Games of the Future 2026

PTG Database Analysis

Games of the Future Astana 2026 ran July 29–August 9 across eight phygital disciplines. Kazsportinvest JSC was the local organizing and delivery authority, supported by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Astana’s Akimat; Phygital International held the event rights. The program brought together video games and physical competition across four Astana venues. Organizers reported more than 800 participants from over 50 nationalities and a prize pool exceeding USD 4 million.[3][4][7][18][19]

The discipline calendar was: Phygital Basketball, July 29–August 3, at Qazaqstan Athletics Sports Complex; Battle Royale PUBG: Battlegrounds, July 31–August 2, at Beeline Arena National Tennis Center; MOBA PC Dota 2, August 2–5, at Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov Martial Arts Palace; Phygital Shooter CS2, August 4–8, at Beeline Arena; Phygital Football UFL, August 4–9, at Qazaqstan; MOBA Mobile MLBB, August 6–9, at Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov Martial Arts Palace; Phygital Dancing, August 6–7, at Barys Arena; and Phygital Fighting, August 8, at Qazaqstan.[10][11][12][15][14][13][16][17]

Samruk-Kazyna was the title sponsor and SportQory an official sponsor. The event’s seven general sponsors were Halyk Fund, Yandex Go, Freedom Holding Corp., Solidcore Resources, Alatau City Bank, Bank CenterCredit and Kazzinc. The official project partners included Beeline, BI Group, TransTelecom (TTC), Lancaster Group, Kazakhmys, Kazakhtelecom, Air Astana and MUN Global. Several of these partners also presented individual disciplines.[8]

Eight champions were crowned: 17 Gaming in Battle Royale PUBG: Battlegrounds, Wilders in Phygital Basketball, Playtime Dota 2 in MOBA PC, Franco Vitali in Phygital Dancing, Team KZ in Phygital Shooter CS2, Archangel Michael in Phygital Fighting, NS Team in Phygital Football UFL, and Bigetron by Vitality in MOBA Mobile MLBB. The Dota 2 standings placed Yakult Brothers Dota 2 second, Team Resilience Dota 2 third, Rune Eaters Dota 2 fourth, and GLYPH Dota 2, Xtreme Gaming Dota 2, VICI GAMING Dota 2 and LGD Gaming Dota 2 fifth–eighth; Rekonix Dota 2, Zero Tenacity Dota 2, Yellow Submarine Dota 2 and Execration Dota 2 ninth–twelfth; and Amaru Gaming Dota 2, Enjoy Dota 2, L1GA TEAM Dota 2 and Midas Club Dota 2 13th–16th. The official standings use the name LGD.Pinghu for the fifth–eighth place entry.[4][6][12] The PUBG table also placed Team Vitality third, Team Falcons sixth, Anyone’s Legend seventh, T1 10th, JD Gaming 12th, and Virtus.pro 15th. In MLBB, ONIC Esports finished second, Aurora Gaming third, FUT Esports fifth–eighth, and Team Spirit ninth–12th.[22]