esports
The PUBG Global Invitational is set to be the biggest Battlegrounds tournament ever, but to make it feel truly special it needs these great ideas.
There have been PUBG LAN events before and some of them, like IEM Oakland, have been in pretty big arenas. However, none can really compare to the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Global Invitational that's coming up at the end of the month. There's US$2m up for grabs, with 20 teams heading to Berlin to compete in both first and third-person tournaments.
Taking place at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, the stadium has a capacity of 17,000 and will be the first time that PUBG has been the sole game trying to sell out an arena of this size. This is the real test for the game's esports ambitions. No longer can it ride off the back of other titles or massive events; this is the one where it has to prove that it can bring in a big crowd and make a top-tier event.
Of course, with the success of the game itself, PUBG Corp have a ton of cash to spend on this event, and expectations are high for the company to deliver an exciting event. However, to really feel special and like a major milestone for the game, there are quite a few things we'd expect to see – along with some slightly more out-there ideas that we'd love to see.
1. A new-look stage
Arguably the one area that PUBG events so far have struggled a little is the stage set up. Back in Oakland, competitors were just thrown in booths in a massive section of the arena floor and it didn’t look great. Katowice improved it slightly and brought in the tiered system that a lot of events have since used, but for something as big as the Global Invitational, we need something that'll feel special.
With the whole arena to play with, we could see something truly special when it comes to stage design. Fitting 20 teams on there is no easy task, but depending on the style of layout, they could do something incredibly cool and different to what we’ve seen before. If they choose to use the entire area floor as a stage, like we see at The International, then we could have some awesome layouts. Maybe even have an Erangel map placed on the floor and then team’s booths positioned in locations they like to drop. For this to feel like a truly special event, we think there needs to be something a little better than just some booths stacked on top of each other, as we’ve seen before.
2. Great out-of-game content
When it comes to the big world championships, one thing that almost all organisers do well is produce great content outside of the matches. You can be sure that most events will have a joker or two on the broadcast team who will go out and entertain the fans, or will create some interesting video content to show between games – and for PUBG we think that would work even better. Just think of the interaction they could have with that amount of players on the stage!
Hiring someone like Jake ‘SirActionSlacks’ Kanner, who's from the Dota 2 scene but has worked some PUBG events before and has created some spectacular content shown between matches, would be a great move, and would keep the event flowing at a nice pace. It can take quite a while to set the matches up when it comes to PUBG, so having someone to keep the audience entertained is essential.
3. Player documentaries
As well as looking to bring on someone like Slacks, creating short documentaries starring some of the big-name players is something that almost every world championship-calibre event has done, and they offer an extra insight into the scene. Valve have crafted these for years, and they're loved by fans for the insight they offer into the lives of players that they may not get to see otherwise.
This could work especially well at the Global Invitational as there are a lot of new teams and players that fans might not know that well – and bringing them closer to the audience helps fans feel much closer to the event. And even for some of the more established names out there, this is uncharted territory for the PUBG scene, and this could go on to really make the event shine.
4. A snow map show match
While it might be a little too soon for this to happen, we’re hoping to see a little bit more of PUBG’s upcoming snow map – then again, we did get to play Sanhok when it was in its very early stages, and was nowhere near complete. And what better way to showcase the new map than with a show match between some pro teams? This would be the perfect place to show it off and you could even add some fun formats into it.
There could be a solo show match with all the players, or you could randomly draw players into duos to see some crazy pairings. Basically we have to see more of the snow map at the Invitational, and if not, there needs to be some other big announcement. A show match isn’t an easy thing to pull off in PUBG, as just scrambling the teams wouldn’t be that interesting, but adding in some new content to watch at the same time is a surefire way to make it work.
5. Add extra competition incentives
One of the disadvantages the PUBG esports scoring system has is that, technically, the battle for first place could be over by the time the final game or day rolls around. If one team dominates the early games, they can be assured victory before the event is over, which would kill the hype slightly. It’s unlikely, but it could happen.
So to make sure that every match has something on the line, adding in smaller prizes for players such as most frags in a single game, or the best frag, longest frag, or other similar award would allow those already out of the running to try and rack up some highlight reel moments as the event goes on. It’s a small addition, but if done well, could make a lot of memorable moments.
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