The Breakdown

The largest Valorant pro to switch over from Overwatch is officially suspended for six months for failure to cooperate with Riot after allegations from his ex that he sexually assaulted her. Plus, a CS:GO match is forced to be replayed after one team pressures Flashpoint into giving Ninjas in Pyjamas another shot at taking down a team that has already officially beat them. And, Twitch changes subscription prices according to the standard of living in different countries. Sinatraa Suspended for Six Months for Failure to Cooperate with Riot After Sexual Assault Allegations After hinting recently that he is just waiting for “everything to finally end”, it seems like Sinatraa and his return to Valorant will have to wait, at least for another six months minimum. On Monday, Riot officially announced sanctions against Sinatraa, the former Sentinels star, after he “failed to cooperate” with Riot and failing to provide evidence that Riot requested from him. Shortly after Riot announced their findings, Sinatraa responded on Twitter, and released a statement that may hold some clues as to what went on during the preliminary investigation. Ninjas in Pyjamas Force Rematch; Flashpoint Under Fire From Other Pros for Folding to Pressure Ninjas in Pyjamas were looking for their first win in the first match they were participating in since the blockbuster signing of Dev1ce and the first team he would be competing for after leaving his former team of Astralis. But instead of a win, NiP instead encountered laggy servers, tons of packet loss, and an overall just really not fun time while they took on Anonymo. And while they eventually fell in overtime, most people assumed that it would be a rough start but NiP would move forward and look to win next time. But that’s not what happened, and what did eventually transpire actually ended up making plenty of people even angrier than the NiP players probably felt after losing the first match. Flashpoint, the tournament organizer that the teams were competing for, are now forcing both teams to replay the match, something that absolutely should make people question the integrity of the tournament overall and wonder what kind of precedent this sets. Never has esports seen something similar where a series was played, it ended, and then was completely replayed by the two teams to try and determine what the new end score will be. Twitch Changes Prices of Subscriptions on Platform With Local Pricing Twitch has revealed some huge new changes coming to the cost of subscriptions around the globe to better reflect the cost of living in those countries while still giving viewers a chance to support their favorite creators. On Monday, Twitch announced that they would be changing the subscription price that viewers would be paying for their favorite streamers with something they are calling “Local Subscription Pricing.” Starting on May 20th, people will pay different amounts for a subscription to a streamer based off of where they live, and what the cost of living is relative to their local areas. This seems to stem from data that Twitch has that shows that viewers from Europe or Asia who subscribe to a streamer are around 50% less relative to North America, and if you look at the numbers from Latin America, it’s almost 80% lower.

CD Projekt Red, the developers behind Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, has recently said that they are currently focused on improving Cyberpunk and want to improve the game so that they can “successfully sell it for years to come”. Plus, major changes in huge name CS:GO rosters see Xypn9x being replaced, KennyS being benched, and RpK stepping down. And, COD Mobile is BANNED in Iran, and confused players ask Activision to step in and reverse the block.

Fortnite Season 6 Chapter 2 is live now, with plenty of changes to the Battle Royale that has fans now PUMPED that Lara Croft will be joining Jonesy and the rest of the Fortnite crew. Plus, a massive computer technology company cuts ties with League of Legends after sexual harassment allegations against the Riot Games CEO. And, star NBA player Kevin Durant partners with Andbox and the New York Subliners to make New York the epicenter of esports.

The timeline was spicy yesterday, as a Hell in the Cell style team-up happened, with a three-way stand-off between COD pros and owners talking trash to each other as hastr0, CouRage JD, and JKap all fired off tweets coming just short of challenging each other to death by combat. Plus, one of the most decorated Rainbow Six Siege players of all time announces his retirement and decides to pursue making content full time. And, TSM’s CEO Andy Dinh apologizes after telling a pro he would be working for minimum wage after the player called for the repeal of the import rule in the LCS.

Soulja Boy is back and is ready to release ANOTHER console, showing he learned literally nothing from the last time Nintendo sued him into oblivion forcing him to cancel his last one. Plus, Daigo Umehara wins at Capcom Pro Tour Season Finals with a broken finger! And, Tony Hawk hits up Crash Bandicoot on Twitter to get the Tony Hawk Pro Skater Remake released on the Switch, and it may have worked.

A DOTA 2 Team is disqualified from a DreamHack competition after they faked a COVID-19 test result and gave all of their opponents a win, plus, Fortnite and Street Fighter are going to be teaming up very soon thanks to a new leak that confirms a skin crossover event, AND, the CDL announces a new Super Week after matches were postponed due to Texas snowstorms.

Esports have been included in the next Olympic Agenda according to the IOC, and what that could mean when it comes to how soon until it means that you can see an Olympic esports competition at the next Olympic games. Plus, a Rainbow Six caster quits streaming because of the constant toxicity and threats of assault that were given to her just because she was a woman playing a video game. And, Nintendo announces a surprise Direct for the 17th of February, and what it could be discussing.

EA’s monstrosity “Anthem” that has been in a holding pattern for almost a year will have its fate decided this week which would see the game dusted off after a disastrous launch or finally put out of its misery, plus T1 dump Brax and AZK from their Valorant roster and break up the former iBuyPower CS:GO team once again, and E3 will happen this year, but virtually only.

The #1 Valorant player in the EU was BANNED for cheating, but says he’s being bullied! Plus, Overwatch 2 isn’t coming in 2021, and can Overwatch and the Overwatch League survive another year without the new game? And, Activision sued for ripping off a Warzone Operator design, down to even hiring the same hair stylists to make her look exactly the same!

Apex Legends launches Season 8 today, with the release of a new Legend and a return to the Kings Canyon map, and we’ll fill you in on everything new this season and what to expect when you log in. Plus, Facebook Gaming commits to stopping cheaters after a high profile streamer quits Warzone ENTIRELY after seeing a blatant cheater continue streaming on the platform. And, the esports org TSM exit Fortnite, and drop their entire roster.

The SEC has confirmed that they are reviewing GameStop stock trading and even said they would be looking to protect investors from firms that blocked the ability to trade certain securities so we explain what is happening with the Gamestop stock squeeze and what it means, plus, Rocket League and the NFL team up for a Super Bowl inspired event where you can kick a football around, and, the biggest Mario speedrunner in the world freaked out live on Twitch when he reclaimed the world record for Super Mario 64!

Ninja makes a splash online by saying it’s not his responsibility to raise people’s children and that they should be the ones to teach them about racisim, a former CS:GO pro who was banned for life from the esport makes a move to Valorant after an extended legal battle with Valve, and Fall Guys season 3.5 is announced, and what you can hope to see in the newest update slated for mid-February.

A 30 Year Old Norwegian Chess Champion Is the Highest Earning Esports Player of 2020 and it’s not even close, and Overwatch 2021 announced yesterday it was kicking off and of course drama followed with the LA Valiant having to deny rumors that they were selling their entire roster to a Chinese group, and, the first CSGO major in two years is finally announced with a $2 million prize pool.

Records were broken on Twitch as Spanish Fortnite streamer TheGrefg revealed his Fortnite skin to over 2.5 MILLION people watching him live at one single time! Plus, Riot sues a cheat maker after teaming up with Bungie because the hackers have cost them millions, and, Nintendo leaks suggest a new January Direct and a new switch model to be released.

Thanks to plenty of drama and private servers, Rust becomes the MOST watched game on Twitch, and how that led to the resurgence of the 2018 title, plus, everything you need to know about the newest Valorant agent and what the leaks have told us so far (including what map may come along with his release), AND, Chinese organization Newbee and it’s DOTA 2 squad is banned FOREVER from competing after match fixing accusations were investigated by Valve.

PUBG Mobile goes on a MASSIVE ban wave, kicking over 1.4 million cheaters from it’s game in just one single week, and why the game is still banned in India for the foreseeable future. Plus, a Brazillian esports tv network fires it’s entire editorial staff after they refused to air only “positive” news using 20 year old equipment, AND, more Fortnite issues as FNCS Champion Kez is permanently banned live on stream in the middle of a competition.

The League of Legends off-season is in full swing, and your favorite players are being traded left and right while Golden Guardians drop their ENTIRE roster ahead of next year’s League season kicking into gear. Plus, a Capcom hack that could have as many as 350 thousand people’s data stolen also revealed the release date of the newest Resident Evil, AND Queens Gaming Collective comes out of the gate strong to raise millions of dollars while championing an all women’s roster of talent.

Twitch BLOWS it when responding to the recent DMCA crisis that has impacted streamers big and small, and a STUPID Twitter response leads to streamers playing their games WITH NO SOUND and miming everything happening in-game. Plus, Riot denies allegations that Seraphine is based on an ex-girlfriend of a Riot employee (dramaaaaaa), and Respawn fixes Apex Legends battle pass and offers a week of double XP to make up for the TERRIBLE launch that angered players.

The Xbox Series X has officially launched the next generation of gaming, but Amazon says that some people who pre-ordered the new system may not receive theirs until December, and how you can still get one on launch day. Plus, PUBG Mobile hints at return to India after partnership deal with Microsoft that could allow the battle royale to return back to its former largest market after it was BANNED. Also, NBA 2K21 takes up an ABSURD 150 GB of space on the PS5 hard drive, and how big will modern games end up being?

EA has finally been found guilty of running an illegal gambling operation, and will be fined almost 600,000 dollars a week until it removes loot boxes from their popular FIFA series and what that could mean for loot boxes in other games, plus, Niko is FINALLY making the long-rumored move from FaZe to G2 in what could possibly be one of the craziest moves in a long time for CS:GO, AND, DOTA 2 organizer Godz says that up to 75 percent of all the teams in Southeast Asia could be involved in match-fixing.

After a ton of speculation, 100 Thieves are set to acquire OpTic’s CDL spot and turn the team into the LA Thieves, just off the heels of dropping out of competitive CS:GO and what that could mean for the future of both esports. Plus, Overwatch champion Super of the San Francisco Shock makes a return appearance to the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and puts esports back in front of millions of people and fails to make Jimmy say Poggers. And, Apex Legends Season 7 is announced, and you can count on a new map plus that new character that’s been teased when it drops!