Controversy has erupted at the Esports World Cup after a social media war of words between Pakistan’s PUBG Mobile team 4Thrives and Indian team Orangutan (OG) over a heated in-game moment.
As per the details, during match 10 of the group stage, the Indian team eliminated three players from Pakistan’s 4Thrives in a third-party engagement, as another team, RJC, kept throwing grenades at 4Thrives while they were initiating a fight with OG.
Following the fight, the Indian team’s official X account posted a clip of the moment with the caption, “Operation…🫣”, in what appeared to be a reference to last year’s military engagements between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Although the post was later deleted, Pakistan team’s in-game leader (IGL) IQ, Shayan Asad, responded to the same during the Big Bats IRL livestream.
Without naming anyone directly, he said, “Shuru inho ne kiya hai, khatam hum karein gay [They started it, we will finish it].”
When asked what he meant, he said people already knew what he was talking about.
OG’s IGL Aaru later addressed the controversy on Instagram, distancing the team from the post made by its social media handle.
“We do not stand by / support any insensitive comment made directly or indirectly by any of our social media handles. We enjoy the sports rivalry but do not disrespect any nation by passing hateful comments. We just focus on ourselves, learn and appreciate the good performers. We play for the passion, for the love of the game,” he wrote.
The exchange drew mixed reactions from fans online.
Despite the controversy, Pakistan finished the group stage in first place with 107 points, without recording a single chicken dinner. India’s OG finished second with 91 points, followed by team Aurora with 90, team Flash with 89 and NGX with 88.
It is worth noting that during PMGC 2025, Pakistan’s 4Thrives eliminated OG multiple times in fair fights but never posted or spoke about any specific part of those matches.
In the ongoing PUBG Mobile World Cup (PMWC), a total of 32 teams have been divided into two groups, A and B. The top five teams from each group will advance directly to the finals, while the bottom three will be eliminated.
The remaining teams from both groups will move to the survival stage, where the top six will advance to the finals.
A total of 16 teams will compete in the finals for the title and a total prize pool of $3,000,000.
