E-sports 

HÀ NỘI — The Expendables of Việt Nam have become the new world champions of the PUBG Global Championship (PGC) 2024, after an outstanding victory on December 22 in Malaysia.

It was the first time a Vietnamese team had reached the top of the e-sport game, which was known as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

The Expendables were one of two representatives of Việt Nam at the Kuala Lumpur tournament, rated as high as Cerberus Esports.

Their stand-out performance in the first two days of competition helped them to be in the top six with 73 points to qualify for the finals.

With 36 points fewer than the leading team T1 from South Korea, The Expendables were not favourites for the title. 

However, their brilliant show on the last day changed everything.

While the top three gamers – T1, TSM and Virtus Pro – fell below their peak performances, The Expendables won two out of six games in a row to steal the leading position.

In a final decisive game, they faced the powerful Kwangdong Freecs of South Korea for the championship title.

In a thrilling final, players TanVuu and Clories shone brilliantly, helping Việt Nam take the win and wrap up the tournament with the equivalent of an earthquake in the e-sports' world. 

The Expendables topped the leaderboard with 141 points, two more than two runners-up Kwangdong Freecs and TSM.

Cerberus Esports finished at No 18 place.

The title brought them a huge award of US$500,000 and a custom-designed skin (outfits, shoes, masks, and protection devices), while player Clories was voted MVP of the championship winning a $10,000 bonus. 

Clories, whose real name was Nguyễn Long Hảo, played professional e-sport for DD18 team in 2018. The 21-year-old moved many different teams before signing for The Expendables in March.

The PUBG Global Championship is the highest-level tournament of the PUBG e-sport world.

This game's tournament system uses accumulated scores at PGS (PUBG Global Series) events and Esports World Cup to select 24 teams to participate in the world finals. 

PUBG, a survival shooting game, was released in beta in 2017 by the South Korean company Krafton. It was initially a paid version but became a free game for all users in 2022.

The Expendables' latest win wrapped up a successful season for the Vietnamese PUBG community. 

Earlier, Cerberus won the Global PUBG E-sports Tournament from the APAC region and a $100,000 bonus in May in China.

The national team of Việt Nam secured the PUBG Nations Cup 2024's fourth place and $40,000 in September in South Korea. — VNS