KOREA FOUNDATION

INTERVIEW

Popular E-Sports in ASEAN PUBG: Battlegrounds

The hit game PUBG: Battlegrounds, where teams from different countries compete in a digital deathmatch to remain the last players alive, is now the face of the global E-Sports industry. We met with professional gamer Nam Jae-woo, leader of the team Eagle Owls, to talk about his success, and share his insights with our readers.

Hello, please introduce yourself to the readers of ASEAN Culture House Monthly.

Hi, my name is Nam Jae-woo, and I am the leader of the professional team Eagle Owls at Honam University. I go by DozeL in the game. It had been my dream to become a professional gamer since I was little, so I chose E-Sports as my major in college. Our department held tryouts for professional teams, where I was tested and accepted.

You’ve done excellent at the PWS League, the biggest E-Sports competition in East Asia. Could you tell us more about the League?

PWS stands for PUBG Weekly Series: East Asia. Forty-eight professional teams in East Asia compete with one another for five weeks for nearly KRW 200 million in total prize pool.The champions and top teams selected here will enter global Battlegrounds competitions, such as PUBG Global Championship and PUBG Continental Series. Eagle Owls is also preparing to enter the PUBG Global Championship.

You had a close battle with the Thai professional teams Aura E-Sports and GEX. How did you feel playing against them?

It was great playing against the two Thai teams they showed excellent performance. Both Aura E-Sports and GEX are outstanding, even when compared to the worldwide level. Victory is determined by engagement, and in this regard, the capability of the two Thai teams is on par with other top-tier teams.

Many players from ASEAN countries also enjoy PUBG: Battlegrounds. Do you have any tips on improving their skills for this game?

If you’re doing this for fun, I recommend working on your engagement capabilities. No matter how good you are at playing, if you’re bad at engagement, you can’t win. If you are dreaming of becoming a professional gamer like me, you need to be good at it, not just enjoy games. Hone your skills and join a professional team when they hold tryouts. I’ll be waiting for the day when I meet you as a skilled player!