The developers of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and ESL have announced the continuation of their partnership via a tournament at the Intel Extreme Masters Oakland event, seeing 20 teams from Europe and North America compete for a $200,000 USD prize pool.
"Everyone's been waiting for the title that will come in and be a game changer for esports and it seems like PUBG could be it," said Michal Blicharz, Vice President Pro Gaming at ESL. "It's different, it's new, and it's growing at an unprecedented rate. We're thrilled to be giving the game its competitive debut in North America."
"We hope this serves as another excellent opportunity to experiment with a different format," said Changhan Kim, Chief Executive Officer of PUBG Corporation. "It is essential that we gain experience from events like Gamescom PUBG Invitational and Intel Extreme Masters Oakland in order to take the right steps in the future."
This will serve as the second ESL tournament for the game after Gamescom, and fans can either watch it live in Oakland or via broadcasts on Facebook, Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube, with more platforms on their way.
Do you think PUBG has a long future ahead of it in esports?