The esports game PUBG Mobile has recently been chosen as one of eight medal events for the 2022 Asian Games. When the full list of games for the Asiads was released in September, it was revealed that PUBG Mobile would be used in a “Asian Games version.”
Krafton recently confirmed that a “new version” of PUBG Mobile is being developed for Asian Games based on the PUBG IP.
PUBG Mobile strategic marketing development at Krafton, Minu Lee said that they’re excited to known that PUBG Mobile has been chosen as the official medal event at the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022, in which will bring people from all over Asia together as on and said that he’s hoping that a new version of PUBG Mobile, which they have recently developed with PUBG IP specifically for the Asian Games, will also bring fans and players together.
Krafton will be in charge of the game’s development, which was previously handled by Tencent’s Lightspeed and Quantum Studios.
It’s not surprising that a special version of the game will be created for the Asiads, which will take place in Hangzhou, China from September 10th to September 25, 2022. In China, PUBG Mobile is not available. Instead, the country has a localized version of the game called Peacekeeper Elite (also known as Game for Peace) that complies with strict regulatory laws.
The game is also unavailable in India. It was outlawed in September 2020 due to concerns about data privacy. Battlegrounds Mobile India, a separate version of the game, was later released, and it is identical to the original game.
The Asian Games 2022 will include 482 events across 40 sports. The following are the other seven esports games in the competition.
Arena of Valor Asian Games version
Dream Three Kingdoms 2
PUBG Mobile Asian Games version
Street Fighter V
Tencent, the developer of Arena of Valor, is likely to create a special version of the MOBA game for the Asian Games.
The Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF), based in Hong Kong, has been chosen by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to run esports at the Asian Games. The qualifiers, management, and operations will be handled by the federation.
This is the second time esports has been included as a medal event in an International Olympic Committee-sanctioned event (IOC). The first time was in the Philippines during the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Starcraft II, Tekken 7, and Hearthstone were all featured at this event.