PUBG Asia Stars 2026 Stream-Sniping Controversy: A Dated Timeline
On the first day of PUBG Asia Stars 2026, two Vietnam-region participants used information from Korean players’ live broadcasts during matches. Korea’s roster boycotted, sponsors withdrew and the event was cancelled. Krafton confirmed chat and stream sniping, and on 2026-09-23 permanently banned both players’ accounts and barred them from all official PUBG esports.
TL;DR — On 2026-09-17, the opening day of PUBG Asia Stars 2026, two Vietnam-region participants, HIMASS and TANVUU, were caught using information from Korean players’ live broadcasts during matches. The first apology admitted only to reading chat. Korea’s entire eight-player roster boycotted, sponsors pulled out, and Krafton cancelled the rest of the event. On 2026-09-21 Krafton formally confirmed both chat sniping and stream sniping, revoked both players’ PUBG partner status, and admitted it had failed to protect participants — including the Korean streamer who became the target of a fabricated accusation. On 2026-09-23 Krafton permanently banned both players’ game accounts and barred them for life from every official PUBG esports competition, and apologised to that streamer, Soopi, as the person most harmed. On 2026-09-25 HIMASS announced he was quitting PUBG.
Overview
| Event | PUBG Asia Stars 2026 |
| Organiser | Krafton |
| Scheduled | 2026-09-17 to 2026-09-20 (four days) |
| Format | Invitational regional team event, pros and partner streamers |
| Participants | 48 — eight each from Korea, China, Japan, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam |
| Prize pool | USD 70,000 |
| Outcome | Cancelled after day two; prize split equally across all regions |
Stream sniping means watching an opponent’s live broadcast during a match to learn their position or plans. Chat sniping is the lesser version: viewers relay that information through the sniper’s own stream chat. Korean communities call both “방플”.
Timeline
2026-09-17 — Day 1: the incident
During a Day 1 match, Vietnam-region participant HIMASS located Korean streamer Soopi (수피) behind cover with no audio cue that would explain it. Clips and analysis spread on Reddit and Korean communities the same day. [PenN Mike] [Inside Vina]
2026-09-18 — The first apology, and the boycott
HIMASS and TANVUU posted apologies on social media admitting to reading chat and receiving outside information — not to watching broadcasts. On whether that information changed their play, the wording stayed conditional; one outlet described it as left in the hypothetical, that it may have unintentionally given an advantage. [PenN Mike]
Korean participant Kim Sung-tae (킴성태) said Krafton had assured the Korean side beforehand that the apology would admit stream sniping. It did not.
Krafton’s first notice referred only to “some regions”, without naming a region, the players, or what they had done. The Korean team, including Kim Sung-tae and Ida (이다), announced a boycott. [Inside Vina]
2026-09-19 — Day 2: sanctions, and full withdrawal
Krafton’s second notice removed HIMASS and TANVUU from all remaining matches and revoked their PUBG partner status, acknowledging that failing to specify its operating standards was the organisers’ responsibility. [Inside Vina]
All eight Korean participants declared they would not play the rest of the event, after the published apology did not match what they had been promised. [PenN Mike]
2026-09-20 — Cancellation
Krafton issued a first apology, cancelled the remaining schedule, and distributed the USD 70,000 prize equally to all regions, regardless of conduct. [Artive News]
Three Korean sponsors suspended their involvement the same day:
- 백억커피 (Baekeok Coffee) — advertising, menu and event sponsorship, morning
- 깐부치킨 (Kkanbu Chicken) — promotions, evening
- 노기어 (NoGear) — sponsorship
2026-09-21 — Krafton’s formal apology
Krafton published a formal apology, issued by its head of publishing Yoon Soo-jin (윤수진), that went further than either player had. [e-Korea News] [Gameple]
What it confirmed: that HIMASS and TANVUU had both checked external information through chat and stream-sniped.
Sanctions: exclusion from the remaining schedule, revocation of PUBG Vietnam partner status, score adjustments for affected matches, and a separate disciplinary process with results to be announced later.
What Krafton admitted about its own handling:
- It had no preventive measures, no criteria for judging violations, and no defined sanction levels.
- It failed to explain the facts clearly from the start, which added to the confusion.
- Describing the Korean boycott as a “withdrawal” was wrong.
- Its early wording was too limited to describe what had happened.
- Its Korean and Vietnamese announcements were not consistent.
- It failed to protect participants and their teams, allowing the controversy to turn into attacks and further harm directed at a specific individual.
2026-09-22 — TanVuu uninstalls PUBG on stream
During a personal livestream, TANVUU removed PUBG from his Steam library. It was a literal uninstall, not an announced ban or retirement. [Inven]
A leaked messenger conversation attributed to his team manager said, roughly, that the account is permanently banned. TANVUU neither confirmed nor denied it on stream. Krafton confirmed a permanent account ban the next day (below). He has since shifted to general streaming and other titles.
2026-09-22 — Spillover claims in Vietnam
A screenshot from a Korean expatriate group chat in Vietnam circulated, advising members to avoid discussing PUBG and passing on a second-hand account of Korean people being threatened at a PC bang. The reporting outlet stated explicitly that the account was hearsay, that no damage had been confirmed, and that neither the Korean embassy nor the consulate had issued any safety notice. [PenN Mike]
2026-09-23 — Permanent bans
Krafton published the results of its investigation on the official PUBG site. [PUBG] [Seoul Economic Daily] [Gameple]
What it found: after reviewing the official broadcast, participant footage, in-game data and replays, Krafton concluded that both players had obtained — through other participants’ live broadcasts or outside sources — information that normal match play would not reveal, and had used it in their decisions and tactics.
Sanctions for HIMASS (Anyone’s Legend) and TANVUU (The Expendables):
- a permanent ban on their PUBG game accounts;
- permanent loss of eligibility for every official league in every region, including PGC, PGS and PNC, and for every official esports competition that Krafton organises or approves.
The standard it applied: professional players hold a position that demands a high level of fairness, responsibility and dignity, and the rule applies regardless of prize money, the nature of the event or who is taking part. Krafton said it had never officially permitted watching other participants’ broadcasts or using outside information, and had not applied different standards to different regions.
Appeal: both players keep the right to contest the decision through the established esports procedure.
Soopi: in a separate apology Krafton apologised to Soopi as the person most harmed, said it would request the removal and blocking of false claims, ridicule and illegal composite images aimed at her, and would cooperate fully with her agency’s legal response. [DigitalToday] The agency, IM Brand, said the same day that it was preparing legal action in Vietnam through a local law firm.
Krafton’s own handling: it said it was reviewing its event operation, notices, investigation and decision-making internally and would follow up under company rules. It did not say who was responsible. [4th.kr]
Both players answered briefly on social media. HIMASS posted “Chính thức thất nghiệp” (“officially unemployed”); TANVUU wrote that he should have focused on streaming rather than entering competitive events such as this one. [Dân Trí]
2026-09-24/25 — Objections, a petition, a licensing question, a retirement
- The teams object (09-23). GAM x TE did not deny that TANVUU opened his own stream chat during matches, but called the lifetime ban excessive and asked for a transparent appeal process. Anyone’s Legend said it would support an appeal through official procedures. Both asked for an end to personal attacks, hate aimed at nationality and unverified claims. [Inven Global]
- Licensing (reported 09-23). Thanh Niên reported that Vietnamese authorities are considering measures against unlicensed PUBG PC, which has no official release licence in Vietnam. It also noted that Vietnamese had disappeared from the game’s supported languages on Steam and that the PVS schedule had vanished from the official esports system, with no explanation from Krafton. [Thanh Niên]
- A petition (09-24/25). An independent site, Justice for PUBG VN, launched a petition that says it is not defending cheating and asks for per-player evidence, one standard and proportionate sanctions. It displayed 4 million signatures by the morning of 09-25, a count the site reports itself. [Justice for PUBG VN] [Ghiền Bóng Đá]
- A retirement (09-25). HIMASS announced he was stepping away from PUBG, and GAM The Expendables closed its PUBG chapter the same day. [Thể thao & Văn hóa]
For the full wiki-style record of the week, see the complete timeline on Axortex.
Korean community posts also circulated AI-processed chat logs and machine captions from HIMASS’s 2024 and 2025 streams, alleging sniping at earlier events. They have not been verified; our 25 September roundup covers them with caveats.
For a Korean view of whether any of this is acceptable for a professional, with the community screenshots from the week, see Is Stream Sniping Ever OK for a Pro?
The two accounts, side by side
| HIMASS (09-18) | Krafton (09-21) | |
|---|---|---|
| Chat sniping | admitted | confirmed |
| Stream sniping | not admitted | confirmed |
| Effect on play | “may have unintentionally” helped | score adjustments applied |
The official record does not support the player’s own account. That gap is the centre of the controversy: the Korean side had been told the first apology would contain the admission that Krafton itself made three days later.
HIMASS’s later statement said the discussion had grown far larger than intended, that he would not engage further, and that actions by some of his channel’s moderators may have made things worse. It did not admit stream sniping. [Artive News]
Harm to the victim
The player affected in the day-one incident became a target herself.
A post claiming “Soopi also stream-sniped” was pinned in HIMASS’s stream chat. The claim was fabricated, and it set off a wave of online harassment against her. [Inside Vina]
Soopi said she had been removing viewers from her own chat when they posted slurs against Vietnamese people — and that what came back was a fabricated accusation pinned by the player who had sniped her. She closed comments on her YouTube channel, noted that her gaming PC has a single monitor, and asked Krafton to remove her own partner status. [Artive News]
Krafton’s 09-21 apology acknowledged this directly: its failure to protect participants let the dispute become attacks and further harm aimed at a specific person.
Why it escalated
The cheating itself was settled within two days. What turned it into a four-day collapse and a Korea–Vietnam dispute was the handling, which Krafton’s own apology itemises:
- An unnamed first notice. “Some regions” invited both sides to fill in the blanks.
- An apology that did not match the promise. The Korean side had been told what it would say.
- Two languages, two versions. Korean and Vietnamese announcements were not consistent.
- An equal prize split. Cancelling and paying every region the same, including the one whose players were sanctioned, read to the Korean side as treating the violation as nobody’s in particular.
- No protection for the victim while a fabricated claim about her was pinned in a sanctioned player’s chat.
The commercial background is not neutral either. News1 ran the story under a headline saying 45% of PUBG viewing time comes from Vietnam and that Krafton hesitated over sanctions. The article gives no source for the 45% figure, so treat it as the headline’s claim rather than a verified number.
Still open
- Appeals. Both players can contest the 2026-09-23 sanctions through the established procedure. Anyone’s Legend says it will support an appeal and GAM x TE has asked for a transparent process; as of 2026-09-25 no appeal or outcome has been published.
- Scope. Only the two players named above have been sanctioned; there is no official report of wider action against other Vietnam-region pros or partners.
- Krafton’s internal review has no published result, and the company has not said who was responsible for the handling it apologised for.
- Vietnam’s licensing review of PUBG PC has no reported outcome.
- The expatriate reports remain unconfirmed.
Sources: PUBG official notice, Inven Global, Thanh Niên, Justice for PUBG VN, Ghiền Bóng Đá, Thể thao & Văn hóa, Seoul Economic Daily, Gameple, DigitalToday, 4th.kr, Dân Trí, Inven, Inven Global, Inven Global, The Elec, News1, Inside Vina, e-Korea News, Gameple, PenN Mike, PenN Mike, Artive News. Claims that circulated in communities but could not be verified in any published report are deliberately not included.
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