Warning indicators are rising in Vietnam’s PC service and esports ecosystem for PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS.
First, the continued PUBG Vietnam Sequence 2026 Part 2 (PVS) vanished from the official PUBG Esports event schedule, adopted by the consecutive deactivation of PUBG’s official social media channels working in Vietnam. Though this unfolded shortly after the current PUBG Asia Stars 2026 controversy involving Vietnamese gamers, separate issues have re-emerged regionally concerning PC PUBG working in Vietnam with out an official service license.
PVS is the highest regional esports event for PUBG in Vietnam. This yr’s Part 2 was scheduled to run from September 4 to October 4, with roughly half of the schedule already accomplished. Nevertheless, on September 23, PVS Part 2 disappeared from the event schedule on the official PUBG Esports web site. Whereas cached pages on engines like google nonetheless checklist PVS as an ongoing occasion, the newest stay web page confirms the event has been eliminated.
It isn’t simply the event that has vanished. The “PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS VIETNAM” YouTube channel, together with the official Instagram and Fb pages operated by Krafton as native official channels in Vietnam, have additionally been deactivated. Previous PUBG Esports bulletins for worldwide broadcasts explicitly listed these YouTube and Fb channels as Vietnam’s official retailers. Notably, earlier than suspending its exercise, the official Vietnamese Fb web page directed customers to go to the official world web site, PUBG.COM, for future game-related info.
Timing-wise, this coincides with the controversy over Vietnamese gamers accessing exterior info throughout matches on the current PUBG Asia Stars 2026. Following an investigation, Krafton acknowledged that Himass and TanVuu accessed exterior info throughout gameplay and issued penalties, together with everlasting account bans and everlasting disqualification from official PUBG esports competitions. Amid ongoing backlash from the Vietnamese PUBG group, adjustments to PVS and native official channels quickly adopted. Nevertheless, Krafton has not said that the elimination of PVS or the deactivation of Vietnamese channels have been actions taken as a direct results of that incident.
On the similar time, a extra basic problem has been raised in Vietnam. Native media outlet VietNamNet reported that the PC model of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS is working in Vietnam with out official launch authorization. The one PUBG title legally licensed for operation in Vietnam is PUBG Cellular, operated by VNGGames, whereas the PC model—provided globally by way of Steam and different platforms—has not gone by means of native official licensing procedures.
Till now, Vietnamese gamers have accessed PC PUBG by means of world platforms comparable to Steam and the Epic Video games Retailer. Though there was no devoted native writer or separate Vietnamese consumer, gamers might hook up with world servers, permitting official esports occasions, together with PVS, to run constantly on this basis. In essence, the ecosystem grew with the sport’s official native publishing and its regional esports operations remaining functionally separate.
The truth is, PVS was operated independently from the sport’s publishing inside Vietnam. Whereas PVS was built-in into Krafton’s official aggressive circuit, native esports company 500Bros dealt with event manufacturing and administration. 500Bros has been concerned in producing PVS since 2020 and continued because the event organizer in subsequent seasons. In different phrases, even with out Krafton instantly publishing the PC model in Vietnam, a construction remained in place to host devoted esports tournaments by means of an area companion.
The event format aligned with this association. PVS has been performed on-line for a number of current seasons, with 500Bros specifying the format as “On-line” for PVS 2023. Match information for 2024 and 2025 equally checklist occasions as on-line competitions. With out servicing a separate Vietnamese recreation consumer or sustaining a everlasting large-scale offline venue, organizers have been capable of construct a regional league across the world PC title. Nevertheless, working tournaments on this method doesn’t resolve native licensing and regulatory necessities for recreation companies.
Below Vietnamese regulation, video games distributed by way of international platforms are usually not exempt from native rules. Vietnam’s on-line gaming legal guidelines require enterprise {qualifications} and particular person recreation launch approvals for working sure forms of video games, making use of these guidelines even when international operators present cross-border companies to Vietnamese customers. Merely providing a worldwide model on Steam doesn’t grant an exemption from native licensing guidelines.
Vietnamese authorities have repeatedly raised this problem prior to now. The federal government has constantly taken problem with international video games distributed with out authorization on platforms such because the App Retailer, Google Play, and Steam. In 2024, after demanding compliance from Valve, entry to the Steam retailer and fee options was blocked on sure native ISPs. Nevertheless, as a result of these actions didn’t fully block already-installed video games from launching or lower off entry to international servers, international titles together with PUBG continued to be performed in Vietnam.
Not too long ago, the potential of structural adjustments to this setup has emerged. Citing native sources, VietNamNet reported that Vietnamese authorities are contemplating measures to dam unlicensed PC PUBG extra comprehensively. Mixed with the elimination of PVS from the official event schedule and the deactivation of the official Vietnamese YouTube, Instagram, and Fb channels inside a brief interval, issues are rising regionally that each the PC service and regional PUBG esports operations in Vietnam could possibly be halted solely.
So far, neither Krafton nor Vietnamese authorities have formally introduced the shutdown of PVS or the withdrawal of PC PUBG from Vietnam. It stays unconfirmed whether or not the adjustments to PVS and official channels are instantly linked to the participant controversy at PUBG Asia Stars 2026 or stem from native licensing and regulatory points. Nonetheless, it’s clear that Vietnam’s PC PUBG ecosystem—which grew for years on world platforms with out formal native publishing—is dealing with vital disruption throughout each recreation operations and esports.
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