Team Korea did not participate in Day 2 matches of 'PUBG Asia Stars 2026', a PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS event tournament hosted by Krafton. They skipped the day two schedule held on the 19th as a boycott protesting tournament management.
Team Korea was identified as the opponent affected by the external information influx on the first day, and Vietnam (VIE) region participants 'HIMASS' and 'TANVUU', who were at the center of the controversy, had already been excluded from the remaining matches. In effect, the victimized party departed the tournament after the disciplinary measure was taken.
The trigger for the withdrawal was the apology published by the two participants. Streamer Kim Seong-tae, who participated as part of Team Korea, stated that prior to the apology being posted, he had received firm assurances from Krafton that the Vietnamese side would publish an apology admitting to stream sniping. "Stream sniping" refers to the act of watching an opponent's broadcast stream while playing during a match.
The published apology contained no such admission. The two participants wrote that during the match, they kept live chat open on a secondary monitor to communicate with viewers, and in the process of reading chat, they received "some" external game information. This amounted to so-called "chat sniping"—playing while reading viewer chat. Upon verifying this, Kim Seong-tae declared a boycott on his stream, stating, "Everyone, I'm not participating."
What the apology admitted were only two things: keeping chat open and receiving information. Regarding whether they actually used the received information in gameplay, it phrased it as "it may have unintentionally given us an advantage and may have affected other teams." The statement stated as fact that information was received, while leaving its actual utilization hypothetical. The apology contained no details on what information was received, how many times, or in which matches.
The subject of the apology was also not the misconduct itself. The two wrote, "We sincerely apologize for failing to exercise sufficient caution in this situation." Added to this was the sentence, "At the time of the match, we understood that this was not prohibited by tournament rules, and before the tournament, there were no specific guidelines or rules addressing this situation." By establishing the premise that there were no rules, all that remains is the responsibility of failing to exercise duty of care—a share of which shifts back to the organizers who failed to establish the rules.
Krafton's announcement stopped at the same boundary. The second announcement described the matter only as "an issue regarding fairness and the use of external information raised after Day 1 matches," without disclosing whether a rule violation had been confirmed. While excluding the two participants from the remaining matches, it stated that the measure was "implemented within the immediately applicable scope to ensure fairness for the remainder of the tournament, and does not mean this matter has been concluded." The final judgment was deferred to further investigation.
Both parties capable of defining the nature of the act have stepped aside. The involved players admitted only to carelessness, while the organizer deferred a definitive ruling. Officially, the only remaining fact is that the two participants received external game information.
Reactions within the gaming community suggest that Krafton may be treading lightly around Vietnam. Vietnam's share in PUBG esports is cited as rationale. In an August 2025 South Korea-Vietnam cultural industry cooperation meeting, Krafton identified Vietnam as a growth engine for PUBG esports. Data presented at the event showed peak concurrent viewership for PNC 2025 reached 818,020, with Vietnamese channels accounting for 58.1%. Vietnamese viewership was tallied at 504,251, up 97.7% from the 2024 tournament.
This is further highlighted by the fact that the initial announcement withheld the region and participants, that specific names were revealed only after user backlash, and that both announcements avoided confirming a violation. Similarly, while the phrase "certain regions" in the first announcement delayed identification, it placed the remaining unspecified regions under suspicion as well.
Streamer Oah, who participated in the tournament, stated on stream: "The players who demanded fairness have 'withdrawn,' but the voices of fans demanding truth cannot be erased to the end. A game without fairness has no future. Please issue immediate and official severe penalties to the players who desecrated the tournament, and post an acceptable official apology to the victimized players and deceived fans."
