Dplus KIA makes history at PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2024
The PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2024 was conducted from October 31 to November 8, with the initial stages taking place in Kuala Lumpur before moving to the bright lights of London for the Grand Finals. It ended as one of the game's most successful events, continuing the esports' recent viewership resurgence.
The tournament witnessed 48 of the best PUBG Mobile teams from across the globe duke it out for a total prize pool of $3 million, the highest ever awarded for an esports event in the UK. In the end, it was Dplus KIA who emerged victorious, edging Regnum Carya Bra Esports to become the first side to win multiple world titles in this battle royale shooter.
As seen in the most popular matches, the Grand Finals was a pretty intense ride for the participants and fans. In fact, it went down to the wire, with Dplus winning the final round of this stage to come out on top by a solitary point and bring the World Championship back to South Korea, which became the third nation with multiple PUBG Mobile world titles after China and Turkey.
There was very little to separate the top two, with both clinching three Winner Winner Chicken Dinners. The final result will be excruciating for Regnum Carya, which was in the lead heading into Round 18 but finished sixth to hand the title to Dplus.
The Turkish esports organization even picked up 100 eliminations, the only side to do so in the Grand Finals, but one bad game when it mattered the most took away a surefire win. The one-point gap between first and second was the closest finish of any edition of the PUBG Mobile Global Championship, with the previous record being four points at the PMGC 2021: League - East and the PMGC 2023.
Regnum Carya did pocket a total purse of $255,250 to provide some consolation for a great run over the past five weeks. Meanwhile, the tournament winner earned $457,250, helped by its MVP wins and various podium finishes across the four phases.
There was tons of action even in the earlier stages, with Indonesian fans especially vocal about its representatives, VOIN DONKEY ID and Bigetron Knights. The latter's journey was especially followed back home, with its win in the final round of the Last Chance Stage attracting massive Indonesian interest but not being enough to qualify for the Grand Finals.
All this also meant that the Grand Finals, an in-person affair at the Excel Auditorium in London, witnessed a healthy crowd of around 4,000 spectators turn up to support the sides. Fans were also treated to a Showmatch involving players from each of the 16 organizations in the Team Deathmatch mode, with Team Spirit's KnowMe victorious.
Viewership statistics from the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2024
This PUBG Mobile competition recorded 928K Peak Viewers during the last round of the Grand Finals. This was just 5.6% less than in 2023, meaning the previous two editions have notched the series' highest PV numbers since the inaugural season.
The PMGC 2024 also registered 28.4M Hours Watched and 287.4K Average Viewers over an airtime of 99 hours. The former figure makes it the fourth-most-watched competition in the game's history, although it is the only one among the three PMGCs in this top four not to surpass the 100-hour airtime mark.
Among languages, Nepali saw spikes of 33.6% and 76% in its watch time and peak concurrent viewership, respectively, from the 2023 iteration. With the sudden addition of 4Merical Vibes to the Grand Final line-up after the failure of Brute Force to obtain a visa, fans from the landlocked nation showed renewed interest in proceedings.
This helped the Nepali streams emerge as the second most-watched language cumulatively at the PMGC 2024, just about beating English. Fans were not left disappointed, with the side finishing seventh on the final table to take home a healthy $95,000 and back up its fourth-place finish from the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2023.
The event also found the most viewers on YouTube, with TikTok continuing to grow its presence in esports on the back of a highly active Asian user base. The organizers also used Facebook promo streams, making it the most popular live-streaming service for fans to catch the action, especially among Asian audiences.
Towards the end of the proceedings, viewers were given a look at the PUBG Mobile Esports 2025 roadmap. As per the organizers, PUBG Mobile Esports will invest over $10 million into prize pools, third-party tournament incentives, female-focused events, and more.
James Yang, Senior Director of PUBG Mobile Global Esports, also noted that widening opportunities for amateur players so that they can rub shoulders with pros was a priority. Hence, next year’s circuit will see more than 20 regional tournaments across SEA, EU, MEA, CSA, and the Americas, offering pathways to global, high-stake competitions.
Speaking of tournaments, the PUBG Mobile Super League (PMSL) and the PUBG Mobile Global Open (PMGO) were confirmed for next year, with the latter scheduled for Spring 2025 in Uzbekistan. Finally, it was disclosed that the PMGC 2025 Grand Finals will take place in Thailand, with the game once again set to feature at the Esports World Cup in the summer of 2025 in Saudi Arabia.
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