PUBG Corporation has announced the PUBG Global Invitational.s (PGI.S), an eight-week PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds esports festival to be hosted in South Korea next spring.
PGI.S will run from February 2nd to March 28th, 2021, and promises to have ‘full safety measures built-in’, including quarantines, to protect players and attendees against infection.
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PGI.S will feature a $3.5m (£2.6m) prize pool and will include the Pick’Em Challenge, which allows fans to vote on the game’s outcome to win in-game credits. The challenge has been upgraded to provide teams with 30 per cent share of the revenue, which is up from 25 per cent.
The eight-week esports festival will bring together 32 global teams from across Korea, North America, Europe, Latin America, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Chinese Taipei. PUBG Corporation has vowed to follow strict government guidelines, as well as its own safety measures. For example, all player and staff schedules will include a two-week quarantine period.
CH Kim, CEO of PUBG Corporation and parent company KRAFTON, Inc. commented in a release: “It’s been humbling to see the overwhelming positive fan reaction for our online regional PCS tournaments throughout the year. We’re holding PGI.S thanks to fan support and we’re confident that we’ll be able to take the momentum from this year to create our best esports event yet.
“With full safety measures built-in to the event, we’re committed to hosting a safe global esports tournament that can be enjoyed by our players in attendance and fans watching online from around the world.”
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Teams will compete in eight weekly ‘Survival’ matches for a spot in the weekly Final matches. The ten matches played per Final will feature a ‘larger amount of prize money’ given out based on performance. At the end of PGI.S, the team with the most amount of prize money will be crowned Global Champions. More details on the tournament format will be released closer to the event.
This announcement comes as the online 2020 PUBG Continental Series (PCS) comes to a close.
Esports Insider says: An in-person spring event of this magnitude is risky, as government regulations can change last minute. However, it is a testament to how important live events are to PUBG. It has been a rough couple of years for the game that kicked of a battle royale frenzy, especially after being somewhat overshadowed by PUBG Mobile.