Team Liquid Signs PUBG Roster, Planned Debut at Gamescom

Team Liquid just became the most recent esports team to jump on the PLAYERUNKNOWN’s BATTLEGROUNDS bandwagon. In an “announcement statement” yesterday, the team revealed its entry into the gaming franchise, along with its new roster.

“We are thrilled to announce that Team Liquid will now be a part of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS’ budding competitive scene,” begins the statement. “Our 4-man squad includes 4 of the best survivors in the game: Scoom, Molnman, Hayz, and Ollywood.”

The organization’s co-CEO and co-owner Steve Arhancet added in his approach to the game.

“While many other teams have sought stream-focused team rosters, we decided to seek the most talented players on the Western servers. Scoom, Molnman, Hayz and Ollywood caught our attention with their insane stats and likeable personalities. We want to support these players so that they can place highly in the competitions to come.”

Arhancet added praise for the game’s developer, Bluehole, saying that it was very encouraging when it “made a public proclamation of support for the game’s competitive scene.” Indeed, when PUBG launched in March, Bluehole’s production director said that the game “has great potential to become a major eSport.” Since then, Bluehole has worked hard to net partnerships not only with major esports organizations like DreamHack and ESL, but also larger platforms like Facebook.

Then, German technology festival Gamescom, taking place later this month, announced that it would host a $350,000 invitational for PUBG. Team Liquid will be joined by fellow endemic esports organizations TSM and Cloud9.

If there’s anything worrying about the game’s future, it’s found in Arhancet’s callout to “stream-focused team rosters.” PUBG has been a streaming-all star since its launch, topping many more established gaming titles. However, Gamescom will be the title’s first true esports tournament—and there’s already a few warning signs about how seriously the game is being taken. Not only are there four different formats featured at Gamescom, but ESL recently announced a team of “celebrity” content creators called Team NEED LOOT that includes a member of YouTube-famous cooking series Epic Meal Time.