PUBG Mobile is one of the most global mobile esports titles, particularly of its regional and grassroots-level National Championships. However, controversy has rocked the recently concluded PUBG Mobile National Championship (PMNC) MEA Wildcard as half the lobby has been banned for hacking.
Image Credits: PUBG Mobile Esports
Before we get into that, it’s important that the PMNC MEA Wildcard 2024, despite being an online tournament, was a very crucial affair. Teams had qualified for it through a series of online qualifiers, leading up to a group stage and then the finals. What made it an important tournament, though, was the fact that the top four teams would qualify for the official partnered league for PUBG Mobile, the PMSL which happens as a LAN event.
Despite the high stakes, hackers were able to make their way all through the finals while evading the game’s in-game hacking detection system. Here’s how it went down.
Four teams were banned during the competition while 4 more were suspended after the tournament
The PMNC MEA Wildcard kicked off on April 12 with 16 teams. The first and second days proceeded without any bans. On the third day, however, two teams were banned live early on with two more following suit in the later games.
It didn’t just end there, though. After the match, Tencent released a statement on the PUBG Mobile esports MEA Instagram, revealing that four more teams have been handed bans. This included the top two teams of the final match, FES Masters and Crash Gaming.
In the statement, Tencent revealed that the teams were banned after a thorough review process.
“These teams were found to have violated the rules and/or used illegal software to cheat. We maintain the integrity of our competitions and take such matters seriously,” the statement said (translated from Arabic).
The complete list of banned teams is as follows:
- FES Masters
- Team BIG
- Crash Gaming
- GEN NINE Team
- 83 Esports
- Storm Esports
- Team BIG
- UDR Killers
Brute Force crowned champions, but a deeper problem with PUBG Mobile hacking has been highlighted
Image Credits: PUBG Mobile Esports
After all the bans, Brute Force was crowned the champions. While the exact sanctions for the banned teams weren’t revealed, the players have likely been handed out lifetime bans in PUBG Mobile for hacking.
While it may seem like justice has been served, that isn’t the case. The eight teams in the finals could have been hacking undetected in the earlier stages of the competition as well. This would have led to the elimination of deserving players and teams, none of whom will now be able to make it to the PMSL.
Hackers continue to be a big problem in PUBG Mobile esports and situations like these would be disheartening to the entire community – especially to aspiring professional players.
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