Warner Bros. Games, NetherRealm Studios, and RTS today announced the schedule and program details for the Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition: Season 2, marking the return of the global esports program featuring Mortal Kombat 1. Kombatants of all ranks will have a chance to kompete for a cut of the $255,000 prize pool across a variety of live, in-person events in North America, Latin America, South America, and Europe, as well as multiple online tournaments.

Season 2 will begin with Pro Kompetition Mexico, an in-person event hosted in Mexico City on Feb. 22, and the program will culminate at the Final Kombat World Championship, scheduled for September 2025. For more information or to register for an event, visit the Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition online hub.

A new trailer for the Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition: Season 2 was released, including highlights from past events, along with a new look at upcoming guest fighters, Conan the Barbarian and T-1000 Terminator. Conan the Barbarian will be released on Jan. 21 as part of the early access period for Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Expansion owners, followed by wide availability on Jan. 28. Featuring the likeness of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of the title character, the towering warrior from the Conan the Barbarian (1982) film will be available for use during tournament play when Season 2 begins. The official Conan the Barbarian gameplay trailer will debut on tomorrow’s Kombat Kast, giving fans a deeper dive into this powerful fighter. Release timing and availability for T-1000 Terminator will be announced at a later date.

The road to the Final Kombat World Championship will have four different paths. There will be 10 in-person events, each with 1 vs. 1 double-elimination brackets where players can earn points towards their global leaderboard ranking. The top eight players with the most leaderboard points from in-person events will earn a spot in Final Kombat.

Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition in-person events include:

• Pro Kompetition Mexico – Mexico City, Mex. (Feb. 22-23)
• Viennality – Vienna, Austria (March 1-2)
• Texas Showdown – Houston, Texas (March 28-30)
• gamescom latam – São Paulo, Brazil (April 30 – May 4)
• Combo Breaker – Chicago, Ill. (May 23-25)
• CEO Fighting Game Championships – Orlando, Fla. (June 13-15)
• Brussels Challenge – Brussels, Belgium (Spring/Summer 2025)
• Evo 2025 – Las Vegas, Nev. (Aug. 1-3)
• Blink Respawn – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Summer 2025)
• VSFighting – Birmingham, U.K. (Summer/Fall 2025)

The winner of the Pro Kompetition event at Evo will also automatically qualify for a spot in Final Kombat.

Additionally, players can kompete in online Pro Kompetition tournaments based on their location, with divisions and sub-divisions broken out by geographic region, including the North American League (North America East and North America West), InterKontinental Kombat (Europe East, Europe West, Oceanic, and Middle East), and Liga Latina (Brazil, Mexico, South America North, and South America South).

Each regional division will have two online qualifier events and one online regional final, with 10 online players earning a spot in Final Kombat – two winners from the North American League, four winners from InterKontinental Kombat, and four winners from Liga Latina. Please note, that participation in online tournaments will not award points towards the global leaderboard. Players must participate in any of the 10 in-person events to add points to their leaderboard ranking.

The remaining final spot will be awarded to the winner of the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) event, an open in-person tournament that will be held at the Final Kombat location. The winner of the LCQ will round out the 20-player field kompeting in Final Kombat.

All 20 players kompeting in Final Kombat will be split into four groups of five players and kompete in a round-robin format. The top two players from each group, eight total, will advance to the final bracket and kompete in a double-elimination format, with all players starting from the winner’s side. The winner of the final bracket will become the Final Kombat World Champion. The exact timing and location for Final Kombat will be confirmed at a later date.

The Pro Kompetition will allow fans to experience all of the high-level match-ups and heated battles with more than 100 hours of live kompetition over 20 days, which can be viewed at Twitch.tv/NetherRealm, YouTube.com/MortalKombat, and Facebook.com/MortalKombat.

Pro Kompetition participants will have an opportunity to kompete in tournament matches with characters from Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns, the recent expansion for Mortal Kombat 1, the latest instalment in the acclaimed videogame franchise developed by award-winning NetherRealm Studios. Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns is available now digitally for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, the Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), including a story expansion with playable fighters Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot, Ghostface, Conan the Barbarian (available beginning Jan. 21), and T-1000 Terminator (release date to be announced).

The Yalla Ludo Friendly Cup, organized by the AppGallery Gamers Cup, brought the year’s esports calendar to a thrilling close on December 20 at the VoV Gaming venue in Riyadh. With over 200 attendees and the year’s largest prize pool of $70,000, the event celebrated gaming excellence and community spirit.

The tournament witnessed fierce competition among Yalla Ludo VIP players, culminating in a remarkable victory with the top prize. This milestone highlighted the spirit of esports excellence celebrated throughout the event, showcasing the platform’s dedication to bringing gamers together and elevating the regional esports scene.

The success of the event was driven by a key collaboration with premium partner Circlys, and supporting partners Nestlé Waters KSA, and GAC Motor Middle East. These partnerships played a pivotal role in delivering an unparalleled experience for both players and attendees, emphasizing the importance of collaboration in advancing the esports ecosystem.

William Hu, Managing Director of Huawei Consumer Business Group, Middle East and Africa Eco-Development and Operation, commented: “The Yalla Ludo Friendly Cup is a testament to our vision of building vibrant gaming communities and driving innovation within the esports landscape. With the support of our partners and the enthusiasm of players, we are proud to conclude a phenomenal year for the AppGallery Gamers Cup. Congratulations to the winners and participants who made this event truly memorable.”

The Yalla Ludo Friendly Cup showcases the growing prominence of esports in the Middle East, reinforcing AppGallery’s dedication to fostering talent and creating opportunities for players across the region. Plans are already underway for even more ambitious tournaments in 2025.

Cooler Master, a leading provider of PC components, gaming peripherals, and tech lifestyle solutions, today announced the winners of the 2024 Case Mod World Series. This popular event celebrates the world’s top PC modders, whose creativity and craftsmanship embody Cooler Master’s spirit of “Make It Yours.” The competition provides a unique platform for builders to personalize, innovate, and bring their most ambitious designs to life.

The Case Mod World Series 2024 invited participants to showcase their talent in two categories: Scratch Build of the Year, which features custom-built mods created from the ground up, and Tower Mod of the Year, where competitors reimagine and elevate existing Cooler Master cases.

This year’s winning Scratch Build, “Taiwan Five Timber” by Kuan-Sheng, Wu from GsStudio, merges nature with technology. Inspired by Taiwan’s cultural heritage, Wu’s design utilizes five types of Taiwanese timber, highlighting environmental sustainability and engineering ingenuity. Runner-ups included Stefan Ulrich, whose “ED-209” build brought RoboCop’s iconic ‘80s movie character to life, and Webhallen Config’s “W-frame,” a beautiful water-cooled gaming PC.

In the Tower Mod category, Explore Modding earned top honours with “RETROFUTURE,” an artistic transformation of the Cooler Master QUBE 500 Flatpack. Second place went to Timpelay’s “STAGE,” built on the Cooler Master Masterframe 700, followed by Rúben’s futuristic creation “BOX-37”, which modified the Masterbox 5 case.

The Cooler Master judging panel, including Pedro from PCMR, praised the creativity and technical skill displayed this year. “We’ve seen some of the most impressive builds to date,” said Pedro. “These modders bring technical expertise and a deep passion for design, making it an honour to witness their work. It truly solidifies how PC building can also be an art’”.

“At Cooler Master, ‘Make It Yours’ is more than a tagline – it’s our commitment to providing a personalized product lineup that serves the diverse needs of our community,” said Jimmy Sha, CEO of Cooler Master. “The Case Mod World Series showcases the creativity and dedication of our PC-building community, and this year’s winners truly exemplify the spirit of innovation that drives us.”

The winning builds will be featured across Cooler Master’s digital platforms, showcasing their achievements and inspiring the next generation of PC builders and modders.