Gamescom hosted PUBG’s first invitational tournament in August 2017.
The event was the Gamescom PUBG Invitational, held at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, from August 23 through August 26, 2017. It was PUBG’s first major offline LAN invitational and helped establish the game as a potential esports title only months after its Steam early-access debut.
Bluehole and ESL presented the tournament, which brought together 80 players, influencers, and selected Gamescom attendees. Competitors played across several formats, including solo, duo, first-person duo, and squad matches. Winners were determined through scoring across three matches in each format rather than through one single winner-take-all game.
The tournament carried a $350,000 prize pool, a striking figure for a game still in early access. It also helped popularize PUBG as a spectator game, although the event exposed logistical and technical challenges involved in running large battle-royale competitions. DreamHack, PAX West, and E3 hosted many gaming events, but none was the venue for this first PUBG invitational.