Virtus.pro claim top PUBG prize at Esports World Cup

YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. Virtus.pro ran away with the PUBG: Battlegrounds title at the Esports World Cup, landing the $660,000 first prize on Sunday in Paris. Virtus.pro also secured 1,000 Esports World Club points, vaulting them into second in the overall standings at 1,950 behind only Natus Vincere's 2,250. NaVi placed third in PUBG: Battlegrounds to gain 500 points and maintain their lead. Virtus.pro concluded the Grand Finals stage with 159 total points, a comfortable 33 points ahead of The Vicious in second place. NaVi ended with 124. Twenty-four teams began the PUBG tournament competing for shares of a $2.025 million prize pool. The group stage lasted from Tuesday to Thursday and saw the teams divided into three groups of eight for a round robin. The top 16 teams overall moved on to the Grand Finals and the remaining eight were eliminated. In the Grand Finals, teams played six matches per day from Friday to Sunday. Winning a match garnered a team the maximum 10 placement points, the second-place team received six, third place received five and so on down to the seventh and eighth teams receiving one point apiece. One point was also awarded for every kill. Virtus.pro finished second in Games 1 and 2 and dominated Game 4, winning top spot and adding 14 points off kills. They repeated that in Game 6 before Friday was through, prevailing with 15 kills in their column. An otherwise quiet Saturday for Virtus.pro ended with a bang as they won Game 12 (eight kills). At that point, they had a healthy advantage with 126 total points. That allowed them to cruise to victory on Sunday, collecting a third-place finish in Game 13 and second in Game 15 along the way. Croatia's Nino "NIXZYEE" Mikec of Virtus.pro won MVP honors, which came with a $25,000 bonus. Prize money was distributed at the end of both the group stage and the Grand Finals. PUBG: Battlegrounds at Esports World Cup 2026 standings (prize pool, EWC club points) 1. Virtus.pro -- $660,000, 1,000 points 2. The Vicious -- $305,000, 750 3. Natus Vincere -- $213,000, 500 4. Team Falcons -- $145,000, 300 5. Team Vitality -- $106,000, 200 6. Geekay Esports -- $78,000, 150 7. Gen.G Esports -- $57,000, 100 8. Twisted Minds -- $57,000, 50 9. Made in Thailand -- $52,000, no points 10. T1 -- $46,000, no points 11. 17 Gaming -- $37,500, no points 12. FULL SENSE -- $28,500, no points 13. Team Liquid -- $31,500, no points 14. AGAL International -- $26,000, no points 15. GAM Esports -- $29,500, no points 16. Shadow Esports -- $20,000, no points 17. JD Gaming -- $17,000, no points 18. SOOPers -- $16,000, no points 19. R8 Esports -- $15,000, no points 20. Sharper Esports -- $14,000, no points 21. Team Nemesis -- $13,000, no points 22. TYLOO -- $12,000, no points 23. Petrichor Road -- $11,000, no points 24. Four Angry Men -- $10,000, no points --Field Level Media