2020's scheduled PUBG Global Series was for obvious reasons cancelled, and replaced with the PUBG Continental Series (four online tournaments across North America, Europe, Asia, and Asia-Pacific.) The PCS concludes this weekend, after which all eyes turn to 2021.
Today PUBG Corporation has announced that in 2021 it will host the PUBG Global Invitational S which will, with considerable safety measures and a series format, take place in South Korea over eight weeks, from February 2 to March 28, 2021. Which seems... like an extremely long eSports event.
Partly this is because of the safety measures around the tournament.
"[PUBG Corporation has] built two weeks of quarantine time into team schedules immediately after they arrive and we’ll be providing various services to help keep everyone comfortable during their isolation. Furthermore, we’ll be following all government guidelines and safety precautions while enacting our own strengthened safety measures wherever possible."
The tournament will feature 32 teams from around the world competing for a total $3.5 million prize pool. The schedule is not yet available but the tournament essentially works through weekday matches leading into weekend playoffs, the latter being where the money is earned, and the team with the most cash at the end declared the winners. Here's the event's site.
While it's great to see the determination here to do something big on the other side of this pandemic, I have to admit some surprise at the eight-week timeframe. I like PUBG and can't imagine following this in any kind of dedicated manner, but perhaps the point is more an ongoing jamboree to dip in and out of.
