PUBG Esports gets major 2027 overhaul with new regions and partnership model

KRAFTON, the company behind batte royale title PUBG: Battlegrounds, has outlined how its esports scene will work in 2027. The changes affect how teams qualify for the PUBG Global Series (PGS), the main global tournament series, and for the year-ending PUBG Global Championship (PGC).

The first and most visible change is how the competitive map itself is drawn. Currently, teams compete in a handful of large regional groups. In 2027, some of those will be broken into smaller ones.

• The EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) will be split into three regions: Europe, Eurasia and MENA (Middle East and North Africa).
• The Americas region will be split into North America and South America.
• India will be added as a new competitive region.

Each region will hold its own Regional League. A team’s results in its Regional League decide whether it advances to the PGS.

Apart from the new regions, Krafton has also made couple of changes to its partnership programme. To date, the Global Partner Team (GPT) programme has operated as a partnership between KRAFTON and a group of selected teams. From 2027, it will shift to focus on collaborations involving in-game items and marketing. Notably, GPT teams will no longer receive guaranteed slots at PGS. They will have to earn a place through Regional League results, like every other team. Krafton said more details on the new partnership will be announced later.

Alongside this, the way teams collect points over the year is also being reworked. PUBG Esports Points will replace the current points systems. Previously, there were two kinds of points: PGC Points, earned from Regional League results, and PGS Points, earned from PGS results.

Under the new system, points will be earned only from PGS performance. These points add up over the year and count toward qualifying for the PGC. In short, the Regional Leagues decide who gets into each PGS, while PGS results build a team’s total for the year-end championship. Krafton said it will announce how points are distributed and how PGC qualification works at a later date.

Putting all of these pieces on a calendar, the company also shared a rough timeline for the year. The year will start with Regional Leagues, with the PUBG Nations Cup (PNC) in the middle and the PGC at the end:

The company has not yet released the schedule and format for each Regional League, the exact points distribution, the PGC qualification rules or the details of the new partnership programme. KRAFTON also said a new look for PUBG Esports is planned and that more updates will follow as 2027 approaches.