PUBG Corp. is launching a series of financial initiatives to help support the teams competing in its newly-devised professional leagues.
These initiatives include profit-sharing on team and league-branded in-game items, direct support of costs for operating each team, and event sponsorship.
To help support the teams participating in North America’s National PUBG League (NPL) and PUBG Europe League (PEL), PUBG Corp. will help with the costs of operating teams, including travel and housing. In-game items for the two leagues will be implemented alongside Phase 2 of the competitive season around April; 25 percent of these sales will go to each of the teams in the leagues.
Richard Kwon, CMO of PUBG Corp. discussed the initiatives in a statement: “We are nothing without our teams and players, so it’s critical that we develop these programs to support our competitive scene and help teams build their brands. In addition to building a popular esport that caters to our PUBG fanbase for years to come, we want to create a financially viable environment for players to sustain themselves and profit from their hard work.”
Financial support for the competitive scene will continue throughout the year with sponsored competitions hosted by PUBG partners. Each event will include teams from all six regional leagues and will have its own in-game items with 25 percent of the sales going to the participating squads. The developer will also match each partner’s prize pool to double the amount of money that is won.
In-game items with team branding were implemented alongside PUBG Corp.’s first global esports event in 2018: the PUBG Global Invitational in Berlin. This year’s major event, the PUBG Global Championship, will have its own in-game item where 25% of the sales go towards the prize pool.
Esports Insider says: It’s great to see multiple initiatives being implemented to help with the costly operations of travelling and housing teams to compete in these leagues. PUBG esports has seen a number of prominent organisations leave its scene in recent months so this announcement could well be a tad too late. Nonetheless, this is an encouraging sign for the game’s future as an esport.