Dear Guild Member,

Welcome to the fifth edition of our monthly newsletter, and the first of 2025!

We had an amazing end to our 2024 Winter Series, and we’re gearing up for the next season. If you want to get signed up, you can find all the information here.

As for the rest of this newsletter, we’ve put together some industry news, some gaming news, and an interview with our very own Kurt Pittman, now available on our Spotify Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.

As always, keep an eye on alumni.irelandcollegiate.com.

Industry News 🗞️

• Counter-Strike 2 rostermania: Everything has been completely upended in Counter-Strike. Literally everything. Pretty much every team has seen some wild roster moves, with shock player moves and uncertain futures for others. Crazy stuff.

• Epic Games paid $352 million to Fortnite creators in 2024: We all know there’s a lot of money in gaming, but wow. In 2024, Fortnite (so, Epic Games), paid creators $352 million. 58 creators also earned more than $1 million over the course of the year, and the number of creators tripled year-over-year to more than 70,000.

• Nintendo unveiled the Switch 2: Okay, this one isn’t esports, but I also love Nintendo and I’m writing the newsletter so… deal with it. After a long, long wait (and countless leaks), the Nintendo Switch 2 is finally coming. There’s a Switch 2 Nintendo Direct (where Nintendo will talk more about the handheld-console hybrid) in April, and I’m so excited.

Ireland Collegiate Leisure Items 🛒

We had these in the last newsletter, but we need to show them off again. Seriously, take a look!

The 10 most anticipated video games of 2025

2024 was a spectacular year in gaming. And no doubt, you're busy battling your way through a back catalogue of epic adventures released over the past 12 months. But with a new year comes new releases to look forward to.

The gaming industry is not one to rest on its laurels. And already hundreds of amazing titles are already slated for release, vying for your time and attention. Expect plenty of surprise announcements in the coming weeks and months to keep the excitement going.

From action and adventure to cooperative puzzlers and first-person shooters to real-time strategy, here are ten stand-out releases that should please gamers across all interests.

Barry O’Rourke is an Irish journalist who covers the video games industry for RTÉ, Ireland’s Public Service Broadcaster.

2025 Spring Sign Ups ☘️

If you want to get involved in our 2025 Spring Series, you can sign up now! All of the info is included in the tweet below so you know when you have to be signed up by, which titles we’re running, and how to get involved!

Thanks for reading, and share it with your Irish esports friends.

- Adam