NAVI, FaZe Clan, and Gen.G partner with PUBG Esports

KRAFTON, the company in charge of developing the popular Battle Royale, PUBG, has presented the list of teams they have selected to participate in the affiliate program. These teams will now be known as founding partners during the 2023 PUBG Esports season.

Starting from the next competitive season, the new system called Global Partner Team Program comes into effect. First, however, the organizers promised to conduct an annual selection for this program based on target indicators.

Team selection process

The selection process for organizations now part of the PUBG Esports partnership program began in December 2022. PUGB has revealed that the eight teams that have been granted global partner status are:

• Four Angry Men (China)
• Petrichor Road (China)
• 17 Gaming (China)
• FaZe Clan (Europe)
• NaVi (CIS)
• Twisted Minds (CIS)
• Soniqs (North America)
• G Esports (South Korea)

The application selection process had the following considerations for the applicants:

• Management level (stability, fulfillment of obligations, and management structure).
• Fan support (commitment and value)
• Track record (team structure and history in eSports)

Benefits of this partnership

Specifically, the participation of these teams in the partnership program will provide them with the opportunity to:

• Launch their own branded cosmetic items, which will be presented during the PGS.
• Receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of branded items.
• Receive invitations to PUBG Global Series LAN tournaments.

While this system was very closed, the organizers promised to offer different opportunities for regional teams to qualify for major tournaments in the season.

KRAFTON Roadmap

At the end of 2022, KRAFTON presented its Roadmap of the PUBG competitive ecosystem for 2023. The organizers planned to completely abandon the various PUBG Continental Series online tournaments to add an alternative circuit called PUBG Continental Series.

At the same time, the developers opened a “recruitment” for the partnership program, the results of which were presented today.

This will be the first time we see a partnership program for PUBG Esports. This system is similar to the one used by Riot Games with the VCT in VALORANT or the same BLAST and ESL in CS:GO. But, as in VALORANT, in PUBG, the teams will receive economic benefits through a series of in-game skins.

Moreover, these teams will have their guaranteed quota in the PUBG Global Series tournaments in April and September 2023.

KRAFTON’s most important criteria in selecting the teams were:

“The organization’s ability and willingness to participate in the PUBG Esports journey and help develop a stronger ecosystem.”

Teams not part of the PUBG Esports partnership will also have the opportunity to participate in major events through qualifying events. Additionally, the company announced that it would hold events in Asia, the Americas, APAC, and EMEA for the top regional teams to qualify for the PUBG Global Series.

Header: PUGB Esports