Tournament organiser ESL has partnered with Tencent to become part of the PUBG Mobile esports circuit for 2020.
The collaborative program will allow players “all over the world” to win a share of $5 million (GBP4.1 million).
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ESL will support Tencent in building a “brand new, innovative” studio that’s being put together exclusively for PUBG Mobile. The studio will be located in Katowice, Poland and host offline matches once it’s safe to do so post-coronavirus.
Fabian Scheuermann, Vice President Product Operations & Strategy in Publisher Development at ESL, spoke on the partnership in a release: “We are very excited to support PUBG MOBILE in growing as a truly global esports title, sharing our expertise on how to successfully create an open competition on all levels. In the current climate it is important that all involved in the esports community act in a way that protects both our long-term future and our immediate concerns for the safety of our competitors. PUBG MOBILE and ESL together can achieve this, culminating in a high-class esports ecosystem.”
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Tencent unveiled its esports plans for PUBG Mobile in December, including the aforementioned $5 million (GBP4.1 million) prize pool. The ecosystem includes PUBG Mobile Club Open events across North America, Europe, Turkey, CIS, Germany, Middle East & Africa, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
James Yang, Director of PUBG Mobile Global Esports at Tencent Games, also commented: “In order to bring more opportunities to compete and great viewership experience to all PUBG MOBILE players, we have further grown our global esports ecosystem as amateur-semipro-pro level and country-regional-world level in 2020. PUBG MOBILE is always committed to create bigger opportunities for players to enjoy the game and start their esports path to be the #1.”
Esports Insider says: PUBG Mobile has proven to be a better esports prospect than PUBG itself, though there are plenty of reasons that’s the case. Seeing ESL invest heavily into PUBG Mobile is interesting, especially if it’s mainly focusing on catering to European competitors – a region where the title is less popular than in the East.