CS2 and Valorant esports tournaments announced for i74 event

Kieran Lynch, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 05/12/2025

Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) and Valorant esports tournaments will take place at the Insomnia 74 (I74) event in Staffordshire next year.

Insomnia Gaming Festival confirmed the two titles will feature at the UK-based gaming and esports event.

CS2 and Valorant to feature on i74 lineup

Both the Valorant and CS2 tournaments will involve 16 teams competing for a share of a £3,000 prize pool.

For CS2, the organiser has not confirmed whether the event will qualify for the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).

It was announced this week that FURIA has topped the December VRS standings, ahead of Team Falcons.

This comes after FURIA emerged victorious at the Thunderpick World Championship, IEM Chengdu 2025 and Blast Rivals Fall 2025, throughout October and November.

Both CS2 and Valorant were part of the last Insomnia Gaming Festival, I73, in 2024. However, the prize pool has declined slightly from the £5,000 which was on offer for both tournaments at i73.

Insomnia 72 meanwhile had a female Valorant tournament where teams competed for £9,775.

Insomnia has confirmed that registration details and the full ruleset will be released at a later date.

According to Insomnia’s website, a further four games are expected to be announced for the Festival.

When is i74?

The i74 event will be held at the Staffordshire County Showground from April 30th to May 3rd, 2026.

Insomnia Gaming Festival announced last month that it will be working with UK community event organiser EPIC.LAN.

The festival returns in 2026 after its controversial exit. It is being relaunched under the ownership of Novacorp.

The i74 event will include a gaming exhibition and a Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) LAN.

There was initially backlash to an announcement declaring that all cosplayers would have to pay a £15 fee. However, Insomnia cosplay rules were then reversed in August, with the cosplay zone now free to access.

There were also concerns over the location for i74 earlier this year. The closest hotel to the venue is 1.2 miles away and the closest train station is 3.2 miles from the venue.  

This compares to the original Insomnia Gaming Festival, which was held at the NEC in Birmingham, which has good transport connections and multiple hotel options.

Kieran Lynch, Senior Editor

Kieran Lynch is an esports journalist who writes about several games including EA Sports FC 25, Call of Duty, Rainbox Six Siege, and more. He previously worked as a sports journalist for MailOnline.

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