Reported on 09.01 at 22:28: the opening matchups for the qualification stage of BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 have been confirmed. The announced starting pairs will see Vitality take on Virtus.pro, while Falcons are set to meet ECSTATIC in their first qualifier matches.

On January 9 at 22:28 the opening qualifying matchups for BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 were announced: Team Vitality will take on Virtus.pro, while Falcons are matched against ECSTATIC.

Streamer and content creator Sergey Karnaukhov, better known under the nickname LenaGol0vach, recently commented on his attitude to holidays and celebrations. He said he does not see any particular reason to mark the New Year or other festive occasions and described the period as an ordinary stretch of days for himself.

Ukrainian organization Inner Circle has completed its active roster by adding Eduard 'zeRRoFIX' Petrovskyi and Arseniy 'cptkurtka023' Derevinskiy. The signings come as the team prepares to take part in the online stage of BLAST Bounty Season 1, which begins on January 12.

On January 9 at 15:55, VeRsuta responded publicly to accusations that he had been artificially boosting his numbers.

Embark Studios has acknowledged a recent increase in cheating in its shooter ARC Raiders and said it will strengthen measures to combat unfair play. The statement came from an administrator known as Ossen on the game's official Discord server, where the studio said it is closely monitoring player reports and has already begun taking action.

fnatic have confirmed a roster change: Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer has been transferred to another organisation and Pavle 'Maden' Bošković has been brought in as his replacement. The Swedish organisation framed the move as part of a broader rebuild aimed at sharpening the team's aggression and entry play.

Organizers of the Esports Nations Cup have published an updated list of countries and territories eligible to participate in the championship. The document specifies that teams from Russia and Belarus will not be permitted to compete in team events under their national flags.

Russian streamer Ilya "Maddyson" Davydov published screenshots of the control interface for one of the services used to inflate activity on Twitch. He shared the material on his personal Telegram channel and said the images show how third parties can operate networks of automated accounts to change channel metrics.

TYLOO have announced the acquisition of Su 'Zero' Jingshen, restoring the organisation's active roster to full strength following the retirement of YuanZhang 'Attacker' Sheng from playing duties and his transition into a coaching role within the team.

The first match of the closed qualifiers for DreamLeague Season 28 in the Western Europe region will pit Team Falcons against Team Lynx. The encounter is scheduled for January 9 with a planned start time of 14:00 MSK.

For the first time, developers at Massive Entertainment have revealed concrete details about Tom Clancy's The Division 3. The information was presented by the series producer, Julian Gerighty, during the New Game Plus Showcase, where he discussed the scope and ambitions behind the next mainline entry.

Intel is preparing a special series of processors called Core G3 aimed at portable gaming consoles, according to reporting by VideoCardz. The company did not disclose the lineup’s name during its Panther Lake mobile-processor presentation, but it confirmed plans to introduce a dedicated series for handheld devices.

Former professional player Rinat "KingR" Abdullin spoke about the departures of Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Hertek and Chan "Oli" Jeong Kin from Aurora Gaming's main Dota 2 roster. Abdullin's remarks were reproduced by Metaratings.ru.

Marco Mereu, CEO and founder of the esports organization M80, publicly rejected claims that Mason “Lake” Sanderson would be moving to G2 Esports’ Counter-Strike 2 roster. Mereu addressed the speculation in a post on the social network X, denying that any transfer of Lake to G2 was underway.

Professional Dota 2 player Nikita Kuzmin, known as Daxak, remarked on recent roster changes at Aurora Gaming during a livestream; a clip of his comments was later shared in the LEGENDWP DOTA 2 Telegram channel. He addressed the team’s decision to bring in Chung “Ws” Wei Shen and Oleg “Kaori” Medvedok and gave a brief assessment of both newcomers.

Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, a member of Team Spirit’s Counter-Strike 2 roster, has singled out 18-year-old Belarusian rifler Alexey “xeedo” Mikulich as a player who could make a significant breakthrough in 2026. The remark by sh1ro was picked up by esports media outlets following his brief assessment of rising talent in the scene.

Counter-Strike 2 has been installed by roughly 318.8 million Steam users, making it the most-downloaded title in Valve’s digital store. Because Counter-Strike 2 replaced the previous Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on release, its install figures include the legacy CS:GO player base. The download and installation data are current as of October 2025 and were compiled by market researcher GameDiscoverCo.

EWC Foundation, the organizer behind the Esports World Cup series, has begun a search for partners to take part in the Esports Nations Cup 2026. The organisation announced the initiative on the championship's official channels as it prepares to assemble national delegations for the tournament.

Polish developer Hexworks and publisher CI Games found themselves at the center of a minor controversy after fans accused their upcoming fantasy action RPG Lords of the Fallen 2 of borrowing the design of an enemy from another popular game.

Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen, the captain of Astralis’ CS2 roster, publicly reacted to the recent reshuffle within the Danish organization. In his message on the social platform X, HooXi noted that the team has gone through substantial changes and expressed enthusiasm about the next chapter for Astralis.

Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov, a member of Team Spirit's Counter-Strike 2 roster, was placed fifth in HLTV.org's ranking of the best players of 2025, the outlet reported. The placement reflects his individual performance across the season while representing Team Spirit.

Valve has introduced a new Steam feature that allows mod authors to assign a modification to a specific version of a game. The company announced the change on Steam's official site, describing tools intended to make mod distribution and compatibility clearer as games evolve.

On January 8 at 20:13, Team Lynx defeated MinD_ContRoL, securing advancement to the closed qualifiers for DreamLeague Season 28.

Caster Rustam Mavlyutov, known by his handle Adekvat, commented on the recent roster changes at Aurora Gaming’s Dota 2 squad. His reaction was posted on his personal Telegram channel and attracted attention for its candid tone.

On January 8 at 15:56, it was announced that ICY has moved to the roster of ALLINNERS on a loan basis.

Publisher Deep Silver and developer KING Art Games have presented a new cinematic portrayal dedicated to one of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV’s principal factions — the Orks. The release emphasizes the brutal and chaotic nature of the green-skinned invaders and highlights the faction’s role in the upcoming strategy title.

The Jackass franchise is preparing a return to the big screen with a new full-length feature film. Co-creator and star Johnny Knoxville announced the project on his social media, revealing a premiere date of June 26 but offering no further production or casting details at this time.

Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier reports that development on Grand Theft Auto VI remains active and that the game’s content may not yet be finalized. According to his information, Rockstar’s team is still completing missions and levels and deciding which features and elements will be included in the final product.

Epic Games announced that on January 9 Fortnite will begin a crossover event with the animated series South Park, bringing new character skins, themed locations and a limited-time game mode to the title.

Blogger Ilya "Maddyson" Davydov responded to remarks by Kirill "Cake" Zabrodin about artificially inflated viewer counts among some Twitch streamers, renewing his accusations against several high-profile content creators. In a post shared on his personal Telegram channel, Maddyson singled out a number of well-known streamers whom he says are showing fake online figures.

Jakob "Pimp" Winneche, a well-known analyst in the Counter-Strike 2 scene, reacted to the announcement that Martin "stavn" Lund has left Astralis. Winneche expressed support for the Danish player and voiced optimism about his future return to competitive play, posting his thoughts on social media.

Content creator Kirill "Cake" Zabrodin has reported encountering inflated viewer numbers among previously unknown streamers. In posts on his personal Telegram channel, Zabrodin said the situation convinced him that some streamers on Twitch are using dishonest means to boost their apparent audience, echoing earlier claims made by fellow creator Ilya "Maddyson" Davydov.

Content temporarily unavailable.

Polish analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski of Noble Securities told Eurogamer he is fully confident that CD Projekt Red will release substantial new content during 2026 — and that in roughly 90% of scenarios this will take the form of a story expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko, a professional Counter-Strike 2 player, was ranked sixth in HLTV.org's list of the best players of 2025. The announcement, which included key statistics, was published on HLTV.org and distributed through social media channels.

Danil "molodoy" Golubenko made a dramatic entrance onto the elite Counter-Strike scene in 2025, earning his first-ever placement in the Top 20 Players list after a seven-month rookie run that saw him win four events with FURIA and collect two tournament MVP awards.

In December 2025, Valve's Steam digital storefront reached a new single-month revenue record, generating $1.6 billion in sales, according to data from Alinea Analytics. The figure reflects transactions completed by more than 100 million gamers over the course of the month.

Martin Lund, known in the Counter-Strike 2 scene as stavn, has announced that he is no longer part of the esports organization Astralis. The Danish player revealed that the past years of his career have been especially difficult after he lost his older brother to suicide in December 2021; he shared the message on his personal profile on X.

Nicolai “device” Reedtz, the Danish Counter-Strike 2 professional who has joined 100 Thieves, has spoken publicly about his transfer to the new organization. The veteran rifler said he is motivated to make the most of this opportunity and intends to deliver strong performances for his new team.