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Some big news around competitive PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has emerged over the past few days, including changes to esports and a new FaceIT series.
PUBG gives greater support to esports teams
First up, the news from PUBG Corporation. The developer and publisher of the game has announced a series of esports initiatives including profit-sharing on team and league-branded digital items, support of team operating costs and event sponsorship.
The aim is to help support the PUBG competitive scene by lowering the barrier to entry for players and helping existing teams prosper.
To directly bolster team participation in PUBG’s North American (National PUBG League; NPL) and European (PUBG Europe League; PEL) leagues,
PUBG Corp. will help offset expenditures associated with team operation costs for those taking part in the NA National PUBG League (NPL) and PUBG Europe League (PEL). These expenses will include costs associated with team travel, housing subsidies and local transportation fees.
Additionally, NPL and PEL-specific in-game items will be created starting with Phase 2 of each league. 25% of all in-game item sales will go to each of the teams in their respective leagues.
“We are nothing without our teams and players, so it’s critical that we develop these programs to support our competitive scene and help teams build their brands.”
Richard Kwon, PUBG Corp.
For other third-party leagues (think ESL etc), exclusive in-game items will also be created for each of these global events and again, 25% of sales will go directly to the participating teams. PUBG Corp. will also match each partnering tournament provider’s prize pool, doubling their prize pool.
There won’t be any wagering offered, but for those interested in gambling and such, there are plenty of services online like Betbrain odds comparison available.
For the PUBG Global Championship later this year, another digital in-game item will be created, and 25% of its sales will be added to the championship prize pool.
Exclusive team-branded items will also be created for each of the participating teams in the PUBG Global Championship, along with a ‘celebratory item’ for the eventual champion. Once again, 25% of team-branded item sales will go to each of the teams while 25% of sales from the champion’s celebratory item will go towards the winners and all teams from the same league.
“We are nothing without our teams and players, so it’s critical that we develop these programs to support our competitive scene and help teams build their brands,” said Richard Kwon, CMO at PUBG Corp.
“In addition to building a popular esport that caters to our PUBG fanbase for years to come, we want to create a financially viable environment for players to sustain themselves and profit from their hard work.”
FaceIT PUBG Showdown to be broadcast online from London
UK-based esports platform FaceIT has unveiled the FaceIT PUBG Showdown, a series of events will see the best PUBG players on the platform play live online.
The company has promised a ‘familiar cast of A-list talent’ will broadcast each of the live online finals from its London studios.
The Showdown is essentially a series of weekly Duo qualifiers in which players will battle it out for a total prize pool of $10,000.
There are six qualifiers per final, with each monthly final being broadcasted from the FaceIT studio in London on this Twitch channel. Each qualifier will feature up to 150 teams fighting over two rounds, with each round having three maps. The top five teams from each qualifier will secure their place in the Finals.
Anyone with a FaceIT account that’s linked to PUBG can sign up, there’s no subscription required.
The online tournament has already kicked off with the first qualifier today (Thursday January 24th).
There are more details in this post on the FaceIT blog.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
