The controversy began when South Korean gamer Soopi accused Vietnamese players La Phuong Tien Dat, known as Himass, and Tran Tan Vu, known as TanVuu, of stream-sniping on Sept. 17. She alleged that the two monitored her live broadcast during a match to gain unfair tactical advantages regarding her location and direction.

Organizers immediately disqualified Himass and TanVuu from the tournament and revoked their PUBG Vietnam Partner status. This ruling triggered a wave of videos on South Korean social media heavily criticizing the two Vietnamese players.

However, Krafton released findings on Sept. 20, publicly admitting that the organization had rushed to penalize the players based on information that had not been fully verified, Chosun Daily reported.

TanVuu (L) and Himass are two prominent PUBG players in Vietnam. Photo by PUBG

The publisher clarified that while Himass and TanVuu did receive external information via their livestream chat during the match, investigations are still taking place to determine whether they actively watched their opponent's stream to gain an advantage.

A major point of argument centers on the tournament's regulations. It was later revealed that the initial regulations did not prohibit players from receiving external information through livestream chat.

The incident quickly escalated beyond a standard in-game dispute as Vietnamese professional players and fans defended Himass and TanVuu. Supporters argued that organizers imposed heavy penalties based on unclear regulations and questioned the tournament's operational responsibility.

The controversy intensified when the Vietnamese PUBG community raised suspicions that Soopi herself had cheated in that game, pointing to broadcast footage that showed the South Korean streamer playing with multiple browser windows open at the same time.

Soopi firmly denied the cheating allegations but requested that Krafton officially revoke her PUBG Partner status due to the online backlash. She subsequently removed all content related to the incident from her streaming platforms.

Tensions continued to rise as several other South Korean players announced their withdrawal from the tournament in protest. Krafton later canceled the third and final day of competition, declined to recognize a final leaderboard, and split the $70,000 prize pool equally among the participating regional teams, according to JoongAng Daily.

On Monday, Krafton's head of PUBG publishing, Yoon Su Jin, issued a formal apology, accepting full responsibility for the operational failures and communication errors that led to the incident.

PUBG Asia Stars is a tournament organized by Krafton, the publisher of the game, bringing together 48 players and streamers from various regions.