In recent days, the PUBG: Battlegrounds and wider esports communities have turned their attention to the fairness dispute at PUBG Asia Stars 2026. What began as a friendly event for content creators from several countries has become an event widely seen as a failure of developer KRAFTON.
Vietnamese PUBG content creators publicly boycott the game
DjChip, one of PUBG’s best-known content creators and a coach for Vietnam’s national team at several PUBG Nations Cups, was among the first to publicly announce on his personal livestream that he would remove the game from his stream in protest against the organizers’ decision.
RAMBO, a content creator and one of the VIE team members directly connected to the incident, publicly criticized Korean streamer Soopi for taking the story too far. He said: “Instead of choosing a peaceful way to resolve the matter, you chose to invite Korean streamers and players to make videos attacking our players, Himass and TanVuu, and then lead the Korean online community into a war of insults. Everything that has happened up to now is because of that girl…”
During the same livestream, RAMBO also openly criticized KRAFTON for what he described as unfair handling of Himass and TanVuu.
On the evening of Sept. 21, 2026, leading Vietnamese gaming streamer Độ Mixi said on his personal livestream that he would remove PUBG from an upcoming personal showmatch. He also discussed unresolved issues around PUBG and several matters he said could not yet be disclosed.
PewPew, one of the streamers who helped PUBG become popular in Vietnam, made an unexpected statement shortly after midnight on Sept. 22, 2026. He called on Vietnamese viewers to petition KRAFTON to publish the final investigation result as soon as possible. His statement went directly to the dispute’s central question: how the developer would resolve a situation that appeared to be moving beyond its control. PewPew said he was disappointed with the developer despite having contributed substantially to PUBG’s growth in Vietnam.
KRAFTON’s apology leaves the Vietnamese esports community dissatisfied
Facing anger from Vietnamese fans, Soojin Yoon, the head of PUBG Publishing at KRAFTON, posted a formal public apology on the evening of Sept. 21. The statement apologized to content creators and fans for the controversy, disorder and harm caused during the operation of PUBG Asia Stars.
KRAFTON accepted full responsibility and acknowledged weaknesses in its operations and crisis response. These included failing to establish preventive rules in advance, using the softer term “chat-play” instead of clearly describing the incident, distributing inconsistent notices in Korean and Vietnamese, and failing to protect the reputations of participants.
Even after apologizing and saying it would accept the criticism, KRAFTON only confirmed violations by Himass and TanVuu. It continued to “overlook” Korean streamer Soopi, while its promises of legal support to help the affected partners “restore their reputations” were described as vague and unconvincing.
As a result, anger continued across Vietnamese esports forums and the wider Vietnamese online community.
Vietnamese PUBG organizations move to protect their players
The representative of Anyone’s Legend, Himass’s team, published a long open letter on Facebook on the evening of Sept. 21, 2026. The organization publicly defended its player and called on the community to wait for the final investigation result.
The statement by the Anyone’s Legend manager has received significant support from the Vietnamese esports community. His position throughout the incident has remained unchanged: Anyone’s Legend will protect Himass to the end.
At the same time, GAM The Expendables, TanVuu’s team, issued its own formal statement. It asked the organizers to reach a conclusion based on verified evidence, publicly explain the criteria used for the decision and apply a punishment proportionate to the conduct. The team also called on the community to stop attacking individuals and spreading unverified rumors, while reaffirming that its management was directly supporting and standing with TanVuu.
The PUBG Asia Stars fairness dispute has not cooled. In Vietnam and South Korea, attention remains focused on KRAFTON until the developer publishes the final investigation result.
