Game developer KRAFTON has announced that the PUBG Nations Cup 2023 (PNC 2023), a competition that sees players compete for their national teams, will be held in Seoul, South Korea.
The competition will take place from September 15th – 17th at the Sangam Colosseum. PNC 2023 will feature a prize pool of $300,000 (~£236,000) plus ‘additional crowdfunding contributions’, according to a release.
The PUBG Nations Cup is a unique event which is typically utilised as an all-star competition that takes place within PUBG esports seasons. Instead of representing themselves and organisations, players compete under national teams. Performances at PNC 2023 do not affect qualification for the PUBG Global Championship.
The participating teams are United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, United States, Australia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Japan, and Korea.
The competition’s inaugural year, which was also in South Korea, was 2019. Russia won the event, with South Korea, Canada and Vietnam taking second, third and fourth place, respectively. The UK won in 2022; there was no PNC in 2020 or in 2021.
As of late, PUBG has bet big on partnership programmes for esports teams. The title has a Global Partner Team programme, which gains partner teams access to the PUBG Global Series (PGS), and there is also a Regional Partner Team programme.
Teams that are not part of the Global Partner Team programme can qualify for the PGS via regional competitions.
Earlier this month, KRAFTON named ONE Esports its official media partner. The publisher also spoke with Esports Insider’s sister magazine, The Esports Journal, earlier this year about how data can be used to help build a solid, structured esports industry.
