PUBG's Trust Crisis: From KRAFTON's False Drop-Rate Claims to Bans on Vietnamese Stars

When the fans leave, the cameras stay. That is the real story. On September 23, 2026, two Vietnamese PUBG pros, Himass and TanVuu, were permanently banned from PUBG Asia Stars 2026 by KRAFTON for allegedly watching opponents' livestreams to build tactics — a practice known as stream sniping. Within hours, Vietnam's gaming community erupted. Streamers like Do Mixi, PewPew, Rambo, DjChip and Ngan Sat Thu called for a boycott, and over 4.1 million signatures demanded fair treatment for the players. The incident became KRAFTON's biggest community trust crisis. KRAFTON has a pattern. In 2026, its PUBG x NewJeans collaboration advertised a 'pity system': if players didn't get the set blueprint after four consecutive pulls, the fifth pull would be guaranteed at 100%. Players reported buying more than five Premium Bundles without getting the item. PUBG later admitted the Premium Bundle was not covered by that mechanic and in-game display was inaccurate. In June 2026, Yonhap reported that South Korea's Fair Trade Commission fined KRAFTON 2.5 million won for falsifying item drop-rate information. The actual drop rate was 9%, not the implied guaranteed 100% after four failed attempts. KRAFTON refunded about 1.1 billion won to 380,000 buyers and added 9.8 billion won in in-game compensation. The NewJeans partnership also produced another scandal: players used face skins of members — some underage, like Haerin and Hyein — to create sexual harassment content. KRAFTON and ADOR restricted certain skin combinations. Separately, in 2026 ZDNet Korea revealed KRAFTON had been providing technical services for Tencent's Peacekeeper Elite in China, raising old questions about whether that game was just PUBG Mobile rebranded after its license suspension in 2026. From a business standpoint, KRAFTON keeps eroding trust: unstable drop-rate disclosures, ambiguous tournament discipline, and opaque China operations. The Vietnam ban may be justified if rules were broken, but the process lacked transparency, and punishment severity seemed unprecedented. KRAFTON must now invest in clear probability disclosure, independent dispute resolution, and localized community management. Trust, not content, is the real balance sheet in esports.