17Gaming are champions of the PUBG Global Series 1

KRAFTON has confirmed that 17Gaming are the champions of the PUBG Global Series 1 (PGS 1), after winning the event taking place from May 5th to 7th in an offline event at the Battle Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It was three days of battling it out over a total of eighteen matches, 17Gaming, the team made up of Shengjun “Lilghost” Luo, Zhanya “Xbei” Tu, Bo “xwudd” Wu, and Lin “SuJiu” Yu took home the $80,000 in prize money (from a $500,000 pool), becoming the first PGS champions. Second place went to Acend, with third being Tianba Esports.

Here’s the official word on how the tournament went down:

17Gaming had a slow start to PGS 1, surprising fans by finishing 19th in the Group Stage and falling to the Losers Bracket. Despite a relatively quiet comeback in the Losers Bracket, they showcased an overwhelming performance and balanced tactical decisions from the first match on the Day 2 of the Grand Finals, climbing to the top spot, and maintaining that position right until the last minutes of the tournament.

Acend, who also dropped into the losers bracket and squeezed into the Grand Finals by taking the last qualification spot available, finally found their game in the Grand Finals. While they didn’t get a single Chicken Dinner in the final three day stage of the tournament, five podium finishes and the highest amount of total kills got the roster to a very well deserved second place – their best performance on the global PUBG Esports scene so far.

Danawa’s leader “seoul” got the MVP award, earning (almost) two kills per match and doing well overall, though his team finished in fourth overall.

The PUBG Global Series 2 (PGS 2) is set to take place later this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between August 10th and 20th. The second series will include 24 teams from around the world, and a prize pool of $2,000,000, while also being the first PUBG Esports event to introduce the updated rules, which includes Taego being added into the Map rotation.