Mongolian organization IHC Esports wins PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2023

13 December 2023

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, more widely known as simply PUBG, has been a major title in international esports for a while now, but in the past few years, no region in the world managed to consistently compete with the Chinese and Southeast Asian regions. In China especially, where the game is actually known under the title Peacekeeper Elite, there are several leagues and tournaments that boast millions in prize money every year.

One of the major events dominated by Chinese teams in the last few years is the PUBG Mobile Global Championship (PMGC), until last year that is. After Chinese victories in 2020 and 2021, it was Turkish organization S2G Esports who took the crown in a surprise turn of events last year. While some considered this a one-off before the Chinese teams would return to the top again, it turned out that this might not exactly be the case as the latest edition of the PMGC was recently won by IHC Esports from Mongolia. It looks like other regions are catching up with China and Southeast Asia in the PUBG universe.

IHC growing into tournament

At the start of the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2023, it didn’t look like IHC Esports was going to go all the way. While the Mongolians did decently in the Group Stage, where they were placed in Group Yellow together with organizations like Team Weibo and Influent Rage, they did not stand out in terms of performance. With 128 points and tenth place in the group, they did enough to qualify for Survival Stage.

IHC Esports managed to hold on to that level of performance in the Survival Stage, where they managed to clinch seventh place. The Mongolian organization managed a total of 78 points, which was enough to go through to the Last Change Stage. There, they finished just outside the podium in fourth place. Only the Vietnamese organization D’Xavier, Indonesian team Persija EVOS and Bangkok-based FaZe Clan collected more than IHC’s 85 points.

It was clear by that point that IHC Esports was actually improving as the tournament advanced, with the Mongolian side going into the Grand Finals as an outsider for the title. Despite winning just one round (round 15) and finishing second one other time (round 12), IHC turned out to be the most consistent performer during the final stages of the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2023. With 142 points, they just managed to squeeze out their countrymen from Stalwart Esports and the Brazilians from Alpha7 Esports for first place.

Mongolia dominating in 2023

While IHC Esports took the spotlights with their impressive surprise victory at PMGC 2023, there was more good news for Mongolian fans and players. That’s because no less than three of the top-four teams came from the East Asian nation. Previously mentioned Stalwart Esports clinched second place, while 4Merical Vibes finished in fourth. IHC got $ 453.500 in total prize money for their performance, Stalwart collected $ 263.000, and 4Merical managed to take home $ 144.000.