PGC 2021 Pick’em Challenge: A 2026 Retrospective for PUBG Esports Fans

I’m writing this in 2026, so let me be upfront: this is a retrospective of the PUBG Global Championship 2021 Pick’em Challenge, not a live event announcement. I’m revisiting it because the 2021 structure is still a neat case study for how PUBG Esports mixes predictions, free rewards, and broadcast engagement. Back in late 2021 and early 2022, the PUBG Esports tab ran from November 12th through January 12th, 2022, and it was the hub for PGC 2021 match info, player info, the Pick’em Challenge events, and the Esports Point Shop. If you’re a newer fan in 2026, think of this as a time capsule with useful lessons. 🎮

The first thing I’d point out is that the Pick’em Challenge was not just one vote. It was a small ecosystem. You could buy PGC 2021 item bundles that came with voting coupons, earn Esports Points through predictions, and then spend those points on reward items. Here’s the bundle lineup from the original event notes:

• PGC 2021 Contingent Chaos Duster Bundle — 25 voting coupons

• PGC 2021 Contingent Chaos Jacket Bundle — 25 voting coupons

• PGC 2021 Dance Splash Emote Bundle — 1 voting coupon

• PGC 2021 Mega Bundle — 60 voting coupons

And the reward items you could unlock with Esports Points were:

• PGC 2021 Contingent Chaos – P90

• PGC 2021 Contingent Chaos – Pan

• PGC 2021 Contingent Chaos – Helmet (Level 3)

• PGC 2021 Giltslate Contagion Backpack (Level 3)

• PGC 2021 Contingent Chaos UAZ

• PGC 2021 Hairstyle 28

One detail I really liked: 30% of PUBG net sales of PGC 2021 items went to the teams according to their final results. That’s a meaningful way to connect fan spending back to the competitive scene. Also important for anyone researching old platforms: the Pick’em Challenge was not available on Console, though all PGC 2021 items were available for purchase from the store. 🧾

The Pick’em calendar was split into a Rank Decision phase and four weekly finals. Here’s the schedule exactly as the event notes laid it out, using KST:

The Pick’em Challenge started on November 12th, and final entries closed on December 18th at 1800 KST. That deadline matters because both challenges were weekly. If you missed a week, you missed that week’s points. Here’s how the two prediction events worked:

Event 1 was the Weekly Final Top 4. You could vote for up to eight teams, and if your predictions landed, you collected Esports Points. The event notes say each week you could win 187,500 EP by predicting the top four teams of that week. Event 2 was the Weekly Kill Point MVP. You guessed which team would earn the most kills in the Weekly Finals, and you could vote for up to eight teams per week. The notes even suggest that placing your vote at the very last moment could significantly bring up your chances to win. A correct guess earned 150,000 EP. ⚡

Now, the free stuff. This is where the 2021 event got really interesting for viewers who did not want to spend money. There were multiple ways to earn voting coupons and free EPs by watching and interacting during the tournament:

• Free Voting Coupons: visiting the PUBG Esports tab in-game gave you a free voting coupon every week.

• Broadcast codes: while watching PGC 2021, a code would pop up, and it could be redeemed in-game for one free voting coupon.

• Twitch Drops: staying tuned to the official PUBG Twitch broadcasts could earn free EP drops during the tournament, up to 40,000 EP. Viewers needed a KRAFTON ID linked to their platform, such as Steam, and their Twitch account.

• Pick & Go: this was a bingo-style activity on the official PUBG Esports Twitch channel. You competed with nine other players randomly matched from the chat, and you scored points from each kill your selected teams made. If all teams placed in a straight line earned a kill, that was a bingo, and each bingo granted bonus points. If a selected team placed in the center successfully won a chicken dinner, you got 1,000 bonus points. Bonus placement points were also granted for teams placing in the top 8. 🧩

From a 2026 vantage point, I think the most interesting part is how layered the system was. You had paid bundles, free coupons, broadcast codes, Twitch Drops, and a chat-based bingo game all feeding into the same event. It gave casual viewers a reason to open the PUBG Esports tab, and it gave committed fans a reason to track weekly finals closely. The 2021 event is long over, so don’t treat these dates as a live schedule in 2026. If you’re looking for current PUBG Esports activities, check the current in-game PUBG Esports tab instead. But as a historical blueprint, PGC 2021’s Pick’em Challenge is still a fun one to study. 🏆