China’s 17GAMING Wins PUBG Global Series 1 in Kuala Lumpur

After 18 gruelling matches, PlayerUnknown Battleground’s (PUBG) Global Series 1 has crowned its champion: 17GAMING of China. The event is a culmination of PUBG’s Phase 1, with the entirety of the Grand Finals being held at the Battle Arena Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

Players Shengjun “Lighost” Luo, Bo “xwudd” Wu, Lin “SuJiu” Yu, and Zhanya “Xbei” Tu took home the grand prize of US$80,000. Second place went to Acend, a European e-sports gaming organisation based in Poland, while Tianba, another Chinese e-sports entity, took third place.

The winning moment was a two-player effort between 17GAMING’s “Lighost” and “xwudd,” standing off against three players of Russia’s Twisted Minds, “Perfect1ks,” “spyrro,” and “Lu.” After picking off “spyrro” and “Lu,” both 17GAMING players had “Perfect1ks” cornered with the circle closing behind him. The last Twisted Minds player tried to make a run for it, but “xwudd” caught him before he could drive off.

Several well-known e-sports institutions from the United States, Europe, and Asia participated in PUBG’s first major championship for 2023, including Ukraine’s Natus Vincere, South Korea’s Gen.G, and the U.S.’ FaZe Clan.

In the closing stages of the event, PUBG announced that Global Series 2 will go to Saudi Arabia with a prize pool that’s three times bigger, US$2 million.