PUBG Esports reveals details for PCS 4 and “clarifies” the ruleset

Krafton has announced the full details for the upcoming PUBG Continental Series 4. The series will consist of four regional tournaments: the Americas, Europe, Asia, and APAC. Each region has the same rough format, although the exact details differ.

PUBG Corp. is still opting out to use the adjusted Chicken Dinner Format, that received widespread criticism following PGI.S. The company even posted a special “explanation”, that got criticized even further. Tiebreakers and event winners will be decided by the team that wins the most chickens and player performance and kills only matter to resolve tiebreakers.

PCS 4 Americas united

Last year North America as Latin America was running their own series. This year, however, after testing the waters at the ESL PUBG Spring Masters, the organizers decided its a good idea to unify the two regions. The new system will naturally put one of the two regions at a disadvantage mostly due to server locations.

In the open first round up to 80 North American teams and 128 Latin American teams will play in a best of twelve over two days, with the top 32 teams in each continent – as scored by the point rule -advancing to the second round. The second and third rounds follow the same format with a point rule, best of 12 over two days, with the top 16 advancing to round 3, then the top 8 advancing to the sub-regional group stage.

In the group stages, there are 24 teams consisting of the 8 open qualifiers and 16 invited teams. these group stages are a lot longer, consisting of a best of 30 over a period of 6 days using the point rule. At the end of the group stage, the top 6 from each region advance to the grand finals, while the next 8 teams advance to the last chance qualifier. The last chance qualifier reverts to the best of 12 over two days with the point rule. It is, however, the first chance to see the Latin American teams take on the North American ones, as the qualifiers from both sub-regions are placed in a single bracket to compete for their share of the $20k prize pool. Only the top four teams will advance to the grand finals.

Grand Finals again consist of a single 32 match, 6 day, bracket for the entire Americas region. Of the 16 teams that will make it to this final stage, at least 6 will represent each sub-region as well as the 4 teams from the last chance qualifier, all of whom will compete for the lions share of the $250k prize pool. This last stage uses a different scoring scheme, the “Most Chicken” rule, which is new to this year. The most chicken rule applies significantly more emphasis on winning the chicken dinner rather than playing for points. This means that the climax of the match is at the end, not on the score screen.

PCS 4 in Rest of the World

While the Americas got the biggest change, each of the other three regions follows the same rough format with the number of rounds, scoring scheme and prize pool staying the same. The number of sub-regions, qualifying teams, and invited teams can vary by region, however.

In each region all grand final teams will receive PGC points, that can be earned across the 2021 season. These points will be used to determine the best of the best that can then compete in the PUBG Global Championship at the end of the year for a yet to be announced prize pool. Roughly all regions will play their main events between the 10-27 of June 2021. Preceding qualifier rounds vary by region and you should check PUBG Esports for specifics.

The new rule set however, is widely regarded as horrible by players, casters, viewers and pretty much everyone involved with PUBG Esports. The few decision makers that keep pushing this concept forward, seem unperceptive to any feedback.

Finally, the PUBG Pick’em challenge is back, rewarding in-game items to fans that correctly predict the outcomes of each regional tournament. Fans can vote with tokens earned by watching the tournaments or by purchasing the PCS4 themed in-game items. Thirty percent of all revenue generated from PCS4 items will also be added to the prize pool for the event.

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