Gaming
Esports
Why ESL decided to bring PUBG to IEM Oakland
Michal ‘Carmac’ Blicharz explains why IEM is the right choice for PUBG and how they are improving the spectator experience.
For what is really the first time ever, a massive PUBG LAN event comprised of the best players in the world will take place this weekend at the Intel Extreme Masters Oakland. Sure, there was the Gamescom Invitational, but that was a mix of big name streamers and personalities playing against the pros, so this is the first true merit based competition, with the best players out there.
It perhaps came as a surprise that IEM Oakland would be the choice for a big PUBG event. There is after all already a stacked CS:GO competition taking place, and space is sure to be limited inside the Oracle Arena. Then when you factor in the limited time the ESL team have had to improve upon the broadcast setup from Gamescom, which was perhaps the biggest issue of the event, and this seemed like a pretty strange choice. But to the victor, the spoils (and the chicken dinner), as they say.
To find out why they decided to bring PUBG to IEM, and how the ESL team have tried to improve things from the Gamescom event we chatted to Michal ‘Carmac’ Blicharz, the vice-president of Pro Gaming at ESL.
Why did ESL decide to have PUBG at a Intel Extreme Masters event and not at, say, an ESL One event?
IEM has always been an experience with multiple tournaments under one roof – that’s been something we did for the last 12 years at nearly every venue. Originally, IEM Oakland was intended to be a single game event, but the amazing success of PUBG really turned our heads. The rate at which PUBG is growing is incredible and impossible to ignore.
Is this just a one off thing, or are we likely to see PUBG as a regular feature on the IEM circuit going forward?
It’s a one off thing that could turn into a regular feature. It’s hard to plan out a 18-24 road map for a game that hasn’t really had a fully competitive tournament, with professional teams that are there because they qualified and not because they’re famous. We will see what happens this weekend. But does it seem like the future is bright for PUBG? Absolutely!
How different will this tournament be compared to the Gamescom Invitational?
It will be different in that it will have a much stronger focus on the competitive aspect of the game, as opposed to having influencers play and showcase the game in an entertaining fashion. Both approaches are viable, of course, but at this event the primary goal is to showcase the highest possible level of PUBG. That’s why, for example, we had both invitations and qualifiers.
Why did you decide to do it in the first person mode and not third person?
It’s pretty plain to see that this is where the high level, competitive players gravitated to. FPP takes more skill. Every gamer in the world knows that!
The IEM Sydney arena
© ESL/Helena Kristiansson
How difficult is it to set up a playing area that can hold all the players? It’s a few more than most esports events have playing at one time.
It’s challenging, yes, but at the end of the day it’s just a bigger LAN party. If you put more people towards it and have enough time, that is all doable. It’s challenging in the amount of time that we have to set up, but it’s at a level of difficulty that isn’t scary to us at all.
PUBG is notoriously difficult to watch in an esports sense, because of how much is going on at one time. How is your spectating set up going to work?
We have the commentary team with jobs compartmentalized quite well, and a director to manage them. So, for example, we can show an overview of a battle that’s about to happen from third person and then seamlessly jump into a four-way-split of POV shots of an entire squad. And then we can go to another situation and do the same thing relatively quickly.
The production team has put in a lot of practice to get to the required level of coordination, to pick up the right experience and see how it pans out in general. We’re not going to be focused on getting every single kill in the game. We will be focused on storytelling instead, as that will ultimately be more engaging for the audience.
How popular do you think PUBG will be compared to CS:GO; is most of the crowd coming to watch the CS or do you think a big chunk is coming for PUBG?
I think it will be around 50/50. There is an overlap in the audience, so I can easily see people migrating from one area to another depending on what is currently going on.
Which teams should we look out for at the event? Who is your pick to win?
I’m not allowed to have favourites, but for CS:GO I would definitely put my eyes on G2, SK Gaming, and FaZe Clan, since those teams have each won an Intel Grand Slam level event. If one of those teams wins here, they’ll be halfway to winning themselves a million dollars.
As for PUBG, I think the competition is wide open. The stars in this game are yet to be made and IEM Oakland should be the first event that will help us find out who the truly best PUBG players are. We all have a vague idea, but no one’s certain yet. That’s very exciting!
