You’re there for the love of the game.

Unfortunately, many of these top players don’t have time for a full-time job, so they turn to streaming as a side hustle. They are grinding 10-plus hours a day with their team. However, I think Mew2King could spare a few hours. It’s just sad that it has come to this. It’s beyond clear at this point: You won’t make money playing esports unless you’re the top 0.1% of the more popular titles.

And even then, your time is limited. Paying those top player salaries comes at the expense of the organization, which will eventually shut down due to a lack of funding and profit. This leaves players without an org and even fewer options.

On Reddit, one esports fan asked why esports teams have no money. The best answer? “If you spend a lot of money without making any money, you would also have little money.”

With Norwegian organization HEROIC recently pulling out of the scene, the financial sustainability of the professional Dota 2 scene has been a pretty hot topic in the community.

We know that Dota 2 players are filthy rich, while most esports organizations are losing money. That begs the question of whether pro players are getting paid way too much money to click their buttons.

Let’s discuss. 

To get into the discussion, we must first understand how much professional players are actually making. According to former HEROIC player David “Parker” Nicho Flores during a live stream on ElMacarius’ channel, he, being the team’s star player at the time, was making around $15,000 per month. 

Meanwhile, his teammates were earning between $9,000 and $12,000 monthly. HEROIC also signed 16-year-old Santiago “TaiLung” Agüero Gustavo earlier this year and was paying him around $5,000 to $8,000. TaiLung, being a teenage rookie, understandably made much less than his teammates, but getting paid that much as a minor to play video games would be anyone’s dream, really.

Context also matters. HEROIC was a South American team, fielding players from Peru, Brazil, and other countries from the region. Salary expectations in SA are naturally lower than in more developed regions like Europe. HEROIC was also a middling team, hovering around the top 10 teams in the world.

With this in mind, it’s pretty safe to assume title-contending European teams, backed with heavier sponsors, are getting paid bigger bucks than what HEROIC was making. It wouldn’t be too crazy to assume that the Tundra Esports, Team Falcons, and Team Liquids of the world would be making over $20,000 to $25,000 per month at least. Living costs in Europe are significantly higher, and these guys actually win trophies. 

It really is no secret that almost all esports organizations are in the red – nobody, apart from a very few orgs, is actually making money. 

Not only do orgs have to pay players these relatively high salaries, but they also cover other expenses like boot camps. According to Parker, during the same live stream, HEROIC would spend another $15,000 to $20,000 on a single bootcamp. 

Then, you can also factor in potential flight and food costs when teams compete at events, though many tournament organizers help cover these expenses. 

And if players win tournaments and collect a share of the prize pool, the organization doesn’t get everything. Though teams approach it differently, Dota 2 prize pools were historically split seven ways: five players, one coach, and the organization itself.

So, organizations are paying all these expenses, and most of them aren’t even getting the majority of the share from event prize pools. The teams they pay bootcamp and salary expenses for aren’t even guaranteed to win tournaments, either. They might even go out in last place – or even worse – not qualify for events at all. 

Of course, prize money isn’t the only revenue stream for organizations. They make money through sponsorships plastered on jerseys and potential merchandise sales. This is primarily why most esports orgs take gambling sponsors – simply because they pay the most. And let’s be real, who even buys esports merch? I can tell you with utter confidence that only a very small percentage of fans actually purchase stuff like jerseys. 

If we start connecting the dots, the picture becomes clearer as to why most teams aren’t breaking even.

HEROIC isn’t the only organization to have pulled the plug recently. We had Team Secret and Wildcard Gaming call it quits, too. And it’s not like things are looking any better.

According to Escorenews, former PARI Esports Marketing Director Ivan Burachenko claimed that a major organization will exit Dota 2 within the next month or two. Then, two more will follow suit after The International 2026.

He went on to state:

“Even bookmakers that own teams already have a hard time looking at Dota 2 salaries. The range of $15,000 to $25,000 for players who make it to a few Tier 1 tournaments per season is unrealistic.”

Former professional player and now commentator Avery “SVG” Silverman also questioned whether player salaries make sense. On his Not for Broadcast podcast, SVG shared his thoughts on the issue:

“I still don’t understand why [organizations] are paying players so much. It just baffles me. Why are these orgs paying this much? You go into the scene, and you’re just paying these players like 10, 20, 30 thousand to go to one LAN a year, then you’re like: ‘Oh my God! This isn’t profitable!’ Then don’t pay that much.”

If the trend of organizations leaving the scene continues, the future of Dota 2 esports looks gloomy.

Sure, players can still qualify and compete at events by forming unsponsored stacks. We’ve seen this happen multiple times before, and some of these squads have found decent success. However, these guys also compete with an insane amount of additional stress and uncertainty hanging over their heads.

Without an organization backing them with salaries, players have to worry about how they’re going to put food on the table, pay their bills, or whether they’ll even have enough money to continue competing a few months from now. 

There’s also a good chance these teams won’t have adequate funding for boot camps, meaning players might have to dip into their personal savings just to prepare for events. And all of this comes without any guarantee that they’ll even place well enough to make the investment worth it.

Without organizations, it’s simply unrealistic for most professional players to spend 10 to 12 hours a day grinding Dota 2. At some point, they’ll have to prioritize stability and consider how they’ll pay their bills.

Now, I don’t have a grudge against pro players. It takes tens of thousands of hours to reach that level, and you have to live and breathe Dota 2 to get to the top. Many of these guys have sacrificed their social lives and education for the game. That level of talent, consistency, and effort absolutely deserves good salaries. 

But as an esports fan, I also don’t want to see every org pull out in the next few years and watch the scene slowly decline. If Valve isn’t going to step in and do anything about it, then it ultimately comes down to orgs and players. And one of the few feasible levers we can realistically pull is lowering player salaries.

Players are also heavily dependent on organizations, since they’re receiving salaries from them. Sacrificing some salary for job security could be a good move if it means your org doesn’t randomly pull out and leave you in the dumps. 

Alternatively, or at least in parallel, tournament prize pools could also be split more in favor of organizations. This would allow them to recoup some of the costs of funding bootcamps and operations for each event.

If nothing changes, the uncomfortable reality is that there may soon be fewer orgs left to pay those salaries in the first place.

Last week, Counter-Strike interviewer Anastasija “Heccu” Tolmačeva shared a heartfelt video that resonated deeply with esports professionals across our industry.

In her video, Heccu opened up about her struggles to find freelance opportunities in the CS tournament landscape and how this has drained her emotionally and financially. What followed was a wave of support from the CS community, along with several stories from esports professionals reporting similar experiences in their careers.

Heccu’s video resonated so strongly because she gave voice to the many challenges esports professionals face in the current ecosystem. Job insecurity, a competitive market, and unpaid labor… How realistic is a sustainable esports career nowadays?

When I started out in esports, I thought getting an esports degree would be the best way to go about it. Now, let’s not get into the quality and importance of esports degrees. I’m just mentioning that because a former classmate brought up the term “passion tax” back then, and it’s stuck with me ever since.

What did she mean by “passion tax,” specifically in relation to working in esports? Our industry is largely built upon passion. It’s what motivated gaming fans to host the first-ever tournaments and advocate for better infrastructure and professionalization at the advent of our industry. And still to this day, passion is a hard requirement for the majority of esports roles. It fuels professionals to hone their craft, and it makes our product – the competitions, teams, and storylines – more entertaining in the eyes of esports audiences.

At the same time, esports professionals tend to make additional work commitments out of their passion for their field. This includes watching relevant tournaments for eight or more hours per day across different time zones, or attending on-site events at one’s own expense. 

This level of commitment has, to some degree, become an unwritten expectation, for example, in volunteer work. Unpaid entry-level opportunities remain the starting point for many esports careers. A large portion of Tier 3 and even Tier 2 projects still rely on unpaid or underpaid workers, making well-compensated roles a rarity. 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but passion does not pay my rent. Quite the opposite – choosing to commit 100% to esports is often a choice against more stable sources of income, because balancing esports work and a traditional job can be impossible for some job profiles in the scene. Moreover, the passion tax can make any critique of the esports job infrastructure sound like entitled complaining.

After all, it is a privilege to work a fulfilling job in a field that you’re passionate about. 

“It’s so fascinating how in the 10 years I’ve been TOing, there has been no change to this culture of expected sacrifice,” remarked FGC personality KhalilTheSeer in a recent X (formerly Twitter) post. “In fact, I feel it’s gotten worse. People being compensated for their time/effort does not take away the passion.”

And many of us choose to enter or stay in the scene, well aware of the financial insecurity and mental drain associated with it. In her video, Heccu describes this perhaps irrational loyalty to her field, despite insufficient compensation, as a “one-sided affection for the CS scene.”

However, she also emphasized: “No one promised me anything, and no one forced me into this commitment. It was my decision, and it was I who chose to enter the freelancing environment, okay? No one owes me anything at all. With all of this in mind, I am not demanding anything. I’m also not asking for a favor.” 

So what if you pay the passion tax in full? Well, Heccu is an interviewer with years of experience in the CS scene, a track record of Tier 1 on-air work, bilingual interviewing skills, and good relations with her peers.

And yet, she struggles to get hired for CS events, to the point where she currently lives off her savings rather than esports income. 

It paints a daunting picture and raises the question of why someone with her skill set isn’t being hired. In both her video and a guest appearance on the CS podcast, Feed The Trolls, Heccu discussed how this question has eaten away at her mental well-being. On-air talent, such as Heccu, might check all the boxes, and it’s still not enough in a job market as competitive as esports. 

“Something I have realized over the last five years doing talent work is that hard work doesn’t pay off, and passion doesn’t get noticed or matter. Heccu is probably the best example of this, as she has just done nothing but GRIND, and her passion is infectious,” commented CS on-air talent Freddie “GrimyRannarr” Pritchard.

“And as she says, as a talent member, you never have any idea why you didn’t get hired for an event, or even why you do get hired for an event. Real feedback is very hard to come by, and it makes everything 10x harder when you have no idea what you are doing well or badly.”

The lack of transparency not only makes talent development more challenging. It also exacerbates self-doubt in an already competitive environment. “Why am I not being hired over this person? Why am I less successful?” These are thought patterns that easily creep in against one’s will. 

“I think it’s worse for women,” highlighted CS host Sam “Tech Girl” Wright on Feed The Trolls. “HLTV almost always, like once every three months, has someone start a forum post about rating the women in esports and who they’d wanna do at the top. And like, whatever, that’s what you wanna do. But I never see them making the same lists about the boys.”

While even factors such as charisma and personality can be relevant for esports talent, some roles simply have a significantly smaller pool of job opportunities than others. For instance, dedicated interviewers are rarely hired at events below Tier 1 due to budget reasons. Why recruit an additional personality when your host or analyst can cover the same task? 

In recent years, this role consolidation has become more common even within Tier 1, as tournament organizers downsize production amid budget cuts and business pivots. In other cases, we’ve seen popular esports content creators prioritized over long-standing specialized talent alongside an overall shift in audience viewing preferences, namely the rising popularity of co-streaming. As our industry ages, flexible, adaptable talent is increasingly sought after over specialized roles.

On-air personality Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere, for example, has long been open about the importance of building a personal brand and establishing potential sources of income outside of esports in case her role becomes obsolete in the future. 

“It’s definitely one of the reasons why I am working so hard as a freelancer on all my options,”  explained Sjokz on her personal TikTok. “And also options specifically outside of esports in terms of the TV work that I’ve done and the consultancy work and the brand work that I do, specifically. Because tomorrow is not promised.”

Given the current and future career challenges esports offers, how can established and up-and-coming talent find some degree of stability? 

“Either work multiple titles or focus on one and do full-time content and casting (if Tier 1). Have a day job or background work you can do in the off time and not have to rely solely on net 30+ contracts to pay your bills,” advised caster Nick “Vodible” Ambrozic on X.

Heccu herself is now venturing into additional esports titles after seven years of exclusive CS work. But not all the options listed by Vodible work for everyone. For example, freelancing demands high flexibility in scheduling and travel, which is incompatible with many traditional jobs. Similarly, co-streaming can only cover your bills if you reach a certain audience size or score deals with brands and esports organizations. Otherwise, content creation moreso serves as a tool for brand building and skill development. 

“My current financial income from the three months I did this year of watchparties it barely covered my trip to Cluj-Napoca [CS tournament],” revealed Heccu in her video.

Interestingly, Tech Girl theorized on Feed The Trolls that co-streaming could unlock new ways of utilizing esports talent, despite its reputation as direct competition with broadcast talent. According to the CS host, co-streams could hire dedicated on-site interviewers or even set up exclusive analyst desks in addition to the official broadcast.

However, such pathways would need to be discussed with tournament organizers and publishers to resolve broadcasting rights.

2XKO is in a weird spot right now. It’s in the midst of the stage where it should be growing, with Evo Las Vegas and other big tournaments on the way and an esports scene forming with Riot’s help. On the other hand, Riot has laid off a chunk of the team, and the latest update was pretty controversial and sloppy.

With 2XKO struggling to hold attention and make money, can this title carve out its spot in the FGC, or is it going to fade off by 2028? Esports Insider’s writers are about to have a 1v1 on the matter, and it’s up to you to decide who took the KO.

In my opinion, 2XKO is going to stick around for a very long time because it offers something other traditional fighting games don’t: doubles. Sure, there is an argument to be had with Super Smash Bros. Melee or Ultimate having their own doubles bracket, but 2XKO’s default format is mixed, which means that in one bracket, duos and solos duke it out to the very end.

Now, this might seem like it’s unfair for the solo players, but for some magical reason, the 2XKO developers were able to balance the game in such a way that the two playstyles are viable and can win tournaments.

The doubles playstyle was unpopular with the game’s competitive community, and the developers foresaw this. So, they launched something called the Duo Bounty, where the highest placing duo in certain tournaments will earn a cash prize, no matter if they won the whole tournament or not. This initiative has given birth to duos such as Dominique “SonicFox” McLean and Lenwood “INZEM” Arnold, as well as the twins Haru and Toshi from Japan.

The fighting game community is used to playing solo, and 2XKO offers a new way to play their favorite genre. Outside of tournaments, doubles is just plain fun. The added layer of coordination between you and your duo is a rewarding minigame that adds more excitement when you hit the combo the two of you have been practicing in the training room.

Aside from the duos aspect of the game, 2XKO is the only tag fighter that’s still being supported by its developers, and there’s a huge lack of it in the current competitive landscape of fighting games. Sure, tournaments still include games such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2 or Ultimate 3, but they’re usually side events. 2XKO, on the other hand, has the potential to be included in the main stage of huge tournaments such as EVO and maybe even the Esports World Cup with its current trajectory.

I’ve yapped about this a lot, but this time I have my colleague ready to defend 2XKO in a heated debate over the viability of Riot’s 2v2 fighting game. I’m on the side that’s negative (surprise!) and believe 2XKO won’t make it past 2027. 

The first issue is that 2XKO wasn’t designed for a niche fighting game community in mind. Well, it was, but Riot didn’t want it to be. That clash will lead to its demise. 

Riot announced 2XKO back in February 2024, known as “Project L.” It’s a 2v2 fighter that uses popular champions from League of Legends, which appeared to be the biggest selling point. However, Riot assembled a team of fighting game experts to ensure the game would be competitive and exciting for the FGC. 

The issue? This team consisted of long-time FGC veterans, and the gameplay reflected it. The game started off highly complex and overwhelming. The devs had to simplify it later. This is a high-IQ fighting game that’s a lot more mechanical and convoluted than a game like Street Fighter 6. Casuals couldn’t connect with it. In 2XKO’s early days, it was largely touted by big-name pros like SonicFox and William “Leffen” Hjelte. 

The game quickly grew a small following who liked to watch the esport more than grind the game. The popular pros headlining early events definitely helped. Meanwhile, however, 2XKO was just not welcoming to anyone who wasn’t planning to grind away. And Riot doesn’t have any need for a game that’s not being played (or making money). 

Early on, 2XKO faced significant backlash. The roster was pretty small, and it seemed like Riot was more concerned with adding hype League of Legends picks than choosing champions with fighting game-worthy kits. Or maybe Riot was more focused on skins. The game was filled with cosmetics right away, but they were all extremely expensive. 

Fighting game fans don’t buy skins. That’s not part of the culture. And they’re broke. Nobody is gonna pay nearly $100 for a skin. Again, Riot was focused on the wrong things. This time, it was detrimental to the 2XKO team. The game didn’t perform as expected, causing Riot to lay off a large chunk of the 2XKO devs. 

But I’ve always asked: What did Riot expect? It wasn’t going to be as big as VALORANT or League of Legends. It’s a fighting game. However, I think Riot thought it would transcend this, which is why they invested so much on extra devs they later had to let go. 

But 2XKO was never built to be more than a niche fighting game. Not only are fighting games niche as is (in the sense that they will never reach the viewership or player count levels of a MOBA or shooter), but 2XKO is a niche title within the genre. It’s complex and stressful, it’s not casual friendly.

Riot won’t share player numbers, but 2XKO is likely not getting enough players to survive. The average viewership on Twitch? Just 389… The engagement isn’t there. It’s also fallen off the download charts. It’s not unheard of for a fighting game, but it’s unheard of for Riot, and that’s the problem. 

Riot banked on the game being massive. That’s the issue. If Riot was fine with 2XKO being a niche fighting game, I think it has accomplished that. It’s at Evo, Frosty… The rivalries are growing. The storylines are getting interesting. The new-gen players are wild to watch. 

But I don’t see Riot spending money on a game with only a few thousand players max. Especially since it already admitted 2XKO wasn’t performing as expected and cut the team. The corny promotional stuff and overpriced skins show you that Riot was planning for another big title like VALORANT. It thought it could break free of the FGC stereotypes and have a mainstream hit. 

But it’s not. 

Even if 2XKO continues to have a small fanbase like Guilty Gear -Strive- going into 2027, I don’t think Riot wants anything to do with it. I don’t think Riot would pour money into it. Riot isn’t a company known for its passion. It’s a company known for building massive games with massive fanbases. Riot wants money. The FGC doesn’t make money. There’s only so long that it will bother with it. 

2XKO is doomed.

While I do agree with some of the points, I feel like we’re overlooking various factors of the game’s survival. So first! While Twitch numbers are decaying, that doesn’t mean that the game is dying! Games like Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves have atrocious viewership on Twitch, much more than 2XKO, actually! But those games still racked up a lot of entrants at Evo Japan 2026. While Twitch numbers provide an easy way to gauge interest, they’re not a clear indication of the game’s current player base.

Speaking of population, at the start of this year, Frosty Faustings, a fighting game tournament held in Illinois, had a whopping 962 entrants for 2XKO. The next big tournament was Evo Japan 2026, and that had 428 total entrants! This is still pretty huge for a game that’s still finding its footing in the FGC. If there’s one problem I have in here, it’s that the game’s presence outside North America has largely been ignored. I feel like the game’s marketing team put too much focus on NA and kinda forgot about other regions like mine, which is Asia.

This doesn’t mean that there are no players here, though! A lot of strong players, such as Naoki “Ikoan” Izumi and the previously mentioned twins, Haru and Toshi, play on this server and are proving to be formidable opponents, with Ikoan even reaching the top eight at Evo Japan 2026.

Regarding the game’s profitability, it’s true, we’re broke, and we don’t really buy skins. But the main reason we’re broke is probably the various sticks, leverless, and a whole lot of other external things we bought. Not to mention, things like lever modifications and buttons can balloon a player’s expenditure if they let themselves go. But that story’s for another time. Back to the topic at hand! There was indeed a large layoff a few weeks after 2XKO’s release, but the developers remain fully committed to continuing the game’s development, as evidenced by recent updates.

Even if Riot Games abandons the game’s development, the company has shown it’s still willing to support it, even if it’s just in maintenance mode. This is what they did with Legends of Runeterra. Riot stopped support for the game’s PvP, but continued updating its PvE mechanics. To translate this to 2XKO, the developers can simply stop doing champion balance updates, and the FGC will simply treat this as any other fighting game that doesn’t have developer support anymore. Games like Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 still have active player bases enough to hold regular tournaments. Now, before you say that those games are only alive because of nostalgia, they were once the new kids on the block, and who’s to say that 2XKO won’t have the same treatment in the distant future?

2XKO is in a good position and is receiving strong support from fighting game players due to the developer’s commitment to supporting local communities. Not only does Riot provide in-game cosmetics and currency, but the studio also provides money to add to some of the major tournaments’ prize pools! While we all know that prize money isn’t everything to fighting game players, Riot’s support for these tournaments is unheard of in the recent landscape of fighting games. If Riot continues this, the game will be a staple in no time.

Let’s face it, it’s true. Tag fighters aren’t that popular anymore in the current lineup of fighting games. 2XKO might not reach the heights of what Street Fighter 6 is doing in Japan, but the game is here to stay. It’s not going anywhere. Whether Riot continues its development or not is up to them, but I sincerely believe that since 2XKO is being made by veterans of the fighting game community, they are fighting behind the scenes to deliver an experience that we can only find here.

So, let’s address the elephant in the room: doubles is not gonna happen. I previously wrote that Riot should focus on doubles if it wants to save the game from dying. I agree that it would give it a niche that would stand out in the FGC.

However, it’s clear at this point that the pro players don’t really want to prioritize duos, especially since Riot handled that pivot so poorly. Teamfight, the newest fuse, has top players up in arms over how overpowered it is. And instead of inspiring duos, it made them want to ban the fuse in solo tourneys.

So while I agree that going doubles would make 2XKO stand out, I don’t think the community will allow it. The FGC is notoriously passionate about 1v1, a showcase of skill, grit, passion, determination… The tension and salt are what keep players watching. Doubles takes some of that raw intensity away.

Onto the number of players… Did you notice the massive drop between Frosty and Evo Japan? You just sorta handed that to me on a platter, so thanks for that! Japan is clearly not the market for 2XKO, so we will have to see how it goes in Evo Las Vegas, but early numbers show it’s even lower than Tekken 8, which is already seeing a huge decline. When we see the exact numbers, I think it will not be too impressive. This is all speculation, however, and I can’t say just yet.

What I can say, however, is that the hype is already gone. Let’s be real with ourselves. Frosty had huge numbers because it was the first major. By the second major, it was already in rapid decline. The players you all mentioned are already forgotten by the general FGC. Have we even been following Bleed after he won Frosty? Fewer people are showing interest, and that means the money won’t be there. And that means Riot won’t care for long.

As you said, they couldn’t even be bothered with Asia, and their one region of choice – North America – is losing interest. Where does it go from here?

You say that Riot is dedicated to maintaining and updating the game. I mean, sure. But did you see the latest update? Not only was Teamfight horribly unbalanced and not ready for release, but the animation scene that came with it was horrendous. It’s clear that the smaller team can’t maintain the same quality, even though I believe they are trying.

And as the game continues to get sloppier, that guarantees even fewer players sticking around. Nobody wants to play a game that feels uncared for, unbalanced, and frustrating to play. Just look at Tekken 8 after Season 2. If the updates continue to be this sloppy, I think it’s doing more harm than good.

And do I think Riot will keep it alive? Maybe for a little bit. Maybe a few years. You said it yourself: It only keeps its other failing esports titles alive for nostalgia.

But even then, it eventually kills them. 2XKO is next.