PUBG Mobile gears up for its second World Cup kicking off at the end of July in Riyadh

We recently covered the Honor of Kings 2025 World Cup, but now it's the turn of the PUBG Mobile World Cup, although there may be a bit of a copy-and-paste job involved. You see, it will also be held in Riyadh as part of the Esports World Cup, and the prize pool is, again, $3,000,000.

That number is even more impressive when you remember that the PMWC only debuted last year, so Krafton is really investing in this. Only one team can take home the lion's share, and they will need to battle through two stages before emerging triumphant in the Grand Final. But let’s slow it down a bit first. 

This year's tournament will be using a refreshed SMASH ruleset, which unfortunately does not mean someone will be pulling Kirby out of their pocket. Under these rules, a team must reach the match point, determined by the top team's score after Day two plus 10 points, and then win a match to claim the title. If this doesn’t happen within 18 matches, then it goes to whoever has the most points overall.

The Group Stage will start the action on July 25th, lasting until the 27th. 24 teams have been seeded into five pools and then drawn into three groups: Red, Green, and Yellow. These teams fought their way here through a host of regional leagues, including the Super League and the Challengers League. Some also got invites, so we root against them, so lazy.

The top eight teams from the Group Stages will secure entry to the Grand Finals, but it isn’t over for the rest. On July 29th and 30th, the remaining 16 will duke it out in the Survival Stage, my favourite time of the tournament. We can expect some desperate, adrenaline-filled struggles here, and the eight victors here will also advance to the Grand Finals. 

These 16 teams will then compete for the main prize at the Grand Finals, taking place from August 1st to 3rd. That is still a while away, though, so you might as well download PUBG Mobile from the App Store and Google Play to tide yourself over.