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Thanks to our fans, players, and teams, the 2020 PUBG Esports season proved to be a great success. As we look to the future of the program, we want to take that momentum into 2021 and create something that takes our progress and evolves it into something greater.
Our first step in seeing this come to fruition is PGI.S, where we are moving away from an online only environment to one that will add LAN events back into the mix. PGI.S will see 32 teams from eight regions converge in South Korea to compete against each other in an eight week long tournament. For full information about the tournament, please visit https://www.pubgesports.com.
Given the popularity of last year’s PCS format, the team has decided to bring it back this year, but this time PCS events will serve as a qualifier for the PUBG Global Championship. In 2021, PUBG Esports will host four tournaments that include PGI.S, PCS4, PCS5, and PGC. Additional regional events will fill in any of the gaps between these flagship events.
NA + LATAM Combines to form the Americas Region
During 2020, LATAM hosted Masters Cup events outside of the PCS system, but we missed having LATAM teams participate on the global stage. In December, DreamHack hosted a combined LATAM and NA event, and the esports community responded with positive reviews across the board and a strong cry to merge the two regions. So we’re doing just that! Starting in 2021, North America and Latin America will combine to form the “Americas” region for PCS and other major online events.
You’ll find more detailed information on the tournament formats as you read on, but NA and LATAM will only be playing against each other during later stages of these major events. Separate qualifiers will still be hosted in each region to keep local rivalries alive.
PCS Events
There will be 2 PCS events in 2021 and they will continue to consist of our four major regions similar to the 2020 PCS program. As previously mentioned, the NA and LATAM regions will be combined to form the Americas region.
To give up and coming teams a better opportunity to shine, open qualifiers will run immediately before the PCS events so teams can qualify directly from the qualifiers to the PCS (more about this in the PCS Americas Tournament Structure section). PCS events will continue to have a $200,000 prize pool per event.
PCS4 is expected to run from May to June
PCS5 is expected to run from August to September
PCS Americas Tournament Structure
PCS Americas events begin with Open Qualifiers. Up to 80 teams that meet regional roster requirements can sign up for Round 1 of Open Qualifiers on a first come first serve basis. Open Qualifiers will be 3 rounds, Best of 12 (Bo12), 6 matches per day, and the top 8 teams will advance to the Group Stage. 16 teams will be directly invited to the PCS Group Stage. For PCS4, the top 16 teams from the Pro event in April for each region will receive those direct invites provided they meet roster requirements. The format for Non-PCS events will be explained later in this announcement.
Both NA and LATAM will have their own 24 team Group Stage. This stage will be a Bo30 over 6 days where the top 6 teams will directly advance to the Finals and the bottom 10 teams (15th to 24th place) will be eliminated. The teams who place 7th - 14th (8 teams) from each Group Stage will qualify for a combined Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ).
The 8 Teams from NA and 8 Teams from LATAM will play in a 1 day, Bo6 LCQ. The top 4 teams in the LCQ, regardless of region, will join the 12 teams who directly qualified from the Group Stage in the PCS Americas Grand Finals (6 teams from NA, 6 Teams from LATAM, 4 teams from LCQ).
Sign ups for Open Qualifiers will be announced around three weeks in advance. Follow @PUBGEsports on Twitter and na.pubgesports.com to stay connected. Roster requirements can be found in the rulebooks for each event.
Additional Pro Level Events
As a way to add more events throughout the year for players, we are working with third party organizers to hold additional sanctioned events. These will be regional events with the goal of showcasing the best teams and players in the Americas Region. There will be 2 of these events in 2021.
These events are expected to take place starting in March and July.
Tournament Structure
The tournament structure for these added events will be similar to PCS tournaments but not exactly the same. There will be no Last Chance Qualifier, and the Group Stage will be shortened.
These events will begin with Open Qualifiers. Up to 80 teams that meet regional roster requirements can sign up for round one of Open Qualifiers. Open Qualifiers will be 3 rounds, Bo12, 6 matches per day, and the top 8 teams will advance to the Group Stage. 16 teams will be directly invited to the Group Stage. For the first 2021 event, the 16 NA teams that participated in the PCS3 Grand Finals have already qualified to the NA Group Stage. For LATAM, the 16 teams that participated in the 2020 LATAM Copa PUBG Masters 3 Final have already qualified to the LATAM Group Stage. These direct invites will require teams to abide by all roster rules. Roster requirements can be found in the rulebooks for each event.
Both NA and LATAM will have their own 24 team Group Stage. This stage will be a Bo18 over 3 days where the top 8 teams from NA and Top 8 teams from LATAM will advance to the Finals.
Sign ups for Open Qualifiers will be announced soon. Follow @PUBGEsports on Twitter and na.pubgesports.com to stay connected.
Third Party Events
We’re also looking to offer support for third-party tournament organizers who wish to host events during any downtime throughout 2021. These events will be announced by these tournament organizers directly.
PGC
Provided it's possible to travel, in November, we’ll end the year with another PUBG Global Championship. Based on placements at each of the two PCS events and the two additional events, teams will earn PGC Qualification Points. These points will determine which teams will represent the Americas region at PGC. The exact point system and qualification details will be announced before the first major Americas event in 2021.
OCE
For our OCE players out there wondering what is happening in your region this year, OCE will continue to be included in the Asia Pacific region. There will be OCE specific qualifiers for PCS4 and PCS5. All OCE event details will be announced as soon as they are finalized.
More information on other regional esports activities will be shared in the near future.
Follow @PUBGEsports on Twitter and na.pubgesports.com to stay connected.
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