The PUBG Nations Cup is the title’s most popular tournament so far in 2023, though it is the worst-performing edition of the Nations Cup to date regarding viewership.
The midseason competition, which pits nations against each other, garnered 230,782 peak viewers and an average viewership of 122,286 across its near 15-hour air time, according to Esports Charts.
This is significantly lower than its inaugural event in 2019, which recorded 492,735 peak viewers. However, this year’s cup performed similar viewership-wise to its second edition in 2022 — 239,112 peak viewers and 129,225 average viewers.
The tournament was ultimately won by South Korea, with last year’s winner, the United Kingdom, placing second. It was Vietnamese-language streams that recorded the highest peak viewership (98,808), with Thai (39,107) and Korean (33,759) platforms finishing second and third respectively.
Perhaps the biggest shift in viewership trends from 2022 to 2023 was the language platforms, with Thai topping the chart in 2022 with 89,157. However, it is worth noting that last year’s event was held in Thailand with South Korea playing host this year.
Compared to the rest of PUBG’s 2023 esports calendar the event is currently the most popular event when it comes to peak viewership, per Esports Charts. Nevertheless, there still is the PUBG Global Championship 2023 set to take place later this year.
Also, the game’s popularity in China cannot be fully documented given that Esports Charts cannot track viewership on Chinese platforms. As such, the PUBG Champions League 2023, an offline series in China, cannot be compared.
Still, this year’s PUBG Nations Cup, which took place at Sangam Colosseum and featured a $300,000 prize pool, has beaten both PUBG Global Series events from the 2023 calendar season.
