Every PUBG player knows Pochinki. You know about the stacks of apartment buildings in Georgopol. And you most certainly know about the Sosnovka Military Base – especially when the circle closes in and you’re stuck on the other side of the bridge to it. Whether you decide to risk a mad dash across or brave the waters below on a boat, death feels almost inevitable.

From its release in early 2017, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and the Erangel map have been one and the same. It’s a place that’s been picked apart, plotted out and committed to memory by anyone who wants to give themselves the best chance of taking home a chicken dinner.

However, just recently we saw the launch of a new map: Miramar. This vast desert is dotted with pockets of urbanisation, hollowed-out craters and mountainous regions that make it an altogether different landscape for a battle royale. Essentially, there’s a lot that’s new for players to learn and it offers an exciting opportunity to freshen up the game for competitive play.

Still, there’s a lot for tournament organisers to consider when it comes to Miramar. Granted, working out how to add in new maps isn’t a challenge that’s unique to PUBG, but there are definitely some aspects exclusive to the game that would warrant a different approach to how quickly Miramar finds its way into the map pool.

The Miramar desert offers limited cover © PUBG Corporation

That’s exactly the situation facing the upcoming PUBG Invitational at IEM Katowice. What was their decision? Well, every single one of the eight rounds that are taking place over the weekend will be fought out on Erangel, with not a speck of sand from Miramar in sight. To explain the decision, ESL tell us:

"After some consideration, we've decided to go with Erangel exclusively at the PUBG Invitational in Katowice. It’s well known to all, and provides the most equal playing field for all participants. However, we are always monitoring the evolution of other maps to be possibly included in future tournaments."

ESL’s stance is one that’s been matched by tournament organiser Auzom, who've also decided to stick with Erangel. However, that wasn’t always going to be the case for their PUBG Premier League. When they first announced the second season, they had plans to mix in both the Erangel and Miramar map

“That announcement was received quite differently within the community: some said the map should be included, whilst a very vocal part of the community explained why it wasn’t ready yet,” explains Alexandre Niset, Auzom co-founder and chief commercial officer. “The main argument was that due to the recent addition of the map to the game, along with the holidays, they didn’t have enough time to practice and analyse the map the same way they did for Erangel.”

Miramar is a new place to learn, with its own loot spots to discover, hidey-holes to find and strategies to develop. It would make sense, then, that in order to give players the fairest sense of competition, as well encourage the highest level of play, the most well-known map should be used. Add to that, as the game is trying to establish itself as an esport, tournament organisers want to stick with a map that’s already been established within the game and its competitive community. Still, that decision wouldn’t have been made if they hadn’t received feedback from players asking them to drop the game’s latest warzone.

Players know every secret in Erangel © PUBG Corporation

“As a tournament organiser, not being a pro player helps you have an unbiased opinion on a lot of topics, but it also makes it very hard to understand some of the concerns the pro players have with the game itself. That’s why we rely so much on our community to get the feedback we aren’t always able to identify ourselves,” says Niset.

“With a relatively controversial decision like this, players are always going to share their thoughts regardless of whether we have directly requested it – what’s important is that we review everything that has been said and discuss any potential points raised.”

There are others, though, who have embraced the new map into their tournaments already. The FirstBlood PUBG Invitational, for example, will swap between Miramar and Erangel over the course of its five-round competition. That’s not to say it’s a decision they’ve taken lightly, though, as FirstBlood CEO Joe Zhou explains:

“Miramar is new and relatively unknown, it pushes everyone out of their comfort zones; players, coaches, casters and fans alike. Some have claimed that the loot tables still need to be refined, and obviously there is always a chance of some unexpected behaviour in a level of that size.”

“But everyone is dropped into the same situation and that unknown element is part of what makes PUBG so interesting. Being an elite-level PUBG player requires more than just great mechanics and knowledge of the environment, you have to be adaptable. Having Mirarmar in the mix will be the ultimate test of each team’s ability to adapt to their environment.”

Interestingly, when FirstBlood asked for fan and player feedback on the potential inclusion of Miramar, they found that they were excited to see the map in competitive play. The qualifier there is that it was the North American players who were more enthusiastic for Miramar than European players. Auzom actually found similar results too, but given that their tournament will be played in both regions, and FirstBlood will be NA only, it came down to appeasing the community first and foremost.

“From what I’ve heard, there are some issues with the circle settings (you might know we have recently changed the circle settings to a custom method, based on the pro’s feedback)" says Niset. "These new circles need to be adapted to match Miramar’s playstyle.”

“There are also a few tweaks that need to be done in terms of settings for the loot rate (for first aid, armour and so on) and, again, this is more the expertise of our pro community, and we’re about to provide them a new poll to see what their opinion is now on Miramar in terms of competitive gameplay.”

Players are still getting to grips with Miramar © PUBG Corporation

Still, despite the differing conclusions these tournament organisers have come to at this stage, there’s a desire to continue supporting PUBG and continually reconsider any decisions about maps and other elements of the game over time.

“In the long term, we want our league to match what a ‘normal’ player can find in their usual play session. We don't want to have a radically different experience, except for the skill gap of course! This means we’d love to include new maps, we just need to be careful to not include them too soon, as that might be problematic for the competitive scene as a whole,” says Niset.

Zhou echoes that approach by telling us, “PUBG was born from the modding community, so we're certain there's going to be a never-ending stream of both official and unofficial maps and game modes. Ultimately, we want to run events that teams love to play in and fans love to watch. So, if there's a demand for a new map or game mode to be included in the competitive scene, we're definitely open to the idea.”