KRAFTON held “PUBG NEWBIE CHAMPIONSHIP (PNC),” the second in-house championship, to celebrate PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS’ transition to the free-to-play (F2P) service. The newbie employees who are so fragile like newborn deer presented a fierce competition for survival. Unlike many expected, some of them showed great performances in this tournament. Read onto the following KRAFTON blogpost about Hyejin Lee’s hands-on review of PNC, who is a real newbie both as a KRAFTON employee and as a PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS player.
People say that underdog fights are more exciting. But the organizers seemed to be unsure about proceeding the tournament only with the newbies. They assigned Goinmul coaches to each team. To prevent the Goinmul employees killing all the newbies single-handedly, they were prohibited to use any kind of weapons except for a pistol and smoke grenades. The organizers also strongly warned the coaches that if they violate the rules, they will cancel scores of the match and the coach will be sent off. Therefore, most of the coaches focused on supporting the team.
PNC was held in the custom mode where four newbies and one coach played in one team. The tournament consisted of four matches, two in Erangel and one in Miramar and in Taego, respectively. Compared to the regular PUBG Esports matches in which 64 players from 16 teams participate in, 92 players from 19 teams joined PNC.
I thought only the real newbies like me would take part in PNC because it’s literally PUBG “NEWBIE” CHAMPIONSHIP. I was also curious that what would it look like if a hundred newbies fight.
Yeonsik Choi (Culture Team) said that the fact that it was a tournament for newbies got him motivated. He has worked in KRAFTON for quite a long time, but he didn’t play PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS much. He said he recently started to have fun with the game. He never thought that he would be eligible for joining a tournament. But as PNC stipulates in its name, it’s for newbies, he signed up for it.
What encouraged Sujin Shin (Space Connect Team) was G-coin. It’s an in-game currency in PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS which the players can buy costumes and weapon skins with. She saw one of her colleagues’ wearing an adorable bear skin in the game. She liked it, so she decided to participate in the competition to earn the G-coin to buy it.
I really wondered the reason why our team coach, Minchul Kim (Service Analytics Team), volunteered for the tournament. It’s because the coaches were permitted to use only pistols and smoke grenades, I thought he would feel bored among the newbies. He said when one of his colleagues suggested him to join, he regarded this not so seriously. However, he saw other coaches preparing for the competition very hard and it made him desire to win. Eventually, he made full-fledged efforts as he did during PGC.
No one play games to lose. I realized the PNC participants were as much passionate about the tournament as those of PGC. I could see that from the team names. Some of them even made a designed logo for their team, which was like a symbol of the participants’ sincerity. We named our team as PQB. It’s the abbreviation for “Protect the Queen Bee.” Queen Bee, here, refers to me. The reason why I became a queen bee was not because I’m a valuable player, but because I’m a super newbie who needs others’ help to survive. Fortunately, I didn’t die alone, thanks to the squad mates who fought very hard and our coach who gave great orders. I really appreciate them.
To be clear, it’s a tournament for newbies and of newbies. Living up to its name, PNC presented lots of funny moments. One of the moments that I cannot forget was in the second match when a newbie player from Team “John Burr” almost killed his squad mate with extraordinary aiming skills. After the tournament was over, I asked him what exactly happened. He confessed that he was distracted by a flashbang right after he was briefed by his teammates that there’s an enemy nearby. Floundering in panic, he pulled the trigger of his rifle randomly right after he regained his sight. He said that he was really frustrated when he realized that he shot at the squad mate.
Of course, my team made so many funny moments, too. In the first match, the whole team except for the coach, was in a car. But the car was on fire, and we didn’t know it before it exploded. Four of us were wiped out at once. In the second match, all of us died outside the blue zone. Live together or die together, what a strong teamwork! Still, we all yelled, “No!” feeling empty after we were eliminated in vain. Yeonsik Choi, who was our designated driver, regretted the result more than anyone else.
Yeonsik Choi: In the early stage of the first match, we had only one vehicle to carry the entire team, and that made me so worried. Sadly, such a sense of foreboding never goes wrong. When I realized that the car was on fire and going to explode soon, I tried to tell my squad mates, but the car already gone before that. I was a bit disappointed. But I think it was a fun moment which one would expect from a group of newbies.
There was another ridiculous episode outside the game. In the morning of the match day, we came online to cram for the tournament. We also connected to a voice chat service to better communicate with the team. And the practice went well, or we believed so. It was after the third match that we realized something was wrong. Although we all knew that Sujin’s voice was very small, we just thought our audio settings were wrong. But it turned out that her microphone was off. We played the game through the third match as if there was no problem! It was absurd that we didn’t know that until then, so we couldn’t stop laughing. Everyone thought Sujin doesn’t talk much while playing games. Minchul, who wasn’t physically together with the team, said he thought Sujin was angry. On the other hand, Sujin thought we were too busy to answer her. After she realized what happened she said, “No wonder nobody responded to me!” We kept on proving ourselves as newbies!
In a moment I came into the spotlight during the live broadcasting of the tournament. The commentators found me throwing away one of the guns that I had to pick up the emergency medical technician (EMT) gear. This Tactical Gear allows the player to enhance healing capabilities and one of them is that the player can revive downed squad mates very quickly. But in fact, I was just confused about changing my gun and the gear. The commentators laughed, saying that the queen bee became a Nightingale. It was also a fun moment even to me.
My team remained in the middle of the rankings table until the third match. But thanks to Gibum Nam’s (Contents Team) amazing performance, we could take the fourth place in the end. Although we couldn’t get the Chicken Dinner in the last match as Gibum didn’t have any bullet left in the magazine in the last showdown, he single-handedly accomplished 11 kills in the match. It was a result that far exceeded our expectations. We were really excited even after everything is over. Only Gibum and Minchul seemed regretful, although they made the biggest contributions.
Gibum Nam: I still have some regrets. We could have a Chicken Dinner, if I had calmly cure myself first and reloaded the gun. I was so nervous that my hands were shaking. It’s the first time for me to make so many kills and make such a significant contribution to the team like this. I’ll definitely keep this match in a video file. (Laughter)
Minchul Kim: As I was the coach, I cannot say I’m satisfied. It was very unfortunate that I hit Yeonsik with the car and I missed one more bullet to knock down last opponent in the last match. Calculating our points, I realized that we could have won the tournament, if we had the Chicken Dinner in the last match. I feel even more regretful than in PGC.
Sujin Shin: Minchul hit Yeonsik with a car by accident when the blue zone was shrinking. In the meantime, I was running, thinking that it’s more important to keep myself alive. But Hyejin was running towards Yeonsik to revive him. I couldn’t see it, but I heard him shouting. He asked her to carry him on her back at first. But in the next moment, he started to yell, “Go! Run!” I feel like I’m still hearing his urgent voice even now. (Laughter)
It’s true that I ran to revive Yeonsik. But to be honest, I didn’t know how to carry him. In such an urgent situation, I was just confused about how to carry a squad mate. I was overambitious.
One of the reasons why we could get the unexpected result was the perfect role assignment. Sujin and I supported others while Yeonsik and Gibum did the shooting. Of course, Minchul’s quality orders played an important part.
Yeonsik Choi: We usually get overexcited while playing games. But Minchul never shouted or yelled during the tournament. He consistently gave us orders in a calm voice. I liked it.
Minchul Kim: I get easily excited, too, so I sometimes make mistakes due to impatience. In fact, I was very excited in the last match. But I knew that my team would be like a chaos, if I seemed to be overexcited. So, I pretended to be very calm.
Sujin Shin: We tried our best to stick to his order. We asked him where to go all the time. If he said nothing, we didn’t even move. (Laughter)
Not just PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, I’ve rarely enjoyed games that the players talk to others while playing. When I practiced for PNC, I’ve always played in solo. But, thanks to PNC, now I completely understand how fun it is to play games while communicating and cooperating with teammates. Also, I learned proper communication between teammates can help them achieve even greater results, although the respective players are that good at the game.
Sujin Shin: When we play PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, especially in a squad, results are not always determined only by personal skill levels. I’m a newbie, so it’s hard for me to be one of the last survivors alone. But it can change if I’m lucky to play with good teammates. If one can’t shoot well, he or she still can support others like Hyejin and I did today. I believe one of the things that make PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS a good game is that even those who are not good at it can still enjoy it altogether, and somehow make good results.
Joining PNC was a very memorable experience to all of us. I realized later that many employees enjoyed the tournament together by watching the matches through live streaming. PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, a battle royale game I’ve never tried before, now became very special to me. My squad mates who shared a precious experience with me also said that they hope PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS to be a game that even more people enjoy.
Yeonsik Choi: I hope PUBG: BATTLGROUNDS to be a game that any game player of our generation knows.
Gibum Nam: I hope more people realize that PUBG: BATTLEGOURNDS can be even more exciting when they play it together with others.
Sujin Shin: PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS seems to have an entry barrier to many newbies at first. But if you pass the barrier, I’m sure you would lose track of time enjoying it. It’s that fun. I expect even more people to play it.
Minchul Kim: I hope PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS to make a rebound not as a “hard but exciting game” but as an “exciting game” with more diverse contents that every user would like.
