17 Gaming Wins Games of the Future 2026 PUBG Title

Astana (GNP): 17 Gaming has been crowned champion of the Battle Royale PUBG: Battlegrounds tournament at Games of the Future 2026, presented by Alatau City Bank and powered by Samruk-Kazyna, after holding on to an overnight lead through a tense final day of competition.

The three-day event saw the leaderboard shift repeatedly, with 16 teams competing for the title before 17 Gaming secured the first trophy awarded at this year’s tournament.

GAM The Expendables and Team Vitality had pushed close to the lead heading into the closing stretch but ultimately finished second and third. 17 Gaming’s win was built largely on elimination points, with 78 of their 131 total points coming from kills.

Team member Luo Shenguin described the victory, which came with a $300,000 first prize alongside the trophy, as an amazing result for the squad. GAM The Expendables finished 11 points behind on 120, and player Duc Hieu Duong said the team was proud of its performance, crediting favourable circle placement and their collective energy for a result he called an amazing second-place finish while acknowledging 17 Gaming as deserving champions.

Team Vitality, who had topped the standings after the first day, ultimately settled for third on 106 points. Player Artem Baskakov said the final day proved difficult for the team, with fewer favourable rotations than they needed, though he said the squad still fought to collect points from the edges of the map and considered a top-three finish a solid outcome. Twisted Minds finished fourth on 105 points, while Geekay Sports and Team Falcons tied for fifth with 101 points each.

The tournament’s five matches each carried their own storylines. In the first match, Twisted Minds withstood constant pressure from an aggressive field to hold a single outbuilding, winning every engagement against challengers and claiming the match win along with 13 kill points, a result that extended 17 Gaming’s overall lead over Team Vitality to 11 points.

The second match again unfolded on Miramar, where Twisted Minds built a strong position but were caught out while repositioning into the safe zone. 17 Gaming put together a strong mid-game stretch with 13 eliminations before eventually being knocked out, while GAM The Expendables took control of the final circles to secure the match win, moving into second place overall and narrowing the gap to 17 Gaming while dropping Team Vitality to third.

The third match opened aggressively as well, with Made in Thailand eliminating an opposing player within the first two minutes. As the field narrowed to eight teams, 17 Gaming survived with only two players remaining while DN SOOPers launched an attack that eliminated GAM The Expendables entirely; 17 Gaming was knocked out shortly after but still gained ground on their closest rivals in the standings. The match ended with DN SOOPers defeating a full-strength Anyone’s Legend to claim their second match win of the tournament.

The fourth match began more cautiously before Team Vitality made a statement by eliminating Team Falcons during a strong mid-game push. As the safe zone continued shrinking, the contest for points and kills intensified, ultimately coming down to a three-on-three fight that GeeKay Esports won to take the match.

Also Read: Team Vitality Leads Day One of Battle Royale in Astana

The fifth and final match started slowly before escalating quickly, with DN SOOPers and Team Vitality suffering early losses while JD Gaming dealt heavy damage to GeeKay Esports. T1 eliminated DN SOOPers to end their tournament, and a decisive engagement wiped out the remaining GeeKay Esports players.

JD Gaming continued its run by eliminating Full Sense, while Anyone’s Legend eliminated DiGA Esports and Twisted Minds defeated Shadow Esports, setting up a clash between JD Gaming and Twisted Minds that JD Gaming won to end Twisted Minds’ campaign. The final four came down to Team Falcons, GAM The Expendables, 17 Gaming and R8, a team that had emerged as a surprise contender.

Team Falcons eliminated GAM The Expendables before 17 Gaming also fell, leaving Team Falcons and R8 to contest the final match win, which Team Falcons claimed while R8 secured the best finish of their tournament in second place. By that point, however, 17 Gaming’s earlier performance across the tournament had already secured them the overall title.