Lotan "Spinx" Giladi has returned to the top 10 in HLTV's year-end player ranking, securing 10th place in 2025. This marks his fourth appearance on the Top 20 list and his second-best finish to date, behind the fifth place he achieved in 2023 when he helped Vitality to five tournament wins including the Paris Major.

The winners of the Steam Awards 2025 were announced on January 3 at 21:00 Moscow time. As in previous years, nominees and winners were chosen by the Steam community of players.

Esports organization BCGame has finalized its roster for Counter‑Strike 2. The club introduced the new lineup via its social media channels, announcing the additions that complete the current five‑man squad.

Portuguese organisation SAW has announced the sale of its Counter‑Strike roster, confirming that the active five have been placed on the transfer market. The move follows a series of transfer rumours that surfaced in recent days linking members of the squad to several high‑profile projects abroad.

Esports organization Metizport has announced changes to its Counter-Strike 2 roster. The club confirmed that Liam "MaiL09" Tugel has been removed from the main lineup; the announcement was posted on the organization’s official site and across its social media channels.

The team behind EA Sports FC 26 released a compilation highlighting the most spectacular goals scored in Ultimate Team during 2025. The selection focuses on memorable in-game finishes recorded throughout the year and presents a curated list of standout moments from that mode.

Players in Russia have begun reporting mass account bans on the Roblox platform. According to multiple user reports, the company is actively blocking attempts to circumvent the restrictions that were imposed earlier following a government decision.

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FACEIT has published a symbolic team for 2025 formed using statistics collected from matches on its platform rather than results from major tournaments. Role assignments were determined by the platform’s internal data on matchmaking outcomes together with opinions gathered from players ranked in the top 1,000. The announcement appeared as a post on X.

Danish organisation ECSTATIC have announced the additions of two former OG players, Christian 'Buzz' Andersen and Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi, restoring the squad to a five-player roster.

The calendar is about to flip to a new month stamped "December," and the market is already saturated with end-of-year best-of lists. So instead of rehearsing the usual charts, here is a different take: ten obscure, atmospheric, and largely overlooked games that a typical casual player likely missed. This list is personal — expect indie oddities, tactile charm, and a few deliberately uncomfortable experiences.

Streamer Ilya Davydov, known as Maddyson, harshly criticized the television adaptation of the Fallout universe. In a post on his personal Telegram channel the content creator attacked the series and expressed strong negative opinions about the people producing Fallout-related content more broadly.

Actress Tenzin Crawford, known for roles in the projects "Прекрасные мелочи" and "Дом с прислугой", has been added to the cast of the upcoming television adaptation of the Assassin's Creed video game franchise, representatives of the streaming service Netflix announced on social media.

On January 2 at 22:20, organizers announced that Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro and PARIVISION have been invited to take part in the qualification stage for BLAST Slam VI.

Aniplex has announced a new feature-length anime film set in the Kaguya-sama: Love Is War franchise. The announcement followed the conclusion of the special episode titled Kaguya-sama: Love Is War — The Stairway to Adulthood. Organizers have shared only limited information so far about the upcoming movie.

Marvel Entertainment has revealed plans for a new television series titled "Wonder Man." The studio shared official information about the show and its premise ahead of the premiere.

Warner Bros. has unveiled a new trailer for the film Wuthering Heights. The studio is positioning the picture as a fresh cinematic take on a classic work of English literature.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced the games that will be available to PlayStation Plus subscribers in January. The company published the information on its official blog, outlining which titles will be added to the subscription service next month.

On January 2 at 22:20, organizers announced invitations to the qualification stage of BLAST Slam VI.

Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand has announced that he will leave ECSTATIC following the expiration of his contract and is now a free agent. The AWPer said he signed a short-term deal with an option to extend and chose not to exercise that option as he enters the new year.

Moonton has unveiled the official anthem for the M7 World Championship of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The song is performed by the Indonesian group No Na and is presented as the tournament’s official musical theme.

Introduction: The 2026 release calendar is already shaping up to be one of the most diverse in recent memory. Major studios and beloved indie creators alike are preparing sequels, remakes and bold new experiments. Below is a comprehensive look at the projects that have generated the most buzz so far — their creators, platforms, release windows and the gameplay and narrative directions each title promises.

Published 02.01 at 22:20. Three teams — Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro and PARIVISION — have been officially invited to participate in the qualification stage for BLAST Slam VI.

AM have filled the final spot in their starting five by signing Can 'kyuubii' Ali, who arrives from BIG Academy. The 20-year-old had spent the previous six months in BIG's academy setup after being demoted from the main squad and has been active in the lower tiers of the European online scene.

Independent studio Mindfish, best known for the game Atomic Heart, published an illustrated roundup of its 2025 highlights on social media, listing the studio’s most notable achievements and announcements from the year.

Published on January 2 at 22:20. Organizers have extended invitations to three teams — Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro and PARIVISION — to take part in the qualification stage for the sixth edition of BLAST Slam.

The Duffer brothers, creators of the Stranger Things series, have confirmed they will produce another television series set in the same universe. In an interview with a major entertainment outlet, they said the new spinoff will give fans some answers to questions left open after the main show concluded.

Update (20:35 MSK): New information from CS2NEWS has contradicted an earlier OFFSTAGE report. According to CS2NEWS, their sources say negotiations never progressed to the point of discussing a concrete transfer fee for Sergey "Ax1Le" Ryhtorov.

A player using the nickname Santaclaus has turned their World of Warcraft residence into a miniature Star Wars display and shared the result on Reddit. The project converts the space around the house into a themed diorama that echoes spacecraft and machines from the famed science fiction saga.

Czech organization SINNERS have announced the signing of Romanian AWPer Mădălin-Andrei "MoDo" Mirea, bringing the active roster back to five players after the squad moved Peter "Pepo" Ružička to the bench in December.

A Dota 2 enthusiast on Reddit drew attention to several oddities in the naming of in-game abilities, arguing that some spells would logically belong to different heroes based solely on their names. The user assembled a list of roughly twenty such examples and shared it with the community.

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Streamer Alexander "Nix" Levin commented on recent discussions about a possible artificial increase in League of Legends' online numbers, arguing that the sharp rise in interest is easily explained by the release of the animated series Arcane.

Esports organization Astralis is reportedly considering signing Swedish AWPer Lav "phzy" Smidebrant to its Counter‑Strike 2 lineup, according to information obtained by HLTV from unnamed sources.

Dota 2's average concurrent player count in December 2025 reached a nine-year high, registering 594,200 players, according to Steam Charts. The game's peak concurrent users for the month climbed to 903,000, marking a significant spike in activity compared with recent years.

Fans of sports anime will be familiar with Haikyuu!! — a series about friendship, rivalry, grueling training, and the high-energy matches of high school volleyball. The story follows Shoyo Hinata, who loves the sport and joins Karasuno High with the dream of competing against top opponents. Below are profiles of fifteen of the brightest, most interesting and strongest characters from Haikyuu!!, summarizing their teams, positions, key traits and what sets them apart.

Astralis is expected to announce the signing of Swedish AWPer Love 'phzy' Smidebrant, multiple people familiar with the situation said. The move would make phzy the team's primary sniper ahead of the new season.

Dota 2 player Ilya 'ALOHADANCE' Korobkin recently spoke about a memorable storyline from the anime Naruto, describing how one particular scene affected him emotionally. He singled out the sacrifice of Granny Chiyo in episode 31, titled 'Legacy,' of Naruto Shippuden — the moment when the elderly woman gives her life to bring Gaara back — as especially powerful.

William "mezii" Merriman, a member of Team Vitality's CS2 roster, reacted to being named among the top‑12 players in HLTV's ranking for 2025. The player shared his thoughts on the social network X following the announcement.

Average monthly online figures for the extraction shooter ARC Raiders have decreased by 13.26% over the two months since the game's PC release. According to Steam Charts, the game's average concurrent players fell from 264.4 thousand to 229.3 thousand, while its peak concurrent users slipped from 459 thousand to 438 thousand during the same period.