PUBG esports director quits, esports community airs frustrations

Olivia Richman Published 25/12/2019

PUBG Corp.’s director of esports has stepped down.

Jake “TheJaker” Sin announced on Twitter that he is leaving the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds team after a year. He wished his former team nothing but the best as they “continue the venture with the overhauled structure.”

“I’m leaving PUBG. I’m incredibly proud of what my small team was able to accomplish in just one year of existence. Of course there are many things I wished were done better, but they would have required committing company-wide resources well beyond my reach,” Sin said in a tweet.

Sin assured people that in spite of his departure, he was still hopeful that PUBG would succeed as an esport.

While Sin doesn’t have any concrete future plans to share with his followers, he did inform PUBG fans that he is hoping to continue his involvement with the esports community. But most of the responses Sin received on his Twitter indicate that the esports community is hoping he’s leaving the scene for good.

One Twitter user compiled a collection of tweets from esports organizations that left PUBG’s competitive scene this year.

“Have to agree with this,” another follower added. “How about an apology to all the players who worked their asses off and still got dropped by their org because of PUBG Corp’s failures? Of course we can’t know who was really at fault from the outside but I don’t think there’s much to celebrate here.”

Tempo Storm, one of the organizations that let go of their PUBG roster, openly blamed PUBG Corp. for the loss of their PUBG squad.

“This was one of the best rosters we’ve ever fielded. We’re incredibly disappointed to have to release them. The team won almost every possible event, and the players did everything right. Really disappointed in PUBG Corp here,” Tempo Storm tweeted, referring to the lack of an official PUBG pro league and better support for its competitive scene.

PUBG has done a spotty job of focusing on the competitive side of the game. In fact, many esports teams have admitted they are not even sure what they are doing in the game in 2020. The developer has put most of its focus on mobile gaming, not offering a lot of support or communication for its other platforms. With over $1.3 billion in revenue this year for PUBG Mobile alone, it’s not much a surprise that the company has shifted its focus in this way.

Esports industry questions PUBG as competitive title

OpTic Gaming’s owner said at the end of 2018 that he didn’t see PUBG succeeding as an esport title, comparing it to the failure of fellow battle royale H1Z1. He blamed his weariness on the PUBG league’s “lack of communication” with players.

Around the same time, former Counter Strike: Global Offensive player Michael “shroud” Grzesiek joked on a live Twitch stream that PUBG would never be a proper esports game due to the game’s RNG.

“That’s PUBG. We got every single fucking circle four fucking times in a row. We did not have to move. that’s why this game is not an esport. That was terrible,” shroud said.

Other esports fans and outlets speculated that PUBG wouldn’t be successful due to the game’s many glitches and bugs. But such technical issues haven’t stopped Fortnite, and to a lesser extent Apex Legends, from continuing to dominate the battle royale competitive scene.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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