Global esports head for PUBG Mobile James Yang has announced a new one-off season for the battle royale dubbed Season Zero.

The single-season – PUBG Mobile World League Season Zero – will offer an $850,000 prize pool, and will for the first time allow 40 teams to compete, the most of any PUBG Mobile event.

Season Zero will be held from July 10th until August 9th - the East league in Asia will begin at 6pm IST, while the Western league will commence at 12:30am IST for the US, Latin America and Europe. Fans can watch the matches through a live stream on the PUBG Mobile Esports YouTube channel.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the season will be held online only. Currently, the PUBG Mobile Pro League season one is being held digitally as a result of the coronavirus.

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On top of the new competition, a new PUBG Mobile esports studio in Katowice has been revealed. It will become the home for in-person tournaments when offline events can be held again. Last year alone, esports for the battle royale racked up 532 million views worldwide.

Last month, PUBG Mobile proved to be the highest-grossing mobile game. As of December 2019, the game has exceeded $1.5 billion in lifetime revenue.