Category: E-Sport

Image Credit: Stephen Sylvanie/USA Today One of the most devastating things to ever happen to the Super Smash Bros. community was the time Nintendo pulled Smash games from Evo. Evo used to be one of the largest showcases of Smash’s talented, gritty, and passionate esports scene. Pros crying on stage after they won, Smash players boo’ing during the Wii U Grand Finals due to a boring Bayonetta mirror match, leading to those players purposefully not playing and just stalling and taunting… Those are some of the most memorable moments in Evo history. The Smash scene often struggles to secure a…

Image Credit: Joe Brady/ALGS/EA Ahead of the ALGS 2026 Split 1 Playoffs at the Esports World Cup in Paris, we handed Bowen “Monsoon” Fuller the mic and let him interview his own teammate, Miguel “Blinkzr” Quiles, with Esports Insider (ESI) stepping in only occasionally. Rather than the usual pre-match press questions, we’ve got two champions bidding for back-to-back titles, with today’s Split 1 Playoffs Grand Finals all that stands in their way. Monsoon traces Blinkzr’s path from a Finance degree and casual Rocket League sessions to the ambition of being the best in Apex, unpacking what qualifying for Pro League…

Image: Ollie Ring/Esports Insider Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was a diminutive silhouette as he sat at the end of the stage where he’d be illuminated at the end of the Esports World Cup’s Opening Ceremony’s opening gambit. Five minutes later, French superstar Aya Nakamura performed one song and left the stage. So too did Theodora, before waltzing up the steps to perch atop a Secretlab’s gaming chair. By the time Team Falcons awkwardly placed the Club Championship trophy on its perch on the stage of La Seine Musicale, it was hard to say what, exactly, the opening ceremony was trying…

Sony is on a generational speed run of bad PR in recent days after announcing its intent to completely discontinue disc production for its consoles. However, I believe that the biggest issue they have right now involves Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls and its region lock in over 130 countries, according to SteamDB. It’s such a huge issue that it has united the fighting game community (FGC), a community known for infighting and debates over what the best fighting game really is. So, what exactly is happening here? Sony seems to have forgotten the Helldivers 2 lesson In my opinion, it’s…

Image Credit: Valve After a grueling series of qualifiers, we’ve finally locked in the 16 teams competing at The International 15, which is going to be Dota 2’s biggest tournament of the year. If you’re one of those seasonal viewers who only comes out of your cage for TI, here are some of the most important storylines to follow.  Puppey returns to TI, but as a coach There are many players who are considered legends of the game, but Clement “Puppey” Ivanov is hands-down one of the most influential figures in Dota 2 history. He was the only player to…

Evo Vegas happened just this week, and while the tournament was a great success with lots of announcements benefiting the fighting game community, it also highlighted a growing pain point for the scene. Let’s start with a positive! Evo intends to support locals around the world, essentially cultivating a stronger fighting game esports scene. Now, for the negative, a somewhat cringeworthy moment happened during the tournament that divided the FGC and might even spell the beginning of the FGC’s nightmare. Yup, I’m talking about the popular streamer Ludwig Ahgren’s infamous “I like Street Fighter, but I also like viewers” moment.…

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves burst onto the fighting game scene in April 2025 just in time to build up the hype ahead of Evo Vegas that summer. It took one of the Main Stage spots, and the Top 8 was insanely fun to watch due to the veteran players giving it their all and the fast-paced gameplay you couldn’t look away from. But the esports scene has not really held onto that same hype. There were only 433 entrants at Evo Japan 2026, and 444 at Evo Vegas this past weekend. For comparison, 2XKO took the third Main…

Nicolas Maurer can’t quite remember the name of the tournament. A small Call of Duty LAN – somewhere in Paris – the kind where the musk of stale energy drinks and hum of a room full of machines linger longer than the name – left its mark on the man who would go on to co-found France’s most storied esports organization.  “I think [it was] around 2012 or 2013, prior to founding Team Vitality,” he vaguely recalls. “That was when I truly discovered my passion for esports, and it remains such a special memory for me.” Nicolas Maurer, CSO, Team Vitality…

Image Credit: Red Bull Nobody would be surprised to see Saul Leonardo “MenaRD” Mena II win the Street Fighter 6 tournament at Evo Vegas 2026. He’s considered one of the best SF6 players in the world right now. However, his journey to Evo this year was totally out of the ordinary for him. Luckily, MenaRD has the right mindset to still win it all. At Evo Vegas 2026, MenaRD spoke with Esports Insider ahead of the tournament to discuss his unorthodox journey and what it has taken to overcome the obstacles in his path. Kemonomichi Legends LIVE and Evo Japan…

Image Credit: Colin Young Wolff/Riot Games VALORANT Masters London concluded on June 21st with a five-map thriller between Pacific’s Paper Rex and VCT Americas’ Leviatán. But it wasn’t the event favorite, comprised of a loyal core of VCT legends, that lifted the Masters London trophy in the end. It was Leviatán who came out on top with a dominant performance on the final map, Lotus. Not only is this the first Masters trophy going to a LATAM team, the Argentinian esports organization also locked in this historic accomplishment with a roster of four rookies that had never stepped on an…