What a month May has been! With at least a couple of major tournaments every weekend this month it really has been non-stop in the esports world, and that’s even before you look at some of the biggest news stories. We’ve seen Team Vitality extend their generational run in CS2, the rebirth of Rainbow Six Siege esports and had some massive events confirmed for later in the year.
With June looking just as busy and the Esports World Cup on the horizon, that’s likely to be a trend that continues as we move through the summer. So to make sure you don’t miss any of the biggest esports news we are back with another rundown of all the biggest talking points from the past few weeks.
Industry News
Image Credit: Activision
FC Pro World Championship and ALGS Mid Season Head To EWC
EA has announced that two of its biggest events of the year will take place at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh this summer. Both the ALGS Midseason Playoffs (Apex Legends) and FC Pro World Championship (EA SPORTS FC 25) will take place at the Esports World Cup, with the best players in the world competing for major prizes. This continues the trend of major events joining the EWC, with the likes of the Overwatch 2 OWCS Midseason Championship 2025 and PUBG Mobile World Cup also joining the event.
Call of Duty World Series Of Warzone Returns
The Call of Duty World Series Of Warzone event is returning for another year to decide the best Warzone team in the world. Some details are still to be announced, such as the final LAN location, but we do know that there will be a $1 million prize pool and it will be played on Verdansk. It will likely conclude what look to be a busy few months for the Warzone competitive scene, with the EWC event also just around the corner.
Uzi Heading Into The Hall Of Legends
Legendary League of Legends player Jian “Uzi” Zihao is set to become the second inductee into the Hall of Legends, which is essentially the LoL hall of fame. His 10-year career saw him win MSI, and earn three top four finishes at Worlds, while consistently being one of the best bot laners in the world. He retired in 2023, and now is being recognised alongside last year’s inductee, Faker, in the Hall of Legends.
S1mple returns to pro Counter-Strike
Arguably the greatest CS:GO player of all time, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev, has returned to pro play in CS2 after a long hiatus that has only seen him play a handful of events in the past few years. He has now joined FaZe Clan, on loan from NAVI, until the end of the BLAST Austin Major. While it’s perhaps ambitious to expect him to go straight back to being the best in the world, joining a top roster at the Major could give him a shot at another tournament win if he can perform well.
BLAST Expands Into US
Tournament organiser BLAST is expanding into the USA, with a brand-new office in New York that will act as its base of operations for US events. Despite the difficulties that the US can pose for events, BLAST is targeting the region heavily this year, hosting multiple events stateside including the upcoming Austin CS2 Major that kicks off next month.
Vitality Acquire Bigetron Esports
French org Team Vitality this month announced the acquisition of Indonesian esports organisation Bigetron Esports. The move sees Vitality strengthen its position in the mobile game space, with four new rosters that are all set to compete at the Esports World Cup, as well as the org’s MLBB Female roster which it signed from Bigetron in 2024. The move also gives Vitality a greater presence in SEA, given Bigetron’s following there.
Cloud9 Partners With Mueller Esports Medicine To Promote Athlete Wellness
Cloud9 and Mueller Esports Medicine have announced a new deal that will see the sports recovery company assist Cloud9 players, starting with Smash Bros legend Joseph “Mang0” Marquez. The company has operated in the traditional sports space for 60 years, helping athletes recover and keep their bodies healthy, now they are expanding into esports, which is exciting news for players.
Esports World Cup: Level Up Documentary Coming To Prime Video
With just weeks to go until EWC 2025 a new documentary covering last year’s event is set to drop on Prime Video. The documentary is directed by Emmy winner R.J. Cutler and follows some of the key stories from the 2024 tournament, from players achieving their dream, to execs dealing with tough decisions. The doc launches on June 6, so be sure to watch it before EWC 2025 kicks off a month later.
IEM Katowice moves to Kraków in 2026
IEM Katowice, one of the most iconic esports tournaments in the world, is no more, with the event set to move to Kraków in 2026. The long rumoured move was finally confirmed this week, causing mixed emotions for many in the space. While memories of the Spodek will live long with anyone who ever got to attend, the prospect of a much bigger arena in a bigger city certainly makes an enticing prospect.
Competitive results
Image Credit: Michael Caruso
Team Falcons Win ALGS Open
After consistently just missing out on major tournament wins over the past year, Team Falcons finally took a big win in the world of Apex Legends at the ALGS: 2025 Open in New Orleans. The $1 million tournament was the first big event of the season, and provided some impressive action, with the crowd getting behind eventual MVP Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen.
Tundra Go Back To Back At BLAST Dota
Tundra Esports picked up their second BLAST Slam trophy of the year this month, having previously won the BLAST Slam II Dota 2 event back in February. This time they took down Team Falcons in the final, and only dropped two games throughout the entire event. Tundra has placed in the top three of all but one event they have played this year, but a busy schedule has seen them skip the ongoing DreamLeague tournament, instead focusing on the upcoming EWC and TI.
FURIA Wins First RB6 Siege X Event
A new tournament format was revealed for the RE:L0:AD Rainbow Six Siege event, which also kicked off the first season of Siege X competition, essentially resetting the entire RB6 scene with a big game update and this crazy new format. It’s too complicated to explain here, but the Reload format gave teams the chance to add more risk to matches, and even gave them some joker cards to play when needed. Brazilian team FURIA came out on top, with the new format being mostly praised for doing something new.
Vitality Continue To Win Everything In CS2
After securing the ESL Grand Slam last month, Team Vitality have continued their winning ways taking both the BLAST Rivals Spring 2025 and Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2025 tournaments this month. The wins take them to six tournament wins in a row, but perhaps more impressive is their 30 match winning streak. With the Major around the corner, opponents will be spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to take them down.
LA Thieves Wins CoD Major Dallas
The LA Thieves have managed to match what the Atlanta FaZe managed to do earlier this season by winning back to back Call of Duty Majors. The Thieves took the win in Dallas, for the stage four Major, having also won last time out in Boca Raton. Now with the regular season in the books, all eyes turn to Champs.
VCT Stage 1 Comes To An End
All four regions of the VCT Stage 1 came to an end this month, with some big names taking victories around the world. G2 claimed the Americas title, Fnatic won in EMEA, XLG Esports took China and Rex Regum Qeon were victorious in Pacific. All four teams, along with the second and third placed teams from each region, will now head to Masters Toronto tournament next month.
FPS Fans Have A Lot To Watch In June
June is a big month for FPS fans with the BLAST Austin Major bringing the best CS2 teams to the US to fight it out at the biggest event of the year, and the VALORANT Masters Toronto giving us some much-needed international play in Valorant. Then it’s time for CoD Champs, which is also heading to Canada, at the end of the month, making this month incredibly busy for those who like shooting others in the face.
G2 Esports Are the First Team to Qualify for LoL MSI 2025
G2 has become the first team to lock in a place at the League of Legends Mid Season Invitational tournament after earning a spot in the LEC Spring Split grand final. G2 could only manage fourth in the group stage of the split just squeezing into the upper bracket of playoffs, but victories over Fnatic and KOI have earned them a spot in the upcoming final and a ticket to MSI.
And finally…
Image Credit: Riot Games
Valorant Mobile Coming Very Soon
Not directly esports related, this one, but news we know a lot of you will be excited about. VALORANT looks to finally be coming to mobile very soon, after years of leaks and speculation. While there has been no official communication in the West, a video released in China confirms Valorant Mobile is being made by Lightspeed Studios and some kind of closed beta is expected to launch in China in the coming weeks. There’s no news on if Valorant Mobile will launch globally, but it surely must be likely given the success of the PC version.
