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PUBG and Gamers Without Borders Host $3 Million Mobile Tournament
By Shane Addinall Jul 25, 2021 EntertainmentThis weekend saw PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Gamers Without Borders host a $3 million charity tournament focused exclusively on mobile gaming. We investigate the size of mobile gaming and where this money comes from.The advent of mobile gaming is often blamed for predatory monetisation tactics like randomised loot boxes and other pay-to-win mechanics that are becoming more and more prevalent in mainstream video games.
That being said, with the advances in high bitrate streaming, high-res mobile screens and the versatility of touch screen controls it is hard to argue that mobile gaming is no longer a fringe activity but a viable arm of the industry.
Given the financial success many companies are finding with their mobile games it is also a market sector that is not going to lose momentum anytime soon.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
March 2017 saw the launch of a game entitled PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG). The game was one of the early entries into the then-fledgling Battle Royale scene.
The Battle Royale genre is a game mode where players are dropped into a war zone to do battle with enemy players. Started unarmed players scavenge for weapons and armour to outplay and outshoot their opponents.
PUBG crowned the last man standing as the winner of the match and used the old back alley craps declaration of “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” to celebrate the achievement.
The game was both a critical and financial success grabbing the attention of the gaming community and earning its developers more than $5 billion to date.
Gamers With Heart
While the appeal of PUBG waned on consoles and pc due to competition from Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone it has however continued to be a dominating force in the mobile gaming space with more than 730 million mobile downloads last month and Q1 2021 revenue in excess of $709 million.
Partnering with the leading gaming charity Gamers Without Borders, PUBG put some of that money to good use this weekend with the $3 million PUBG Mobile World Invitational (PMWI).
James Yang, Director of PUBG Mobile Global Esports, said:
“Following the success of PUBG MOBILE World League Season Zero and PUBG MOBILE Global Championship in 2020, I am excited to share that we are yet again expanding our global tournament offering with the World Invitational. We are dedicated alongside Gamers Without Borders to continuing the fight against COVID so are thrilled to announce the $3m charity donation being made as part of the tournament.”
The event saw 32 teams from around the world competing in 20 matches on a mobile video game. The teams duked it out for the honour of deciding which charities would receive a share of the $3 million prize money as a donation.
The top 16 teams and the tournament MVP, Martin from team VTM, selected UNICEF, Direct Relief, and the International Medical Corps, among others, to be the recipients of the prize money.
The charities weren’t the only ones to benefit from the event as an additional $80,000 was split equally among the top 16 teams regardless of their position on the leaderboard as a thank you from the tournament organisers for participating.
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