PUBG Mobile collaborates with Lionel Messi: Here’s when you can play football-related in-game events

Krafton has announced that they have collaborated with Argentine and Paris-Saint Germain football player Lionel Messi for PUBG Mobile. While the details of the collaboration are not known, it is likely that players will be able to access some football-related events in the game. These events will be available to players in November.
Reports suggest that the developer has already released a beta version of the upcoming 2.3 update and features a football carnival mode. The news comes a few weeks ahead of the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup. It seems that the developers want to offer events around the football World Cup 2022.
It is not a new practice that developers have released theme-based updates to their games. We have seen in the past that a few developers of battle royale video games have released Diwali-themed updates which include limited time events, gifts, and prizes, among others. It is to be noted that PUBG Mobile is not available in India.

Earlier this year, PUBG Mobile announced that it is collaborating with ‘Dragon Ball’ next year. The collaboration is to celebrate the release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, a Dragon Ball movie that was released globally in September. The collaboration is coming in 2023 and it is likely that the game will have events that centre around the characters and story of the film. PUBG Mobile has previously collaborated with other series such as Jujutsu Kaisen and Arcane.
In fact, this is not the first time that a football player has been roped in. In 2020, Garena Free Fire announced a collaboration with Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. The game introduced a new character based on him. Developed by 111dots Studio, Garena Free Fire have previously collaborated with celebrities such as Hrithik Roshan and DJ KSHMR. The game also introduced characters based on the celebrities with Jai and K names, respectively.