maxter won Estoty Duel Tournament #223 in Quake Champions on 23 October, beating Keltz 3-1 in the grand final. It is his 11th title in the series, putting him level with ZenAkU on the all-time winners list.

maxter beat Karwik 2-0 and Coffee by Tomo 2-0 before defeating Keltz 2-1 in the winners final. Keltz returned through the lower final with a 2-0 win over St0n3, but lost the rematch for the title.

St0n3 finished third after a lower-bracket run that ended with a win over Thri11er, who placed fourth. The event had a $100 prize pool.

This is maxter's second Estoty victory in four tournaments, following his win at #220.

Sources: Plus Forward report, results.

AGENT won the first Frontier One Map Cup in Quake Live on 24 October, coming through the lower bracket to beat k1llsen 2-0 in the grand final. ash finished third and dazator fourth.

ash sent AGENT down with a 2-1 win in the upper semifinals. AGENT then beat ARSENY and dazator before winning the rematch against ash 2-0 in the lower final. k1llsen had reached the final without losing a series, including 2-0 victories over dazator and ash, but lost both maps against AGENT.

The $500 prize pool paid $200 to AGENT, $100 to k1llsen and $60 to ash. The event began with groups followed by a double-elimination playoff, with every match played on Tortured - Frontier Edition. Players had five days to prepare after the map reveal.

Frontier's website also provides match replays and detailed statistics, including weapon use, item pickups and damage, alongside a 2D replay showing player movement around the arena.

Source: Plus Forward report and bracket.

Valve has rolled out a batch of updates across the Steam store, Remote Play and SteamOS. Personal Calendar has left Steam Labs, HDR streaming is getting more controls in the client beta, and SteamOS 3.9 is now on the stable channel.

Personal Calendar leaves Labs

Steam's Personal Calendar became a full store feature on 23 October, following its introduction as a Labs experiment in October 2025. It is available from the store homepage and the Personal Calendar page.

The calendar recommends recently released and upcoming games across an eight-week horizon. It uses the games you spend the most time playing to find players with similar habits, then looks at what those players have been playing or wishlisting. Briefly trying a game should have little effect; putting substantial time into a new favourite can change the recommendations.

The system is retrained daily. Filters and display options cover wishlisted games, Early Access titles and DLC, while developers can supply planned Early Access-to-1.0 dates. Valve says calendar placements are algorithmic and cannot be purchased.

Remote Play HDR overhaul in beta

The 22 October Steam client beta adds an advanced HDR setting with Automatic, On and Off options. Automatic follows whether HDR content is enabled; On keeps HDR active and allows increased brightness for SDR content. A brightness slider has also been added to the streaming overlay.

HDR capture now supports desktop Linux through PipeWire and streaming from macOS, alongside existing game and Windows desktop support. HDR streaming is enabled again on Steam Deck OLED, and Android phones running Android 15 or newer can use it through the beta Steam Link app.

These are Remote Play streaming changes in the beta client. Android users also need the Steam Link beta for the new HDR support.

SteamOS 3.9 reaches stable

Valve released build 3.9.5 to all users on 23 October. The release updates the Arch Linux base, moves Desktop Mode from KDE Plasma 6.4.3 to 6.7.3 and rebases the kernel on Linux 7.2.

For Steam Deck owners, Valve lists reduced idle power consumption when no audio is playing. Other fixes address hidden Wi-Fi networks failing to connect on the first attempt, the Disable Frame Limiter toggle failing with VRR enabled, and frame limits producing lower-than-intended FPS on some external displays.

The update improves Steam Frame wireless-adapter support and fixes Remote Play on Steam Machine when booting without an external display. It also revokes compromised eMudhra certificate-authority certificates.

Preliminary hibernation support is included, but is not exposed in Game Mode and remains disabled on Steam Deck because of an outstanding driver bug.

Sources: Steam News, Steam client beta, SteamOS release notes, Steam.

Update, 25 October: AGENT, Fog and k1llsen each won both of their matches on the opening day of 250 FPS Quake Live League Season 6 Division 1.

AGENT opened with a 2-0 win over fire_bot, then beat Nitrino 2-1. Fog also defeated fire_bot and Nitrino, both by 2-1 scores. k1llsen closed the day with a 2-0 win over cherepoff and a 2-1 victory over cYpheR.

Opening-day results

• AGENT 2-0 fire_bot
• Nitrino 1-2 AGENT
• Fog 2-1 fire_bot
• Nitrino 1-2 Fog
• k1llsen 2-0 cherepoff
• cYpheR 1-2 k1llsen

Match VODs are available through the tournament page, with English coverage from ShaftasticTV.

The 12-player Division 1 field is cYpheR, AGENT, ash, pavel, k1llsen, cherepoff, Spart1e, H3LLDOWN, ARSENY, Fog, Nitrino and fire_bot. fire_bot replaced baksteen after finishing runner-up in the second and fourth qualifiers.

The organisers have also been assembling Division 2, with a $300 prize pool and additional prizes supplied by Redragon.

Sources: results and VODs, opening schedule, lineup announcement.

Frontier Gaming has interviewed proZaC and baksteen ahead of its first Quake Live One Map Cup, with both discussing the format and the difficulty of bringing new players into arena FPS.

proZaC sees the short preparation window as a test of creativity and adaptation, but doubts that a new format can revive Quake Live given its demanding learning curve. His advice to newcomers is to find someone of similar ability, improve together and watch demos.

baksteen sees the cup as a chance to test maps for use in other leagues. He expects preparation time and the ability to learn quickly to decide the winners. On Quake's future, he argues that classic gameplay can still work with modern presentation, proper tutorials and matchmaking.

Both interviews were published on 21 October. Frontier One Map Cup #1 takes place on 24 October, with all matches played on Tortured - Frontier Edition.

Sources: proZaC, baksteen.

phaze won EGB QC Cup #12 in Quake Champions on 18 October, beating Keltz 3-0 in the grand final. The $75 prize pool paid $60 to phaze and $15 to Keltz.

phaze defeated k1llsen 2-1 and Yup 2-1 on the way to the winners final, where he beat Keltz 2-1. Keltz returned through the lower final with a 2-0 win over k1llsen, but could not take a map in the title rematch.

k1llsen finished third and Yup fourth in the 19-player online tournament.

Sources: results and bracket, Plus Forward report.

k1llsen won EGB Cup #72 in Quake Live on 17 October, returning from the lower bracket to beat ash 3-1 in the grand final.

ash had won their winners-final meeting 2-0. k1llsen then beat AGENT 2-1 in the lower final before taking the rematch against ash. AGENT finished third, with pavel fourth.

It is k1llsen's first victory in the regular EGB Quake Live duel series since Cup #51 on 2 May.

Sources: Plus Forward report and bracket.

Croteam and Devolver Digital have announced Serious Sam: The Third Encounter for PC, continuing directly from the events of The Second Encounter.

The new game sends Sam into Mental's forces across alien worlds, with returning weapons, new additions to the arsenal and large enemy hordes. Players can tackle it alone or in co-op; the Steam listing includes online co-op and shared/split-screen support.

The project is in early development. No release date has been announced, and wishlisting is available on Steam.

Sources: official Steam page, announcement coverage and teaser.

FURIA won the Thunderpick World Championship 2026 in Counter-Strike 2, defeating BetBoom 3-2 in the grand final on 18 October.

The eight-team event ran from 14 to 18 October at the BLAST Studio in Malta, with a $1 million combined player and club prize pool.

FURIA reached the final with a 2-0 semifinal win over Aurora. BetBoom beat Falcons 2-1 in the other semifinal, while Aurora took third place by defeating Falcons 2-1.

Sources: BLAST tournament results, Pichau Arena.

Valve's 16 October Team Fortress 2 update changes Holyhell and six Zombie Infection maps. The patch installs automatically when the game is restarted.

Holyhell's round timer is reduced to five minutes, with shorter respawn waves. The team that loses the middle point gains respawning spells on its side, while gargoyles now spawn near middle. The map also receives visual fixes and optimisation work.

Zombie Pyro's melee damage rises from 45 to 65. Sticky Spew applies a 20% movement slow, with another 20% while standing in its enlarged puddles. Pyro's death explosion now deals 50 damage and causes afterburn.

Zombie Sniper's Spit cooldown falls from nine seconds to six. Other fixes address invisible player models in DirectX 8, Zombie Engineer beacon placement, excessive Zombie Spy damage and slow movement after using abilities.

Source: Valve patch notes.

ESIC announced on 16 October that Palkovics "2xplayN" Tamas is banned for life from covered ESIC and member competitions in any capacity, replacing the three-year suspension imposed in the NOMERCY match-manipulation case.

The revised sanction follows public posts showing apparent cash alongside comments about the findings, betting payouts and a return to competition. ESIC found that his conduct during suspension constituted further integrity breaches. The lifetime ban removes his previously scheduled April 2029 return, with no cooperation-based reduction applied to the new sanction.

ESIC explicitly stated that the photographs alone do not establish that the money shown came from match-fixing. The commission also said it would refer the sanctioned conduct to Valve, government agencies and law enforcement.

Source: ESIC.

Bloodrun's 16 October build adds Slash as a playable gladiator, bringing Crouch Slide and Plasma Trail from her Quake Champions counterpart.

Holding crouch on landing starts a slide that preserves movement speed. Her active ability lays a damaging plasma trail, with three seconds to place it and another three seconds to trigger its explosion. Bots can also use both abilities.

The update refreshes four arenas and adds a HUD arc near the crosshair to show ability information, including Slash's slide charge and Angel's countdown to invisibility. A new Setup > Gladiators section provides ability effect settings.

Existing players can install the build through the Bloodrun launcher.

Sources: Bloodrun changelog, Plus Forward.

Valve has introduced achievement sets in the Steam client beta, allowing developers to group achievements for a game's base campaign, DLC, seasons or other content separately.

Each set tracks its own completion progress. In games that adopt the feature, additional DLC or seasonal achievements can sit outside the base-game set, so players can retain that set's 100% completion without earning every later addition.

The redesigned achievements page brings progress information together and allows direct comparisons with up to three friends at once. Support depends on developers organising their games' achievements into sets; the change does not automatically separate every game's existing list.

The feature is currently available through the Steam client beta.

Sources: Valve announcements, PC Gamer.