After another incredible year the 2025 Esports Awards winners have been crowned, with the most deserving from the industry walking out of Vegas with the iconic trophy. From major streamers to unsung heroes and of course world champions, the best of the best were on hand in Vegas this past month to claim their awards and a place in the history books.
Our biggest and best event yet was quite the celebration, and if you missed it we’d certainly recommend going back and watching the festivities, with some memorable moments being made on the biggest stage in esports.
Of course, the industry does not stand still just for the awards and the news has not stopped in the past few weeks. More world champions have been crowned, major partnerships have been announced and legends have retired. Make sure to keep reading to find out all the biggest stories from the past month.
Industry News
League Of Legends & Riot Take Major Awards
Riot Games walked away with multiple awards at the 2025 Esports Awards, taking Publisher of the Year and Esports Game Of The Year for League of Legends. Others in the Riot ecosystem also won big, with Clayton “CaptainFlowers” Raines, Andrew “Vedius” Day, Laure Valée and Mimi “aEvilcat” Wermcrantz all claiming broadcast talent awards in their respective fields, Kim “KIM” Jeong-soo taking the coach of the year honours and Choi “Doran” Hyeon-jun winning the Play of the Year award.
Team Vitality CS Named Team Of The Year
It was down to Team Vitality to stop the Riot PC award dominance, with the org’s CS team taking two major awards. The entire squad won the Team of the Year award, while star player Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut took home the hotly contested PC Player of the Year. After a year that saw them win seven LANs in a row, including a Major, there was no other team that could challenge them in the world of CS for a long period, making these awards thoroughly deserved.
IShowSpeed Is The Streamer Of The Year
One of the most recognisable faces on the internet has claimed the Streamer of the Year award, with IShowSpeed walking away with the trophy. He beat out other big names such as Ibai, Kai Cenat and xQc, to win the award for the first time, and after an incredible year that even saw him appear in the WWE Royal Rumble, it was no surprise when his name was called in Vegas.
2025 Lifetime Achievement Class Revealed
The 2025 Lifetime Achievement class was revealed at the 2025 Esports Awards, with industry legends being recognised for their contributions to the industry. Dota 2 legend and OG Esports founder Johan “N0tail” Sundstein was one of three former pro players in the class, being joined by CS legend Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and one of the greatest console players of all time in Matthew “FormaL” Piper. Team Liquid co-founder Steve Arhancet, EVO founders Tom & Tony Cannon and the iconic casting duo of Tasteless & Artosis were also honoured.
Big Names Scoop Awards
Other 2025 Esports Awards winners included Seb Leathlean, who claimed the Panel’s Choice award, Team Falcons, who took home org of the year, controller player of the year Xiao Hai and breakthrough player of the year Mercules. When it comes to companies, Red Bull was the Commercial Partner of the Year, Prodigy Agency was the Supporting Service of the Year, Liquipedia was the Supporting Platform of the Year and Team Liquid claimed the Creative Campaign of the Year. Rounding out the awards was Jynxzi as Content Creator of the Year, S8UL as Content Group of the Year, Thug as Esports Personality of the Year and PUBG Mobile as the Mobile Game of the Year.
Chess.com Moonton and SNK Become ENC Partners
The Esports World Cup Foundation has announced three more partners for the first Esports Nations Cup, which is due to take place in 2026. Chess.com, SNK and Moonton have all signed up for the event, which suggests Chess, Mobile Legends Bang Bang and an SNK fighting game will all be included at the event. Promising to make nation based competition work at the highest level of esports, the ENC is seemingly positioning itself as the replacement for the Esports Olympics, after the IOC and EWCF terminated their agreement to host such an event.
Gla1ve Announces Retirement
Counter-Strike legend Lukas “Gla1ve” Rossander has announced his retirement from pro competition, closing a career that featured four Major wins as part of Astralis. After being a part of one of the most dominant rosters in CS history, Gla1ve is now setting his sights on the world of coaching, although he is yet to announce any details on what that will look like. The news comes just months after his former Major winning teammate Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen also announced his retirement.
$1 Million Battlefield Esports Circuit Announced
EA has revealed a $1 million tournament circuit for Battlefield Redsec, the battle royale portion of the recently released Battlefield 6. The Battlefield REDSEC Elite Series and Battlefield REDSEC Open Series begin in just a few days, with competitions taking place in America, Europe and APAC. The Elite Series features 50 invited captains who will pick their squad to compete with, while the Open Series is an open competition for anyone to get involved with. The action kicks off on December 10th, with the finals for all three regions happening on December 18th.
Gumayusi Leaves T1
Just weeks after winning the League of Legends World Championship, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong has left T1 after seven years with the organisation and being crowned the finals MVP at Worlds this year. The move came as a shock to many fans, but has apparently been in the works for a while, with former Gen.G player Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan coming in to take his place for the 2026 season.
100 Thieves Returns To CS
North American organisation 100 Thieves has returned to the Counter-Strike scene thanks to a partnership with Roobet. The org has signed Håvard “rain” Nygaard, formerly of FaZe Clan, as the first player, with Sean Gares and Graham “messioso” Pitt also joining the project on the admin side of things. The roster is expected to be completed after the ongoing Major and be ready to compete early next year.
Competitive Results
Credit: BLAST
FURIA Claims BLAST And IEM CS Titles
Capping off one of the most surprising rises through the ranks in recent years, FURIA has claimed two major CS2 trophies this past month, winning both IEM Chengdu and the BLAST Rival Fall tournament. In Chengdu FURIA dominated Team Vitality in the final with a 3-0 win, while at the BLAST event they took down Team Falcons 3-1 in the grand final. Now the team is a firm favourite for the ongoing Starladder Major, which concludes in a few weeks.
Tundra Wins One Of The Best Dota 2 Grand Finals Ever
Tundra Esports took down TI champions Team Falcons 3-2 in the final of the Dota 2 BLAST Slam IV tournament in what many are calling one of the best grand finals ever. Falcons found themselves 2-1 up in the final, but a spirited comeback from Tundra resulted in something only ever seen once before in Dota history, in both game four and five, the draft was exactly the same. With a packed crowd in Singapore cheering them on, Tundra claimed yet another BLAST title, now having won three of the four BLAST Slam tournaments.
M80 Wins RB6 Munich Major
M80 claimed its first RB6 Major this past month in Munich, beating out Team Falcons 3-1 in the grand final. The win is the first major trophy for M80 in Rainbow Six, despite being one of the top North American sides for the past few years and the team now heads into the Six Invitational as a top contender. The event in Munich certainly looked the part, with the BLAST team making use of an LED floor to bring extra visuals to fans in the area, which featured almost 25 million pixels.
Team Liquid Wins Valorant Game Changers
Team Liquid Brazil has won the Valorant Game Changers championship to become world champions for the first time. The Brazilian roster took down Shopify Rebellion Gold in the grand final 3-1, denying them the three-peat of world championships. On their way to the win Liquid also took down G2, the 2022 Game Changers champions, making this an even more impressive victory.
And Finally…
Credit: Valve
Dota Gets Crossover Event With Monster Hunter
A new in game event has launched in Dota 2, and it has caught a lot of fans off guard. After months of speculation, with fans diving deep into the game’s lore and supposed teases at The International, many thought a major game changing event was about to launch. Instead, they got a cross over with the Monster Hunter franchise that brings a number of in game skins and crafting options. It’s not quite what fans expected, but it has been reasonably well received so far.
