India take two slots to the PUBG Mobile World Cup, and a month in Nepal to get ready
GodLike and Orangutan both qualified for the PUBG Mobile World Cup in Paris, which starts on 6 August. Preparing for it meant leaving the country, because the global game is still banned in India.
Jul 31, 2026
Two Indian teams are going to the PUBG Mobile World Cup next week, which has never happened before. GodLike Esports and Orangutan will both be in Paris for a tournament that starts on 6 August with 32 teams and a prize pool of three million dollars, and getting there involved a detour most of their opponents will never have to make.
Two Indian slots, earned two different ways
GodLike got there the direct way, by winning BMPS 2026. That tournament ran from 6 May to 21 June with 64 teams and a prize pool of four crore rupees, and the title carried a World Cup place with it. Orangutan took the other route, finishing top of the Krafton India Esports rankings on 2110 points, which is a season-long measure rather than a single good week.
The two routes are what make the pair of slots interesting. One rewards peaking at the right moment. The other rewards not having a bad month all year. Getting a team through each door says more about the depth of the Indian scene than either result does on its own.
The Nepal problem
Both squads have been preparing in Nepal, and the reason is the oddest thing about Indian PUBG Mobile. The global version of the game has been banned in India since 2020. Domestic competition runs on BGMI, the India-specific build, so the only way to practise in a genuine international lobby is to leave the country and do it somewhere the global client works.
Orangutan’s players said in late June that the plan was roughly 25 days across the border, playing scrims against other World Cup teams rather than grinding domestic lobbies. Call it what it is: a workaround for a structural disadvantage none of the other 30 teams has to think about. Turning up to a global event match-fit rather than cold costs an Indian org a month abroad and the bill that comes with it.
The draw, and what it asks of each of them
The 32 teams are split into two groups of 16, with each squad playing 12 matches over two days between 6 and 9 August. Finish high enough and you go straight to the Grand Finals. Finish outside that and you take the long way through the Survival Stage.
Orangutan are in Group A with DRX, RRQ, FURIA, Aurora Gaming and Team Flash, among others. GodLike drew Group B, which contains Yangon Galacticos, the reigning champions, along with Team Vitality, NS RedForce and Wolves Esports. Neither draw is kind, though GodLike’s has the sharper edge at the top.
A rebuilt GodLike
The GodLike side going to Paris is not the one Indian fans knew for years. Jonathan Amaral left in April after four and a half years at the organisation and started his own team, and what replaced him is a rebuild rather than a like-for-like swap. Manya leads the side in-game, Admino and Spower play as the front-line assaulters, Saumay came in from Vasista Esports for the flexible role, and GodZ is the fifth.
That group won BMPS at the first attempt, which is the strongest argument in its favour. A domestic title and a World Cup lobby are different tests, and the honest answer is that nobody in India knows yet how this roster travels. We find out from 6 August.