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On January 7th, 2025, Natus Vincere officially announced their decision to exit the women’s CS scene, parting ways with their team, NAVI Javelins. In a statement published on their website, the organization cited challenges with the sustainability of the women’s CS business model, stating it “does not allow for long-term planning.”

On December 17th 2024, ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) announced additional details about its upcoming ESL Pro Tour in 2025. Amongst the many pieces of information shared, the changes to prize money, the introduction of the Annual Club Incentive and the invitation cut-off dates stood out the most.

Passion UA announced on January 1st, 2025 that Vsevolod “s-chilla” Shchurov have decided to resign from their CS2 roster and take an indefinite break from competitive play. The Ukrainian player cited burnout and a growing dissatisfaction with the repetitive routine of competitive gaming as the main reasons behind his departure in an interview with Passion UA.

On December 30th 2024, a credible source stated that FaZe, the #5 best team in the world when it comes to CS2, is quite close to finalizing things with Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski, Complexity’s star player who has been dying to get on a roster that can use his full potential. This leak comes from none other than the independent reporter Guillaume 'neL' Rathier, who coincidentally also talked about Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool recently, another FaZe player reaching agreement to join Team Vitality recently. With that said, EliGE will likely replace ropz on the roster.

On December 11th 2024, GamerLegion’s coach, Ashley "⁠ash⁠" Battye, reflected on his team’s performance at the Perfect World Shanghai Major, expressing much satisfaction. Considering how the team brought Sebastian "⁠Tauson⁠" Tauson Lindelof into the team two months before the event, causing Timur "⁠FL4MUS⁠" Marev to take on more responsibilities, ash’s reflection expressed to HLTV comes as no surprise.

On December 4th 2024, the Opening stage at the Perfect World Shanghai Major came to an end as Wildcard bagged the final qualification spot. It was an intense game against the upcoming Ukrainian superstars, Passion UA, who delivered a stellar performance back in the RMR. Fans were entertained as the map went to three maps, with Wildcard winning their map pick, Inferno with a 13-6 scoreline, only for Passion UA to return the favor on Mirage with a 6-13 sweep of their own. The final map went into overtime, where Wildcard secured the match with a 16-13 victory. It was a memorable match for Wildcard, as Josh 'JBa' Barutt expressed in an HLTV interview.

Dynamo Eclot announced on January 5th, 2025 that they’ll be dropping Raul “Blytz” Gligor from the active roster. The 24 year old joined the Czech team in December 2023, adding great value to the team by consistently delivering strong performances while achieving an impressive 1.13 rating. Dynamo Eclot saw great success in local LANs and regional qualifiers such as the MČR 2024, European Pro League Season 15, Tipsport Grandslam, and European Pro League Season 20.

On December 3rd, 2024, another team, paiN, bested FlyQuest as they were unable to recover from their loss to Team Liquid yesterday. Surprisingly, they snatched FlyQuest’s map pick right off the bat, winning 16-14 on Vertigo before comfortably closing things out on their map pick, Inferno, with a 13-6 scoreline. Lucas 'nqz' Soares put up a particularly stellar performance, especially with a USP ace on round 1 of Inferno, something that he also discussed in an interview with HLTV.

On December 6th 2024, while many fans looked on as their favorite teams qualified for the Elimination Stage at the Perfect World Shanghai Major, some were left heartbroken. One such major upset was with Team Complexity, Despite being one of the favorites to qualify, given that they were the fifth-highest-ranked team in the Opening Stage, they were sent home with a disappointing 2:3 win-lose ratio. For many fans, their heart sank on the opening day of the event where Complexity lost both of its best-of-one games to FlyQuest (6-13) and Passion UA (9-13).

On December 19th 2024, Complexity’s CEO, Jason Lake, went on The Four Horsemen podcast to discuss the state of affairs regarding their organization. This comes after the team’s disappointing run at the Shanghai Major, before which Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski said: "We haven't talked about anything obviously, and I don't have any plans that I already have set or anything like that. But for me, I want to win next year. I've been feeling like I want to win, I'm ready to win for 2025, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure I'm in that position to win."

On December 27th 2024, Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce that he will be a free agent starting 2025, finally leaving G2’s bench for good. Hence, still having that competitive fire in him, he’s motivated to try out for different teams and explore his options. “Free Agent on January 1st. I'm still looking for a new team! I'm open to all offers, the most important aspect is an interesting roster with strong potential! If you're interested contact @dvorborg or email hooxi@uncore.gg”

On December 16th 2024, fans looked back as history was made on the final day of the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024. Despite small hiccups throughout the tournament, everything came back full circle. Similar to how they won their first title this year at IEM Katowice, defeating FaZe, they just won their fourth title by beating FaZe 2-1. The only difference was that instead of Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov backing up Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, it was Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev.

On December 18th 2024, Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg, a 33 year-old Swede who is arguably one of the most successful Swede players in Counter-Strike history, announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he would be transitioning to a coaching role, being open to offers from different organizations: “Transitioning from player to coach for 2025. With my history in top teams, including MVP at a Major and IGLing for OpTic & Dignitas, I know what it takes to win. My focus: leadership, communication, and core fundamentals at CS's highest level. Need a head coach? Let's talk on DM!”

On December 28th 2024, Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis was sent to Team Liquid’s bench after staying on the active roster for 26 months straight. This move comes after Team Liquid got eliminated from the Perfect World Shanghai Major in the quarterfinals. While it is true that Team Liquid had a good showing this year, also reaching ESL Pro League Season 20, they lost mainly to top-ranked teams in the world. While there is no major problem with losing to the best of the best, it is undeniable that YEKINDAR had a poor performance in most of those matches.

On December 31st, 2025 , FaZe announced the departure of Robin ‘ropz’ Kool from its CS2 roster after nearly three years with the team. The Estonian rifler joined the team in January 2022, and has helped FaZe secure major victories, including multiple IEM titles, a PGL Major Antwerp win, an ESL Pro League championship, and the Intel Grand Slam Season 4.