PUBG and PUBG Mobile owner KRAFTON announced several important esports-related items on Monday related to its most popular gaming franchises, as well as the India-focused franchise, Battleground Mobile India.
First, PUBG Esports announced on Monday that it will bring together the esports properties of PUBG and PUBG Mobile under the banner of PUBG UNITED 2025. The first stop under this unified brand will be Bangkok, Thailand, in November, according to the brief announcement. Event details will be revealed at a later date but PUBG Esports did release this teaser trailer on Monday:
Separately, KRAFTON announced details on the BGMI International Cup 2025. The LAN competition, which is tentatively scheduled to run between Oct. 31 – Nov. 2, will feature the top eight BGMI teams from India in a competition with the top eight rosters from South Korea and Japan. The competition will have an overall prize pool of ₹1 Crore, or around $114,000 USD and Indian teams can qualify for this tournament by finishing in the top eight spots at BGMI Showdown, which takes place beginning on Sept. 18, in Hyderabad. The winner of the BGMI International Cup 2025 gets a direct invite to the Global Championship in addition to prize money.
On a related note, Krafton announced the BGMI Campus Tour 2025–2026, a competition for Tier-2 players that will focus on spotlighting grassroots competition for cities and colleges throughout India. Further details on this grassroots competition series are to be revealed at a later date, but the inaugural series in 2024 featured a total of 64 collegiate esports tournaments.
In case it wasn’t readily apparent, KRAFTON is a South Korean game developer and publisher that owns popular battle royale titles PUBG (PC), PUBG Mobile (mobile devices) and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BMGI – a special version for PUBG Mobile created specifically for the Indian market).
BMGI was created after PUBG Mobile was banned in the country twice, mainly because of claims that the game and its publisher had ties to the Chinese government and was considered a “security risk.” China has long had a contentious relationship with India because of disputes along the Sino-Indian border, though in recent weeks both China and India have gotten together to discuss border peace, trade issues, and bilateral exchanges. Following 50% trade tariffs on India from the U.S. government–a punishment for its cooperation with Russia—China stepped up to defend the country; Chinese ambassador to India Xu Feihong said on Aug. 22: “US has imposed tariffs of up to 50% on India and even threatened for more. China firmly opposes it. Silence only emboldens the bully…“