The PUBG Global Invitational.S was supposed to be the first major LAN esports tournament to take place in 2021, but some recent complications brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced the organizers to pivot slightly.
Instead of being entirely run as a LAN in South Korea, the PGI.S will now be an event with both online and LAN elements.
Krafton and the PUBG esports team are still offering to fly teams to South Korea who are hosted outside of the tournament region that would have a less than ideal internet connection to compete. Other teams located within the same region, such as China, Japan, and Chinese Taipei, will compete from their usual locations since the connection will still be stable.
This decision has been made to try and minimize risks for competing teams while still providing a fair and equal competitive environment for the event.
“Teams who have already made the trip to PGI.S have been safely quarantined, following the national quarantine guidelines and are currently in the isolation facility for next two weeks before the tournament begins,” PUBG said. “We know none of this is ideal for a global tournament but unfortunately the current world situation means we have to think outside the box in order to keep running such events. Still, safety and fairness remain our top goals as we work to bring you the biggest PUBG tournament yet.”
The PUBG esports team also notes that there will be enhanced anti-cheat monitoring and other measures put into place for the entirety of the PGI.S, which is set to run from Feb. 8 to March 28.
