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The PUBG: Battlegrounds season now has its full qualification map. On March 18, 2026, the opening day of the first PUBG Global Series event of the year on Krafton's schedule, in Seoul, Krafton published its points and seed distribution for the road to the PUBG Global Championship. The post, on the publisher's PUBG Esports news page, sets out how the 24 places of the game's tournament at the Esports World Cup and the 32 places of the world championship in December are shared out, and how much each part of the season is worth.
Two changes stand out. The second half of the international circuit now counts double. And the Esports World Cup, which fed the points table in 2025, no longer awards any points of its own: it becomes a destination of the first half, not a step on the way to December.
PUBG Esports, Road to PGC: PUBG Esports 2026 Points and Seed Distribution, March 18, 2026.
Two currencies: PGS Points and PGC Points
PUBG: Battlegrounds is a battle royale, in which many squads land on the same map and score points for where they finish and for each opponent they eliminate. Krafton's season runs on two separate points tables built from those results.
PGS Points come from the PUBG Global Series, or PGS, the international circuit. It has four circuits a year of three series each, twelve events in all, numbered PGS 1 to PGS 12. Circuits 1 and 2 make up the first half of the year, PGS 1 to 6. Circuits 3 and 4 make up the second half, PGS 7 to 12. The third series of each circuit, PGS 3, 6, 9 and 12, is its Circuit Final.
Related readHow the Rainbow Six Seasonal Series ladder works for amateur teamsPGC Points come from the Regional Series, the competitions Krafton runs region by region. The post names seven: the PUBG Weekly Series in Korea, the PUBG Vietnam Series, the PUBG Americas Series, the PUBG EMEA Championship for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the PUBG Champions League in China, the PUBG Thailand Series and the PUBG Master Series for the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. Each region runs its own PGC Points system, with final standings built from cumulative 2026 points, and later events of the year award more points than earlier ones.
The roadmap Krafton released on February 9 had left this part open, with regional point system details still to be announced. The new post fills that gap.
How the PGS awards its points
Each PGS event has 24 teams, but only the top 16 score. "Only the top 16 teams earn PGS Points," the post says; places 17 to 24 receive none. Within a circuit, Series 1 and Series 2 award the same base points, and the Circuit Final awards double.
The new element is the weight of the second half. Circuits 3 and 4 award double the points of Circuits 1 and 2. When Krafton introduced the first circuit on March 3, it had said only that the later circuits would be worth more, and it gave 30 points for first place in Series 1 or Series 2 and 60 for first place in a Circuit Final. Doubling those values makes 60 for first place in a second-half series and 120 for first place in a second-half Circuit Final. A team that wins one Circuit Final in the second half therefore earns as much as a team that wins both Circuit Finals of the first half.
Related read2XKO Competitive Series will finish 2026 as Riot ends developmentResults also carry within a circuit. Seeding for each Circuit Final uses the cumulative PGS Points of that circuit's Series 1 and Series 2. The top eight go straight to the Grand Finals of the Circuit Final, and the other sixteen play a Survival Stage for the remaining places.
The composition of the field also changes at mid-season. PGS 1 to 6 bring together the twelve Global Partner Teams, the squads Krafton guarantees a place in every series, and twelve teams invited from the Regional Series, two each from Korea, Vietnam, the Americas, EMEA, China and Thailand. For PGS 7 to 12, the twelve partners are joined by twelve Regional Series Top Teams: in each of the same six regions, the two highest PGC Point earners of the first-half regional series.
Who goes to the Esports World Cup
The Esports World Cup is the multi-game event of the summer. Its 2026 edition was set for July 6 to August 23, Esports Insider reported on January 20, and Krafton's December roadmap for PUBG Mobile, as reported by the same outlet, placed it in Riyadh. Krafton calls the PUBG: Battlegrounds tournament there a first-half milestone, with 24 teams qualified over PGS 1 to 6 and the first-half Regional Series.
The 24 places split three ways. One goes to the defending champion, Twisted Minds. Nine go to the top nine teams of the first-half PGS Points table. The other fourteen go to the regions, two each, through their regional PGC Points: Korea, Vietnam, the Americas, EMEA, China, Thailand and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.
Related readRiot postpones the NLC Spring Split to late April after operator exitTwisted Minds earned that place in August 2025. The Esports World Cup's organizer reported on August 19, 2025 that the team won the PUBG: Battlegrounds title with two match wins over the six final matches, the only team to win twice, and took 1,000 points toward the event's Club Championship. The team is also one of Krafton's twelve Global Partner Teams for 2026.
The post adds a rule that cuts the link between the two events: "Note that no PGS Points will be awarded at the EWC in 2026." That is a change from 2025. Krafton's points notice of February 28, 2025 counted the Esports World Cup as part of the PGS point system that year.
Who goes to the PGC
The PUBG Global Championship, or PGC, decides the world title in December. Its 32 places are filled over the whole year, PGS 1 to 12 and the full-year Regional Series, in three groups. The top eight teams of the final PGS Points standings qualify directly. Twenty-three places go to the regions through their PGC Points. One place is new: a seed for the host country, which the post does not name.
The roadmap of February 9 had given the championship 32 teams as well, with eight by PGS Points and 24 from the Regional Series, allocated by region. The host seed now takes one of those 24, leaving 23 for the regions.
| Region and series | Esports World Cup | PGC |
|---|---|---|
| Americas, PAS | 2 | 4 |
| EMEA, PEC | 2 | 4 |
| China, PCL | 2 | 4 |
| Korea, PWS | 2 | 3 |
| Vietnam, PVS | 2 | 3 |
| Thailand, PTS | 2 | 3 |
| Rest of APAC, PMS | 2 | 2 |
| Regional total | 14 | 23 |
| Other places | Defending champion 1, PGS Points 9 | PGS Points 8, host country 1 |
PUBG Esports, Road to PGC 2026 points and seed distribution, March 18, 2026. Totals: 14 + 1 + 9 = 24; 23 + 8 + 1 = 32.
The table shows where the regions differ. Every region gets the same two places at the Esports World Cup. At the PGC, the Americas, EMEA and China get four each, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand three, and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region two. That last region is the only one with places at both events and no invited or Regional Series Top Team places in the PGS lists of the post.
Related readRiot names onethreefive gaming operator of the DACH Prime LeagueWhen a team qualifies twice
A team can finish high on both tables. Krafton's rule for the championship is that a team takes one place only.
A double qualifier hands its regional seed down
If a team qualifies for the PGC through PGS Points and also earns a regional seed, the next highest-ranked team in that region's standings receives the seed. A region does not lose a place because its best team qualified on the global table.
The same principle was already in place in 2025. That year's points notice gave the next team of a regional series the seed of a team that had also qualified through PGS Points.
From 2025 to 2026
Set beside the 2025 rules, the new system keeps its skeleton and changes its weights. In 2025, the PGS ran as four rounds with a field of 24 teams, ten Global Partner Teams and fourteen from regional competitions, Krafton's notice of February 28, 2025 said. The PGC had 33 teams, with the top eight by PGS Points invited directly and a wild card that gave one more team a direct invitation to the Grand Finals. Regional points were already weighted toward the end of the year: in the PUBG EMEA Championship, for example, first place paid 250 points in the Fall edition against 200 in the Spring, and the PUBG Americas Series used the same values for its later edition.
In 2026, the circuit grows to twelve series and two more partner places, the Esports World Cup leaves the PGS points system, the championship drops to 32 teams, and the wild card gives way to a host seed. The doubling of the late circuits puts the same end-of-year weighting on the international table.
What comes next
Points start counting with PGS 1, the first series of Circuit 1, which runs from March 18 to 22 in Seongsu, Seoul, without a live audience, followed by PGS 2 from March 26 to 29 and the Circuit Final, PGS 3, from April 2 to 5, Krafton's March 3 announcement said. The first Regional Series follow in April, according to the roadmap.
The Esports World Cup, which the roadmap places in July, takes its nine PGS Points qualifiers from the first-half table of PGS 1 to 6. The PGS Points of all twelve series and a full year of regional results then decide the 32 teams of the PGC in December.
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