VK Gaming won the Apex Legends Global Series: 2025 Midseason Playoffs at Esports World Cup 2025 by taking down teams such as Team Falcons, NRG and Alliance. The finals lasted until the ninth game, where VK Gaming finally sealed the deal.

ALGS tournaments are usually run in matchpoint format, which means that the first team to secure 50 points and then secure a first-place finish in any of the upcoming matches takes the trophy home. VK Gaming reached match point in game 6 after solid performances in games 1, 3, 5 and 8.

The team actually had the chance to close out the tournament in game 8 but was shut down by Gen.G Esports, forcing the team to play another game where the stakes were high. VK Gaming would get another chance to close out the tournament once more at the very next game, but this time, they did not falter. VK Gaming ended the tournament by dominating the very last game with 13 kill points.

This finals, in particular, got to a point where there were six teams that could’ve taken the tournament by game 9. Gen.G and Team Nemesis only reached match point at the end of game 9. Here are the teams that could’ve taken it by then:

• VK Gaming
• ROC Esports
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Wolves Esports
• Team Falcons
• 100 Thieves

VK Gaming’s win in this tournament cements its region, Asia Pacific South, as one of the best regions in Apex Legends. The game was mostly dominated by North American and European players.

All twenty-five disciplines are now confirmed for the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025, which kicks off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on July 8.

EWC 2025 games lineup:

• Chess – confirmed dates July 31 – Aug. 3 
• Counter-Strike 2 – confirmed dates Aug. 20-24

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Call of Duty: Warzone
• Free Fire
• Street Fighter 6
• DOTA 2
• Rainbow Six Siege
• PUBG Mobile
• Apex Legends
• EA Sports FC
• Overwatch 2
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (Women’s Invitational)
• Rocket League
• Rennsport
• Honor of Kings
• PUBG
• CrossFire
• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
• League of Legends
• Teamfight Tactics
• Valorant
• Tekken 8
• StarCraft II

After a successful inaugural event in 2024, which saw over $60 million in prize money, this year’s competition is gearing up for even more action as it features one more discipline – chess. And it looks like the very first competition for the EWC chess title and a $1.5 million prize pool is going to be intense, as elite chess players are getting signed by top-tier esports organizations. Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi has joined Korean team Gen.G, while Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana have signed with Team Liquid. Chinese team LGD Gaming has brought in former world champion Ding Liren, and Team Vitality secured Maxime ‘MVL’ Vachier-Lagrave. Esports giant NAVI has expanded into chess as well, adding top players like Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wesley So, and Oleksandr Bortnyk to its roster. Meanwhile, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura joined Team Falcons and Aurora Gaming powered up with Ian Nepomniachtchi.

EWC 2024 winners:

• Apex Legends – ALLIANCE
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – ATLANTA FAZE
• Call of Duty: Warzone – TEAM FALCONS
• Counter-Strike 2 – NATUS VINCERE
• Dota2 – GAIMIN GLADIATORS
• EA Sports FC – jafonso
• ESL R1 – Drivers: Kevin Siggy
• ESL R1 – Teams: TEAM REDLINE
• Fortnite – XSET
• Free Fire – TEAM FALCONS
• Honor of Kings – KPL DREAM TEAM
• League of Legends – T1
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – SELANGOR RED GIANTS
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Women – SMART OMEGA EMPRESS
• Overwatch 2 – CRAZY RACCOON
• PUBG MOBILE – ALPHA 7 ESPORTS
• PUBG PC – SONIQS
• Rainbow Six Siege – TEAM BDS
• Rocket League – TEAM BDS
• Starcraft II – Clem
• Street Fighter 6 – xiaohai
• Teamfight Tactics – WOLVES ESPORTS
• Tekken 8 – ULSAN

In a developer update released on February 6, the developers of Apex Legends talk about the various changes that will be implemented for the game’s 24th Season which include changes to anti-cheat and matchmaking.

According to the developers, Season 24 will see the dawn of a new bot detection software. Apparently, they have created a machine-learning model specifically to detect bots and to combat “future variants and evolutions” of botting software. Testing of this model has led to very low false negatives, allegedly.

Teaming is also another point that was highlighted in the blog post. The developers mentioned that they banned around 1,200 accounts that were detected to be used for teaming and also removed around 17.4 million ranked points that were gained using this method.

Teaming involves two different squads working together for a common goal. Teaming is often synonymous with boosting as the other squad usually contains a player that wants to gain ranked points quickly and artificially.

In December of 2024, Respawn Entertainment released an update regarding their decision to block Linux access to the game and there was a 33% drop in cheaters in the game. However, it’s not just the blocking of Linux access that worked wonders, the update also said that the developers also launched “additional defensive measures”.

Apex Legends is a battle royale game developed by Respawn and published by EA. The game rakes in more than 100,000 players on Steam alone. The game is also available on consoles and on EA’s Origin launcher which is not counted on the Steam player count.

GoNext Esports secured a victory at Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Year 4 tournament. The European team triumphed at the Grand Finals that took place in the Daiwa House PREMIST DOME in Sapporo, Japan.

GoNext Esports entered the competition ranked 29th in the ALGS Global Rankings. The team, composed of former 2R1C players Jose ‘Uxako’ Llosa, Filipe ‘Hiarka’ Morgado, and Kyllian ‘zhidan’ Brun, began their journey in the Group Stage, where they earned a seventh-place finish, securing two map victories. Their momentum only grew from there, advancing to the bracket stage and entering the Winner’s Bracket in joint eighth place.

In the Grand Finals, GoNext Esports found themselves in an intense battle for first place. After clinching a map victory in game seven, the team hit the 50-point threshold, needing just one more win to secure the championship. The defining moment came in game nine, where they defeated Luminosity Gaming, who were also on match point, as well as Virtus.Pro, to claim victory.

GoNext Esports held their nerve, finishing the Match Point Finals with 68 points, just ahead of Alliance, who took second place with 95 points. Team Falcons secured third place with 75 points, while Shopify Rebellion and Virtus.Pro rounded out the top five with 72 and 65 points, respectively.

GoNext Esports takes home $600,000 in prize money. “This win feels surreal,” said ‘Uxako’. “We’ve worked so hard, and to come from where we were in the rankings to this moment is something we’ll never forget.”