Esports | The Verge

Riot turns to sports betting to help fund its esports leagues

2025-06-27T14:15:17-04:00

As the esports industry searches for new sources of revenue, Riot Games has opened up its League of Legends and Valorant esports leagues to sports betting sponsorships. The decision will permit tier one organizations - or the highest level of professional players - in the North and South America and European esports leagues of Valorant and LoL to secure paid sponsorships from sports betting companies, a previously prohibited category of sponsor.

According to Riot, the reason for this change is because it's what the players and esports organizations have been asking for. "We agreed it was time to open up this category to create more revenue …

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PlayStation kicks off esports tournament series with live event in London

2024-12-05T11:58:46-05:00

Tekken 8 will be one of the games people can compete in.

Sony is building on its PlayStation esports efforts with a new series of live tournament events called PlayStation Tournaments: XP. The first event will take place on January 18th, 2025 in London and feature Tekken 8, EA Sports FC 25, Fortnite, and Astro Bot.

"Qualifying players from across the globe and the competitive gaming community on PS5 will represent teams Triangle, Circle, Cross, and Square to earn points during the competition and vie for the title of champion, in addition to winning exclusive prizes," Sony says in a blog post.

Open qualifiers for Tekken 8 and EA Sports FC 25 begin today, while qualifiers for Fortnite start on De …

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My very brief stint as a race car driver at the F1 Arcade

2024-10-16T13:23:34-04:00

The F1 Arcade is a simulator. Just... a simpler one. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge

Confidence was my first mistake. As I plopped down in one of the 83 racing simulators in the new F1 Arcade location in Washington, DC, I told the company's CEO, Adam Breeden, that I'd raced plenty of times before. I picked Semi-Pro difficulty, even as Breeden told me he recommends most first-time arcade visitors pick something simpler. I adjusted the Vesaro simulator, started the race, and caused a six-car pileup on the race's very first corner.

Luckily for me, the F1 Arcade is designed more for fun than fidelity, so my race wasn't over. It ended four minutes later, in dead-last place, as the onscreen timer mercifully ticked to zero. On a n …

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The Olympics has moved on from Mario and Sonic

2024-07-30T14:55:34-04:00

For almost 20 years, Nintendo and Sega have released Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games to coincide with the international sporting event. But now, according to a report in Eurogamer, that tradition is at an end. In 2020, the IOC made the decision to not renew the game's licensing deal, ending a run of games that's covered most Summer and Winter Olympic Games since 2007.

"Basically the IOC wanted to bring [the licensing] back to themselves internally and look at other partners so they would get more money," Lee Cocker, a developer who worked on the Mario & Sonic franchise, told Eurogamer.

Strangely though, those "other partners" are NFTs a …

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America’s long Street Fighter drought ends with a win at Evo 2024

2024-07-22T14:31:22-04:00

Evo 2024 wrapped up late Sunday night with Victor "Punk" Woodley beating Adel "Big Bird" Anouche in Street Fighter 6. With his victory, Woodley became the first American to win a mainline Street Fighter tournament at Evo in over 20 years.

The match was nail-bitingly close with Anouche, who made it to the grand finals via the loser's bracket, beating Woodley 3-0 to reset or "flip" the bracket requiring another best-of-5 match to determine the winner. Their second match went the distance, with each player having two set wins a piece and tied 1-1 in the final match. A well-executed super move from Woodley's Cammy ended the match and America's …

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How to watch Evo 2024, the biggest fighting game tournament of the year

2024-07-19T12:48:17-04:00

Evo 2024 starts Friday, July 19th, kicking off a weekend full of one of the most intense fighting game competitions in the world. This year, over 10,000 players will participate in a host of games, making this the largest Evo ever while also setting the record for the largest esports tournament.

Evo has been getting bigger and bigger, with participation bolstered by the release of new versions of the tournament's most popular games. Street Fighter 6 made its Evo debut last year and boasted the largest number of entrants in the franchise's history. This year, both Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8 will make their first Evo appearances. In additio …

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Apex Legends is having a rough week

2024-07-12T13:09:39-04:00

Apex Legends can't seem to catch a break. The game has been plagued with a pair of high-profile issues for the last few weeks.

First up, earlier this week, the hero shooter's developer, Respawn Entertainment, announced it was retooling the game's battle pass. For season 22 and beyond, the battle pass will now be split into two halves, with 60 levels for each half. Additionally, players will no longer be able to purchase a battle pass with AC or Apex's in-game currency. "The decision to move from AC to real world currency is not one that we made lightly, but it does allow us to decrease the price of Premium+ for our community," the announcem …

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Electric bikepacking: lessons learned over four days and 250 miles

2026-02-08T12:32:08-05:00

"Electric bikes are for cheaters" is the refrain sung by cocksure men in lycra, worried their weekend hobbies will be invaded by unfit neophytes on battery-powered gravel, mountain, and road bicycles.

It reminds me of the early internet when AOL users were considered inferior to the online elite who did the hard work of subscribing to a regional ISP. Back then, losing an argument with an aol.com email address was reason enough to sell your modem. Now, the ultimate humiliation is being overtaken by someone in street shoes casually pushing a throttle.

But make no mistake, electric sport bikes are becoming increasingly common on trails and …

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Call of Duty League team owner suing Activision Blizzard for $680 million

2024-02-20T17:30:15-05:00

Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez, CEO of OpTic Gaming, is suing Activision Blizzard for alleged monopolistic practices regarding the publisher's Call of Duty esports league.

Rodriguez - whose company owned and operated the Call of Duty League's OpTic Texas team - and now-retired OpTic player Seth "Scump" Abner are seeking $680 million in damages. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the pair claim that Activision Blizzard's "unlawful 100 percent monopoly" over the league forced them into financially ruinous partnerships at the risk of being unable to compete in the League.

Before the arrival of the Call of Duty League, competitive Call of Duty tournaments …

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Overwatch esports will live on as the Overwatch Champions Series

2024-01-23T14:32:43-05:00

We are, as the kids say, so friggin' back.

In November, the Overwatch League announced its end after six seasons. At the time, Overwatch League associate PR manager John Nomis said, "We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction," confirming that while the League itself was dead, Overwatch esports would return. Today, we know what shape competitive Overwatch will take in 2024 with the announcement of the Overwatch Champions Series or the OWCS.

"The OWCS is our new premiere international competitive circuit open to players across North America (NA), Europe, Middle East, and North Africa …

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