Back in February, PUBG Corp decided to "indefinitely postpone" PlayerUnknown's Battleground's PGS: Berlin tournament after the coronavirus spread to Germany. It's now concluded that the continuing health crisis makes it too difficult to host live tournaments, so all three PGS events have been cancelled. Qualifying teams are still getting something for making it this far, however.
"[T]he teams and players who've participated in the 2020 campaign so far deserve recognition and compensation for their competitive spirit," an update posted on Friday reads.
21 teams had already qualified for PGS Berlin, and each will received $20,000, along with the top five teams from the ongoing PUBG Champions League. The Americas regional qualifiers have been postponed, so $120,000 is being split between the top six seeded teams.
If you were eager to watch some competitive PUBG this summer, you'll still be able to thanks to the PUBG Continental Series. This online tournament will replace the cancelled events, pitting teams against each other in their respective regions, starting in May and continuing through August. The tournaments will be split between Asia, Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, with a total prize pool of $2,400,000.
The first of these events is a charity tournament, the PCS Charity Showdown, taking place in May. The invitational events will see players duke it over the $100,000 prize pool, with a further $100,000 being donated to the winning team's charity of choice. This will be followed by the four PCS regional tournaments between June and August, with each region fighting over a $200,000.
"This year, we have been working to enhance our esports programs by providing sustainability for teams, strengthening the fandom, growing the ecosystem with our partners, and improving the competition structure and profit-sharing model," says PUBG Corp. "Though we cannot host the PGS events as initially planned, we would like to emphasize that our commitment towards our goals is unwavering."
Expect more details about this year's PUBG esports events and the company's future plans "at a later date." It's good to see that the battle royale shenanigans are persisting despite the obstacles, and it should give us something to watch while we're stuck inside.
