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Steam Winter Sale 2025 Best Indie Deals

With the Steam Winter Sale 2025 going live, now’s the perfect time to grab your favorite indie games on the platform at mind-blowing discounts!

To call 2025 the year of indie games would almost be an understatement. Not only did an indie title take home the prestigious ‘Game of the Year’ title at this year’s The Game Awards, but independent developers also overwhelmingly dominated the majority of categories across the show.

From mind-bending puzzle roguelikes like Blue Prince, which pushed the genre to unforeseen extents, to near-flawless titles such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hades 2 that blended in jaw-dropping visuals with stunning OSTs and deeply satisfying combat, the past year has gifted an extraordinary lineup of indie releases to the world of video games.

That, when combined with the ever-increasing price tags on AAA titles, makes this an ideal year to add a few indie gems to your Steam Library, whether you’re on a budget or simply looking for great games to play.

Steam Winter Sale 2025: Best Discounts on Indie Games

The Steam Winter Sale 2025 is offering some hefty discounts on indie games, with many critically acclaimed titles available at their historical low prices.

However, given the long list of titles available on the Steam Store, finding the best deals on good indie games can easily be overwhelming for many users.

To make things easier for you, we’ve created a list of some of the best indie game deals that are up for grabs throughout the Steam Winter Sale 2025. From genre-defining hits to overlooked gems that you may have missed, our list aims to shine a spotlight on indie games that are certain to deliver a bang for your buck and keep you entertained for hours (and in some cases, hundreds).

Top Indie Picks to Add to Your Library

Without further ado, let’s take a look at our top indie picks that you can buy during the Steam Winter Sale 2025 at unbelievable discounts.

GameGenreLive DiscountWhat Makes It Great
Slay the SpireRoguelike Deckbuilder90%Addicting gameplay and interesting mechanics will keep you hooked for hours
PEAKCo-op Adventure38%Adorable characters, diverse environments, and consistently fun co-op gameplay
Hades 2Roguelike Action RPG25%Engaging plot, amazing OSTs, and an overall perfect sequel to Hades
Fresh TracksRhythm Roguelike20%The music alone justifies the purchase, with standout voice acting and a gameplay loop that’s a blast from start to finish
Blue PrincePuzzle/Mystery34%Genre-defining puzzle game built around constant discovery and thoughtful problem-solving.

When Does Steam Winter Sale 2025 End?

The Steam Winter Sale 2025 is currently underway and is set to continue for 18 more days before concluding on 5th January. Be sure to grab your favorite indie games during the sale before it’s too late!

Still looking for more discounts in the Steam Winter Sale? Check out these guides:

Steam Winter Sale 2025 Under $10

On a tight budget for this Steam sale? Don’t worry, there are still plenty of amazing titles for you to enjoy.

The highly anticipated Steam Winter Sale 2025 has officially kicked off, offering deep discounts across a variety of games ranging from modern AAA releases to fan-favorite indie titles alike.

For the uninitiated, the Steam Winter Sale is one of the two biggest sales hosted on the platform each year, with the other being the annual Summer Sale. Similar to the previous years, the Steam Winter Sale 2025 has brought with it hefty discounts across hundreds of games on the platform, making this the perfect time for gamers to grab their favorite titles at unbelievable price tags before the deals are gone.

However, with modern AAA developers constantly escalating the costs of their releases, we understand that some games may still feel a bit steep even after the Winter Sale discounts.

If you’re on a bit of a budget this Winter Sale, but you’re still looking to add some masterpieces to your ever-expanding Steam Library, we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll go through the best deals that you can grab during the Steam Winter Sale 2025, all costing under $10 after discounts.

Steam Winter Sale 2025: Best Deals Under $10 

Below, we’ve formulated a table showcasing the best deals under $10 from the Steam Winter Sale 2025. We’ve tried our best to include games across multiple genres for every kind of gamer out there, while also keeping in mind the overall enjoyment you can get out of playing these titles.

https://twitter.com/Steam/status/2001720169136259531

Some of the games in our list have stellar plot lines, while others have gameplay that will keep you hooked for hours without so much as a hint of boredom.

With that being said, let’s check out the list of best games under $10 that you can get right away during the Steam Winter Sale 2025:

GameGenreLive DiscountWhat Makes It Great
Detroit: Become HumanNarrative-driven Interactive Drama90%Deeply immersive plotline where the stakes are high and every choice you make matters
Hunt: Showdown 1896Extraction Shooter55%Amazing audio design, great visuals, fun gameplay loop, and a very high skill ceiling.
PEAKCo-op Adventure38%Adorable characters, diverse environments, and consistently fun co-op gameplay
MegabonkRoguelike Bullet Hell25%Vampire survivors but you can jump!
RV There Yet?Co-op Adventure10%Similar to PEAK, but you have an RV this time
Slime Rancher 2Open-World Simulation40%A cozy, feel-good sequel centered on exploration, farming, and even more adorable slimes
MIMESISCo-op Horror20%Collect resources with your friends while a “Mimesis” perfectly mimics your teammates’ voices and hunts you down
Disco Elysium – The Final CutNarrative-driven RPG90%Critically acclaimed, narrative-driven RPG blending deep dialogue and complex choices to keep the player hooked

Steam Winter Sale 2025 End Date

The Steam Winter Sale 2025 is already live, and fans can grab their favorite games at exciting discounts till the sale comes to an end on 5th January.

Still looking for more discounts in the Steam Winter Sale? Check out these guides:

Netflix Announces New FIFA Game During World Cup 2026

FIFA is now back in the gaming world after an interval of three years, with an unexpected collaboration with Netflix Games. The company has revealed that it is working on a brand new concept FIFA football simulation game, which will be launched in summer 2026, coinciding with the FIFA World Cup 2026. FIFA is thus venturing into the world of games in a major way, following its departure from EA Sports in 2022, which ended its record-breaking 30-year association.

The title is to be developed and published by Delphi Interactive, a California-based developer founded in 2023. Although it has not produced any titles as of yet, it is currently working on a James Bond title with IO Interactive, titled 007: First Light. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was quick to show his support: “This major collaboration is a key milestone in FIFA’s commitment to innovation in the football gaming space, which aspires to reach billions of football fans of all ages everywhere in the world and will be redefining the pure notion of simulation games.”

Netflix’s strategy is designed to emphasize accessibility rather than complexity. The game is designed to be “fast to learn, thrilling to master, and built for anyone to jump in,” requiring only a Netflix account and a smartphone to play. The game can be played solo or online against friends. Its most innovative aspect is the ability to play the game using smartphones right away, something that Netflix has been doing and should continue to do within its gaming offerings.

This deal marks a significant change in strategy for FIFA, which had been having trouble keeping gaming relevance after the departure of EA. Instead of partnering with another gaming industry heavyweight such as EA, the focus was on Netflix’s gaming service. This was aimed at capitalizing on the huge following Netflix has.

However, the availability is not geography-independent. FIFA can be accessed only on selective television sets in selective countries at the initial stage and then expanded further. Details about the regions and the availability of the subscription tier are not known yet, and how this revival can change the gaming future of FIFA as it moves towards the year 2026 is unclear.

Global GPU Prices to Surge? Nvidia RTX 50 Production Cuts Spark Chaos Ahead of 2026

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Nvidia will slash GeForce RTX 50 series GPU production by 30-40% starting early 2026, with mid-range models like the RTX 5070, RTX 5060 Ti, and even potential RTX 5060 variants bearing the brunt of these deep cuts amid crippling global shortages of GDDR7 memory and DRAM components.

This aggressive reduction stems from overwhelming demand for high-margin AI and data center GPUs, which are siphoning off critical memory resources away from consumer gaming hardware, leaving PC gamers staring down prolonged stock shortages, escalating retail prices, and disrupted upgrade cycles. The decision not only intensifies Nvidia’s ongoing supply chain battles but also highlights a strategic pivot in a highly volatile semiconductor market where gaming takes a backseat to lucrative corporate deals.

Core Reasons Driving RTX 50 Supply Reductions

Severe global memory shortages have compelled Nvidia to throttle RTX 50 series output well below early 2025 production levels, as TSMC’s manufacturing constraints hammer Blackwell-based gaming chips with unprecedented force, delaying ramps and capping volumes across the board.

Explosive data center demand is diverting scarce DRAM and GDDR7 supplies, evidenced by motherboard memory prices that have skyrocketed 171% year-over-year, creating a bottleneck that gaming simply can’t compete with in priority. Without Nvidia directly raising MSRPs, hardware partners like ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte may independently inflate margins to capitalize on scarcity, further squeezing consumer wallets in regions from North America to Europe and Asia.

Nvidia’s Mounting Challenges Over Recent Months

In the last few months of 2025, Nvidia has been hammered by U.S. export restrictions targeting H20 AI processors bound for China, resulting in staggering $4.5 billion in one-time charges and an estimated $8 billion hit to Q2 revenue streams that rippled through subsequent quarters. Escalating production costs for the next-gen Blackwell architecture have eroded gross margins down to 71% from previous highs of 79%, while persistent supply disruptions at key foundries like TSMC added layers of complexity to already strained operations.

Competition intensified as Google’s aging yet cost-effective TPUs and Amazon’s in-house Trainium/Inferentia silicon began chipping away at Nvidia’s AI inference dominance, creating multi-front pressures that directly accelerate the RTX 50 production pivot to safeguard long-term AI market leadership.

Stock Volatility and AI Bubble Speculations Intensify

The RTX 50 production cuts land amid Nvidia’s wild stock swings, with shares plummeting 12.6% throughout November 2025 on broader market jitters and another 3.8% drop in pre-market trading on December 18, settling around $170.94 as investors grapple with doubts over sustained AI infrastructure spending.

Wall Street buzz around an impending “AI bubble” has grown louder, fueled by rivals eroding Nvidia’s once-unassailable lead in high-performance computing, leading to a cumulative 16% decline over just two months despite blowout quarterly earnings reports. This latest gaming supply bombshell amplifies fears of consumer segment neglect, prompting analysts to question whether Nvidia’s AI obsession risks alienating its core gaming base in favor of enterprise windfalls.

Microsoft Partnerships Supercharge AI Focus

Nvidia’s deepening multibillion-dollar alliances with Microsoft are deploying tens of thousands of Blackwell GPUs across expansive Azure AI superfactories, directly fueling advanced integrations like Microsoft 365 Copilot, Fabric analytics platforms, and next-gen generative AI workloads for enterprise clients worldwide.

These high-volume commitments not only lock in predictable data center revenue streams but also monopolize scarce memory allocations, effectively sidelining RTX 50 gaming production needs in the resource queue. Such strategic ties perfectly underscore the rationale behind the 2026 gaming cuts, as Nvidia doubles down on partnerships that promise exponential returns over volatile consumer markets.

RTX 50 series reductions are set to constrict the already pressurized $70 billion global GPU market, driving sustained price inflation through a toxic mix of U.S.-China tariffs, pervasive component shortages, and relentless AI prioritization that could persist well into 2030 according to industry forecasts.

Consumer-facing graphics cards will likely endure partner-led price hikes across tiers, as AMD positions itself to capture displaced market share with RDNA 4 offerings, though broader DRAM woes may limit their gains and widen access gaps for budget builders in emerging markets like India and Southeast Asia. Ultimately, Nvidia’s calculated gamble hinges on AI-driven revenues overwhelmingly offsetting any gaming-side losses, reshaping the competitive landscape where high-end enterprise hardware reigns supreme.

Steam Winter Sale 2025 Start Time Live: Countdown Begins

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Steam Winter Sale 2025 is live right now, delivering massive discounts on thousands of PC games through January 5. Hades II slashes 25% off, Elden Ring Nightreign drops 20%, and Borderlands 4 hits 30%—jump into store.steampowered.com/specials for these steals and more.

This holiday blowout packs 90% cuts on classics alongside fresh 2025 hits, turning Steam into a gamer’s paradise.

Ubisoft, meanwhile, has decided to greet the holidays by offering massive 90% discounts on its most celebrated titles. From Assassin’s Creed to Far Cry, check the discounts here.

Sale Details: Live Through Jan 5

Steam Winter Sale 2025 kicked off December 18 at 10 a.m. PT and runs nonstop until January 5, 2026. Expect 10-90% off AAA blockbusters, indies, and DLC bundles. Vote in Steam Awards, collect trading cards, and showcase your profile for extra flair.

Trailer Highlights: Live Deals Now

Steam spotlights these must-grabs, prices active on the specials page:

GameGenreLive Discount
Hades IIAction-Roguelike25%
Elden Ring NightreignSoulslike Co-op20%
Borderlands 4Loot FPS30%
Kingdom Come: Deliverance IIMedieval RPG35%
DispatchSuperhero Action25%

More Live Standouts

  • Assassin’s Creed Shadows: 40% off feudal Japan stealth
  • Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: 30% PC debut web-slinging
  • Dune: Awakening: 25% Arrakis survival
  • The Last of Us Part II Remastered: 50% narrative peak
  • Deltarune Chapters 3&4: 50% quirky RPG

Indies shine too: Slime Rancher 2 at 70%, Tainted Grail at 70%. Filter by genre for your vibe.

Shop Smarter: Live Tips

  • Wishlist favorites for instant drop alerts
  • Grab discounted Steam Wallet codes for extra savings
  • Stack bundles + DLC for 60%+ total cuts
  • Use SteamDB for global price checks
  • Enable mobile notifications for flash updates

Hades II runs or Borderlands loot – which grabs you first? Comment your haul below and tag friends!

Looking for games in the Steam Winter Sale 2025? Check out these guides:

BGMI Next Update Date: When Will BGMI 4.2 Update Go Live?

The BGMI 4.2 update release date has become one of the most talked-about topics in the Battlegrounds Mobile India gaming community. The next BGMI update is expected to arrive in January 2026, bringing a fresh nature-themed mode to the game. Players can also look forward to a new AI companion inspired by Marvel’s Groot, along with new events, vehicles, and several gameplay improvements. In this article, we take a closer look at the BGMI next update date and what players can expect from the upcoming version.

BGMI Next Update Date: When Will BGMI 4.2 Update Go Live?

Krafton India has not officially announced the exact BGMI 4.2 update release date yet, but it can be estimated by looking at the previous update schedule. Krafton usually releases major BGMI updates every two months. In 2025, BGMI 3.8 was launched in May, followed by version 3.9 in July, 4.0 in September, and the BGMI 4.1 update in November.

Based on this consistent pattern, the BGMI 4.2 update is expected to arrive in January 2026. As per the usual rollout window for major updates, it is most likely to be released between January 9 and January 16. If Krafton follows its regular release timing, the update should begin rolling out from around 6:30 AM IST on the launch day.

Read More: PUBG Mobile 4.2 Update: Theme Mode, Weapon, WOW Updates, and More

BGMI New Update Features

The BGMI 4.2 update is expected to bring a new themed mode with a strong focus on nature and special powers. This mode will add new themed areas on the map where players can find rare items and unique abilities. These locations will be high-risk zones, but they will also offer better rewards, making matches more exciting and competitive.

One of the main highlights of the BGMI next update themed mode is a special item that gives players a top-down view of the battleground. With this item, players can use different abilities during a match. These include placing a strong shield for protection, teleporting between two points, creating a healing area for the team, and summoning harmful plants to damage enemies. These features will help teams plan better and control fights.

Apart from the themed mode, the BGMI new update will likely improve basic gameplay. Players will be able to help teammates climb to higher places, and climbing movements will feel smoother.

Valve’s $50 Million‑Per‑Employee Machine: CS Marketplace Economics That Beat Big Tech

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Valve is on track to generate an estimated 17 billion dollars in revenue this year with a workforce of roughly 350 people, making nearly 50 million dollars per employee and outpacing tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft on a per‑head basis. At the heart of this extraordinary efficiency sits Steam, and within it, Counter‑Strike’s skin‑driven marketplace, which has evolved into a financial engine with almost unmatched margins in modern gaming.

Valve’s $17 billion, 350‑person machine

According to analysis cited by Tom’s Hardware, internal documents and third‑party estimates suggest Valve’s current annual revenue run‑rate is around 17 billion dollars, driven primarily by Steam platform commissions and first‑party franchises such as Counter‑Strike, Dota 2, and the Half‑Life/Portal catalog. Those same reports indicate Valve’s effective full‑time workforce sits near 350 employees, translating to roughly 48–50 million dollars in revenue per employee far above most public software or gaming companies.

For context, separate analyst work on Steam alone estimates that store commissions brought Valve more than 3.2 billion dollars in 2024, nearly triple their level from 2015, even before factoring in hardware like Steam Deck or revenues from in‑game monetization. Combined with first‑party content, platform fees, and hardware, this positions Valve not just as a successful game developer, but as one of the highest‑yield digital platforms in the broader tech ecosystem.

Revenue per employee vs big tech

Revenue per employee is a blunt but powerful metric: it reveals how much top‑line value a company can produce for each person on its payroll. Recent rankings of tech firms by this measure show Nvidia near the top of the public markets with around 4–5 million dollars in revenue per employee, fueled by AI datacenter demand, while giants like Apple, Alphabet, and Meta cluster in the roughly 1.5–2.5 million dollar range per head. Even those numbers are considered world‑class efficiency, achieved with tens or hundreds of thousands of staff spread across hardware, cloud, advertising, and services.

Image credits; GamesRadar.com

By comparison, Valve’s roughly 50 million dollars in revenue per employee, derived from Tom’s Hardware’s 17‑billion‑dollar estimate and a 350‑person headcount, puts it an order of magnitude above these titans on a per‑person basis. Only a handful of ultra‑lean, privately held digital platforms, such as OnlyFans, approach similar territory, with analyses placing OnlyFans at about 37.6 million dollars in revenue per employee; even there, Valve’s implied efficiency is comfortably higher.

Revenue per employee snapshot

CompanyApprox. revenue per employeeNotes
Valve≈ 50M USD17B USD est. revenue, ~350 employees (private, analyst‑derived).
OnlyFans≈ 37.6M USDExtremely lean subscription/content platform.
Nvidia≈ 4–5M USDAI datacenter and GPU sales drive record productivity.
Apple / Google≈ 1.5–2.5M USDLarge diversified tech ecosystems.

This positioning underscores just how capital‑light Valve’s core model is: a boutique‑sized team generating platform‑scale economics, with productivity metrics that surpass some of the most admired operators in global technology.

How CS’s marketplace turns players into a balance sheet

The structural reason Valve can achieve these numbers is that it doesn’t simply sell games; it runs an integrated platform where games are front‑ends to financial systems. On Steam, Valve typically takes around a 30 percent commission on third‑party game sales, and analysts estimate those commissions alone delivered over 3.2 billion dollars to Valve in 2024. But with Counter‑Strike, Valve owns the IP, the distribution rails, and the marketplace itself, stacking multiple revenue layers on top of one another.

​Counter‑Strike’s weapon skins, cases, and cosmetic drops are acquired and traded through the Steam Community Market and the Steam Wallet, where every secondary sale incurs a transaction fee shared between Valve and the publisher. In CS’s case, Valve plays both roles, capturing primary revenues from keys and cases as well as ongoing fees from community trading, all settled in a closed‑loop wallet system that keeps value circulating inside the Steam ecosystem rather than exiting as cash. This transforms an older, already‑amortised competitive shooter into a quasi‑financial platform where player speculation, collection, and trading contribute recurring, high‑margin revenue with minimal incremental cost.

Financial prudence and a capital‑light structure

Valve’s efficiency is not just a quirk of the CS economy; it reflects deliberate financial conservatism layered on top of a highly leveraged digital infrastructure. Steam’s backbone which is content delivery, billing, matchmaking, identity, anti‑cheat, and community systems, is built once and then scaled horizontally to serve hundreds of millions of accounts without requiring linear growth in headcount or fixed assets. Each additional CS case series, major sale, or user‑generated skin cycle brings incremental revenue into systems that are already running, rather than demanding new factories, retail footprints, or large regional sales forces.

Court‑disclosed salary data suggests Valve pays its relatively small team extremely well, with average total compensation reported at over 1.3 million dollars per employee in recent years, yet the company’s margins remain robust precisely because the revenue base is so wide and operational overhead so contained. As a privately held firm, Valve is also insulated from quarterly earnings pressure, allowing it to reinvest cash flows into infrastructure, hardware experiments, and occasional flagship releases without the dilution or financial engineering often seen in public companies.

CS as the cornerstone of Valve’s modern business

Looking at Valve through a financial lens, Counter‑Strike is no longer just a competitive FPS; it is a core asset underpinning one of the most effective cash‑generation machines in entertainment. The game anchors a marketplace where expensive skins and items can trade for thousands of dollars, all denominated in a proprietary wallet system that feeds fees back into Valve’s balance sheet at near‑software margins. Those flows sit on top of broader Steam commissions, Dota 2’s own cosmetic economy, and a maturing hardware line, pushing total revenue into the mid‑ten‑figure range without requiring any comparable expansion in staff.

In an era where many gaming and tech companies chase growth with sprawling headcounts, aggressive debt, and thin margins, Valve’s model looks almost old‑fashioned in its prudence: minimal employees, almost no public‑market obligations, and a disciplined reliance on digital marketplaces like CS’s skin economy to compound value over time.

The result is a company that, by revenue per employee, can credibly be described as one of the most effective operators in modern technology, and a reminder that in the right hands, a virtual marketplace can be every bit as powerful as a flagship device or a cloud platform.

Featured Image credit; BOAT International

CS2 Is Filled With Fake Players, Claims New Investigation

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CS2’s public Deathmatch servers are quietly filling up with fake players that look like humans on the scoreboard but behave like bots in-game. A new community investigation claims this “botting epidemic” is happening in plain sight at the end of 2025 and raises serious questions over Valve’s anti-cheat efforts.​

A new “fake player” epidemic in CS2

In a recent video titled “CS2: You Are Not Playing Against Real People”, creator 3kliksphilip plays 10 CS2 Deathmatch games to document how many opponents are actually automated accounts running on standard Steam profiles. These are not classic “BOT” slots added by the server, but fake players that appear as normal users on the scoreboard while behaving like low-level AI.​

Across those 10 matches, at least half contained one or more of these suspicious accounts, with hostage maps acting like “magnets” that attract large clusters of bots in a single lobby. The creator describes it as “depressing” how easy it is to find them by simply queueing into popular Deathmatch map pools at the end of 2025.​

The investigation highlights several telltale signs that these are automated accounts rather than humans. Many profiles feature anime avatars and non-Latin names, then move and aim in a way that resembles old-school Valve bots: shaky crosshair control, poor vertical tracking, random movement, and inconsistent shot selection. In some games they run aimlessly around the map, missing easy shots yet occasionally hitting difficult ones, which can make them blend into casual lobbies until closely inspected.​

More worrying are the defensive behaviors that trigger when they are spectated. In one match, a suspected bot freezes the moment it is watched and then disconnects entirely, while other accounts repeatedly go still whenever the camera lands on them, only to resume moving once the spectator looks away. Some disconnects produce a recurring “error sending snapshot” console message, which the creator believes is linked to how these scripts interact with the server or anti-cheat checks.​

Why players are doing this?

The video does not identify the exact creators of these bot networks, but it outlines likely motivations based on how they operate. Because they run on normal Steam accounts and remain active in public lobbies, the bots can quietly farm playtime, item drops, or other progression systems without a human ever needing to aim or move. The creator also speculates they could be used to probe or confuse CS2’s AI-driven cheat detection by behaving just human enough to blend in while still exploiting automated systems.​

This is not framed as a tool to help real players fill empty servers, unlike Valve’s own labeled bots. Instead, these fake players exist to benefit whoever controls them, not the wider CS2 community, and they do so by occupying slots in lobbies that human players expect to be populated by real opponents.​

Impact on Deathmatch and player skill, Valve’s Anti-cheat question looms

For some players, these bots may feel like extra targets to shoot at in a casual warmup mode, and the investigation admits they “didn’t do much to hamper the experience” in terms of raw difficulty. However, the creator argues that training against bots and cheaters undermines the skills that matter in real matches, because players learn to adapt to non-human movement, timing, and decision-making.​

If Deathmatch becomes dominated by fake players, newcomers risk learning the wrong habits while veterans lose the organic mind games and social interactions that make multiplayer feel alive. The video also notes how genuine new players, with 2004-style mouse control, share servers with obvious bots and scripted cheaters, raising concerns over how welcoming the CS2 ecosystem is for the next generation of Counter-Strike fans.

The investigation repeatedly calls out how visible this problem is and questions why such obvious automation has not been stamped out if Valve’s AI systems are as powerful as advertised. When bots can freeze on command, disconnect on spectate, and still operate at scale in public Deathmatch, it “makes a mockery” of the idea that subtle cheaters are being consistently caught behind the scenes, the creator suggests.​

He characterizes the situation as a “botting epidemic in full view of anyone who takes the time to look for it” and even links it to “dead internet theory”, where a growing share of online activity is driven by non-human actors. The video ends with a plea for Valve to “do something special” about the issue, warning that if fake players are tolerated in such an obvious form, there is little reason to believe that more sophisticated cheaters are being effectively controlled.​

Real Cricket, backed by KRAFTON, Introduces ‘In-Game Auction Play’ Before The Abu Dhabi Auction Play

Cricket on mobile is moving beyond just shot-making and reflexes. With KRAFTON India now publishing the Real Cricket franchise, the focus is expanding toward strategy, planning, and decision-making that begins even before a match starts. One of the key elements driving this shift is the RCPL Auction mode, which mirrors the pressure and thinking involved in real-world league auctions.

In this format, players are not simply controlling teams on the field. They are building them from scratch, managing budgets, weighing player roles, and making split-second bidding decisions that can define an entire season. The auction is positioned as a core experience rather than a side activity, highlighting how preparation can be just as important as performance.

The timing of this in-game focus aligns closely with real-world cricket. The IPL 2026 auction is currently underway in Abu Dhabi, as franchises finalize their squads ahead of the season scheduled to begin in March 2026. This parallel adds relevance and context to the RCPL Auction experience, drawing inspiration from how professional teams approach squad building at the highest level.

Here’s why the RCPL Auction hits different:

  • IPL-Style Player Auctions: Players can participate in RCPL auction-style gameplay to assemble squads, reflecting strategic choices similar to real-world leagues.
  • High-Stakes Decision Making: Bidding requires careful management of resources and team balance, adding a layer of strategy to squad building.
  • Tournament-Ready Squad Building: Assemble teams designed to compete effectively in RCPL tournaments and season-long gameplay.
  • Gameplay Loop: The game offers fast, accessible controls combined with tactical decision-making for a layered cricket experience.
  • Competitive & Engaging Energy: Auction gameplay creates tension and strategy-driven moments, making it engaging for players and viewers alike.
  • Seasonal Momentum: Early squad decisions feed into tournament outcomes, influencing performance over multiple matches

Read More: KRAFTON India Takes Over Publishing of Nautilus Mobile’s Real Cricket, Strengthens Its Make-in-India Gaming Vision

In terms of gameplay, Real Cricket continues to offer fast and accessible controls while integrating tactical depth. The auction adds a strategic loop that complements on-field action, creating moments of tension and anticipation even before the first ball is bowled.

With KRAFTON India’s publishing support, RCPL positions team building as a central part of the cricket experience. The result is a format that emphasizes planning, leadership, and cricketing intelligence, appealing to players who enjoy thinking like captains as much as playing like stars.

How to Get the Red Ryder Skin in Arc Raiders

The Red Ryder skin has been the talk of the town for ARC Raiders players ever since it was announced, but getting it may not be as simple as you think. Embark Studios, the developers of ARC Raiders, is offering said skin for free, but it is not as simple as you think. In this article, we will explore how you can get the Red Ryder skin for free in ARC Raiders.

Embark Studios has put its name on the map with the release of ARC Raiders, but only a few know about their previous title, The Finals, which may not have been as successful as their sophomore release, but enjoyed a brief span of popularity at launch.

How to get the Red Ryder skin

In what looks like an effort to capitalize on some of the popularity of ARC Raiders, Embark Studios is offering the ARC Raiders skin for free to players who can finish 3 matches of The Finals.

Unlike ARC Raiders, The Finals is a free game, and once you finish 3 matches, the Red Ryder skin will be available to equip in ARC Raiders, assuming you have the same EMBARK ID logged into both accounts.

ARC Raiders has been a smashing success, and in light of its rising popularity, EMBARK’s last title, The Finals, has been struggling with a lack of players. The motivation behind this move is clear: ARC Raiders players playing The Finals for the skin might take a liking to it. Only time can tell if this move brings a fraction of ARC’s massive player base to it, but for now, players can enjoy their Red Ryder skin for free.