Krafton just dropped the hammer on two Vietnamese PUBG pros, permanently banning Himass and TanVuu after confirming they pulled external intel from streams and chats during PUBG Asia Stars 2026. The exhibition turned into a full meltdown when Korean players boycotted Day 2, forcing the final day cancellation and equal prize splits instead of a real winner. Krafton admitted it botched the initial response, rushed penalties without full verification, and failed to shield Soopi from the resulting harassment storm.

The investigation nailed the duo for using outside information that normal play shouldn't provide, hitting their PUBG accounts with lifetime bans and kicking them out of every official Krafton event like PGC, PGS, and PNC. Vietnamese fans are raging over the severity in what was supposed to be a friendly showmatch, especially since the rules apparently didn't spell out chat info clearly upfront. Soopi, the Korean streamer at the center of the accusation, got a separate apology from Krafton promising legal support and cleanup of fake attacks.

Community clips and voice comms from the Vietnamese side fueled the backlash, with some pointing fingers back at Korean players or questioning why only these two got nuked. Krafton says it checked similar claims against others and found nothing worth punishing, but the whole mess exposed sloppy tournament ops and cross-region drama. This ain't just one bad call—it's a masterclass in how to torch goodwill in Asian esports.