PUBG Mobile Club Open attracts 80,000 teams and all the cheaters

Last weekend, during the PUBG World League, the first details and schedules for the fall split of the PUBG Mobile Club Open were revealed. PMCO gives semi-pro and skilled amateur teams the chance to compete at a high level against others of their skill-tier.

There will be a total of 16 different PMCO events around the world. Qualifiers for most have already finished, and history was made, with over 80.000 teams signing up. There have never been more players participating in the event, or any esports qualifier for that matter.

PMCO 2020 Format

With the qualifiers completed, the 16 regions will be moving into first a group stage. The format is standardized across all regions. Teams are divided into groups playing a round robin format of 12 matches. In each stage of the tournament one “group” of worst performers gets eliminated until only 16 teams remain. The strongest 16 play in the Finals for prize money and a ticket to the PUBG Mobile Pro Leagues, and the PMWL – the PUBG Mobile World League.

The 16 regions are as follows: North America, LATAM, Brazil, Iraq, South Asia, India, Pakistan, Wildcard, Europe, CIS, Middle East, SEA Wildcard, Turkey, Germany, Egypt, Saudi Arabia. These regions will be competing across the split for three weeks each – North America, LATAM, Brazil, and Iraq kick it off on August 11^th to August 30^th, while the other regions start later – the last ones are Turkey, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt – they start on September 22^nd and finish on October 11^th.

Cheaters at PMCO Qualifiers

After the huge number of registrations, roughly 300-400.000 players from around the world, the PUBG developers ran some much-needed checks. Its no secret, PUBG Mobile has always attracted its fair share of cheaters, and the first wave of bans took at least 531 teams out of play – they were permanently banned from playing and disqualified from the tournament.

PUBG Mobile developers did not release a list of names or player handles to the public – they did however say that the teams were banned automatically by their anti-cheat software Ban Pan, and the banned parties likely modified game files, which is one of the most easily recognized ways to cheat. It’s still a mystery to us why players would ruin their gaming careers by cheating and why they even attempt it.

© PUBG Mobile

The PMCO appeal

In addition to bragging rights and the chance to qualify for higher-tier competitions and tournaments, there is also a substantial prize up for grabs. The total prize pool is set at $1million, and  will be spread across the PUBG Mobile Club Open 2020 regions.

PUBG Mobile is growing exponentially and putting mobile esports in the spotlight. PUBG Esports also unveiled a new point scoring system a few days ago, but this event series will still use the old one. The PUBG Pro Leagues and the World League will follow the new point system later this year. The latest change will reduce the point gap between first and second place, making it easier for the second-placed teams and players to stay competitive while forcing the first placed ones to keep fighting, rather than letting them rest on their laurels.

The decision however, is proof that PUBG Corp. is determined to make mobile esports mainstream, as they continually tweak their competitive system. If you want to watch the event, you can do so on YouTube. All official matches will be streamed on the official PUBG Mobile Esports YouTube.

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