A few weeks ago I wrapped up hosting the PUBG EMEA Championship for Spring 2024. The first time I worked a PUBG broadcast was in 2018 during the PUBG European League. For the past two years I’ve been desk hosting the European championships for PUBG so it was great to come back, once again, to contribute to the stories on broadcast. For PECE Spring 2024 I hosted the group stages, last chance qualifiers and then the three day Grand Final which saw PUBG vetran superstars Twisted Minds clinch the final title from the grasp of Mad Bulls – a non-partner team made up of some storied and legendary PUBG Players.
PEC Spring 2024 was broadcast completely online this year, meaning we didn’t head to a physical studio for the finals, as we had in the past. I think most esports broadcast talent will agree that it is always better being together physically, you’re able to read body language, react faster to one another and create an energy that can sometimes be lost when you’re all talking to cameras in separate rooms around the world. Saying that, I thought we had really good broadcasts and an extremely exciting tournament. There were also some new voices added to the talent group for PEC Spring 2024 which added a really fun dynamic because the analyst desk changed up each stage – allowing for more colour to be added to the stories being crafted.
The production team worked at creating some really great content pieces despite the online broadcast dynamic. The teams are also not all in one venue but rather competing from their gaming offices or homes. However, the team created a host of new content with players before each phase of the competition which I really appreciated. We had some fun memory recaps, thoughts on maps and even a great deep dive with a storied PUBG player, Gustav, who plays for FaZe.
Over and above the additional content, our producer also allowed us to play with a dynamic run of show. Every broadcast has a run of show. For me, as a desk host, my job consists of working through that run of show and ensuring we hit the touch points on it. Sometimes, production teams can be rather strict about their RoS and you have to follow them to the T as they’re laid out. I’ve been working hard to try craft more dynamic and interesting desk segments between games and with that, comes a need for a bit of agility. That agility doesn’t mean tossing the run of show out completely but rather moving pieces around in a segment to aid a better flow and ability for the analysts to flow from talking point to talking point as it pertains to the conversation currently under way versus the Run of Show. I’ve just written this whole paragraph and realised it probably makes sense to very few people outside of a live broadcast space. Whoops! So the TLDR is : our producer was dynamic and agile, allowing for adaptions to the run of show when it suited the broadcast. I really do hope that contributed to more interesting analytical segments.
PEC Spring 2024: The Winners
I mentioned Twisted Minds taking the victory. Batulins, the team captain, is still one of my favourites to interview as he has an honest approach to interviews with a confidence and sense of humour that makes them enjoyable and informative.
@techgirlza A day in the life of an esports host! Come see what happened when I was hosting the @PUBG Esports EMEA Championship. #GamingOnTikTok #esports #WomenInGaming #dayinthelife #pubg ♬ original sound – Sam “Tech Girl” Wright
PEC Spring 2024 was extremely close with some really interesting play outs. The group stages say BB Team and Mad Bulls just dominate the lobby, somewhat unexepctedly when you consider the teams they were up against. The Last Chance Qualifiers saw the favourite teams advancing… which I think is important because while everyone loves an underdog story, those favoured teams pull a loyal fan base. During Grand Finals it looked like Mad Bulls would charge away with the win but Twisted Minds claimed it in the final game of the final day with some tactical play which was fun to watch and break down.
More PUBG?
In 2022 I was the interviewer and sideline reporter for the PUBG Global Championship in Dubai. It was my first and only global PUBG event. As I mentioned at the start of this piece I’ve on and off been involved in PUBG esports since 2018. I’m so incredibly grateful that the European team continues to invite me to work on EU events and I love the comradery the talent team has built, being able to work together regularly. When some of the newer voices come in I like to think I try contribute to a welcoming space as well where they can feel at ease because some of us have a friendly rapor that has developed over time. Thinking back to my past work on PUBG broadcasts, I do believe I’ve greatly improved my craft in the last few years (and I owe a mountain of thanks to Counter-Strike for facilitating that growth with the various work I’ve got to do in that title) and so hopefully the PUBG viewers see that and enjoy the mix I bring to the broadcast when I’m on the European show.
