by PUBG Corp. revealed their plans for the 2020 season of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds esports scene and detailed look into the PUBG Global Series, which will kick off with its opening event in March 2019 in Berlin, Germany.
The announcement was posted on the official website of PUBG earlier on Friday, where PUBG Corp. unveiled their ambitious plans for the future of PUBG esports scene and provided the community with a more detailed look into how PUBG Global Series (PGS) will look and operate.
PGS was initially revealed in December 2019, as the first step towards expanding the PUBG esports scene and building off the momentum set by 2019 PUBG Nations Cup and Global Championship.
“PGS looks to further grow our esports fandom and ecosystem with an improved competitive structure, increased revenue sharing with teams, and greater opportunities for third-party tournament organizers.”
Due to the all the positive feedback PUBG Global Championship 2019 received, PUBG Corp. decided to divide 2020 season of PGS into four global events, which will be hosted in major cities around the world in April, July, October and the grand finals in November. The opening three tournaments will all feature 32 teams and a larger prize pool, which will be supplemented by crowdfunding.
The format of the events will award the top four teams from the most recent global competition with direct qualification for the next event, while the remaining 28 spots will be filled with teams who participate in regional qualifiers, set to be played in six regions, including Americas, Asia Pacific, Japan, Europe, China and Korea.
Each PGS event will be divided into Group Stage, Elimination Stage, and Grand Finals. Out of 32 teams who will compete in the group stage, only top 12 (six from each group) will advance into the Grand Finals, while the Elimination Stage will serve as the last opportunity for four more teams to punch their ticket for the final stage.
The fourth and final major event dubbed the 2020 PUBG World Championship (PGC) will feature only 16 teams who will duke it out for the title of 2020 world champions. Competing at the culminating event will be top four teams from the previous PGS event, while the remaining 12 spots will be filled with the highest-ranked teams based on the sum of points they scored in the Grand Finals of each PGS event.
Each PGS event will have US $500,000 up for grabs, while the PGC will feature a $2 million prize pool. Each prize pool can and will increase, due to crowdfunding with the in-game items, much like it’s the case with Dota 2 and The International, where the majority of the final prizepool comprises of community crowdfunding.
As a part of the revamped revenue sharing program, PUBG Corp. unveiled that, for every PGS event, 25% of PGS item sales will be shared with the participating teams, where 10% of the sales will be contributed to the event prize pool, another 10% of sales will go to the teams and 5% towards the prize pool of PGC 2020.
PUBG Corp. also guaranteed $20,000 to each team that will participate at the PGS events. In a bid to incentivise PUBG players to help fund PGC events, PUBG Corp. announced the return of Pick’Em Challenge with added features and high-quality PGS items.
The first event of 2020 PUBG Global Series will take place at Messe Berlin, Berlin, Germany, starting on March 31, and ending on April 12, 2020. Participating at the event are Gen.G, Four Angry Men, FaZe Clan and OGN Entus, as the top four teams at PUBG Global Championship 2019.
Joining them will be 27 teams who will have to qualify via their respective regional qualifiers including Korea, Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific region, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan, as well as the champions of PUBG Master League 2020 Invitational.
