TanVuu and Himass, two Vietnamese players, received permanent bans in late September, which upset not just players in Vietnam but also in Thailand and China, with some calling for boycotts or uninstalling the game in protest.

Now, it looks like Krafton might be dialing back PUBG’s 2026 growth plans after revealing a scaled back roadmap for next year. The PUBG Global Series (PGS), PUBG’s major international circuit, will feature just four phases in 2027 (instead of the 12 events previously outlined), each made up of regional qualifiers that will feed into a single PGS event.

The drastic change of plans comes as PUBG has also been plagued by low viewership numbers and discontent in the community. According to Esports Charts, after peaking at over 263,000 concurrent viewers for PGS 8 in August, interest in PUBG content has dwindled significantly. By the time the final tournament of the PGS 11 stage concluded in late October, the average viewership had dropped by 63% to less than 48,000.

While it's unclear if Krafton has scaled back its investment in the title's esports program specifically in response to these issues, after promising expanded tournaments and increased investment at the start of this year, it seems that the South Korean company is looking to stabilize its faltering competitive scene.

Written by

Lakshya