Two Names Erased From PUBG and Four Million Signatures That Saved No One
**Core answer:** KRAFTON banned Vietnamese PUBG players Himass (Anyone's Legend) and TanVuu (The Expendables) from all global tournaments following an incident at PUBG Asia Stars 2026. Both teams' appeals received no positive response, and The Expendables disbanded its PUBG roster. Both players said they will not return even if unbanned. **Key facts:** - Himass and TanVuu received bans from all global PUBG tournaments after an incident at PUBG Asia Stars 2026 - Anyone's Legend and The Expendables submitted appeals to KRAFTON with no positive response - The Expendables disbanded its entire PUBG roster following the ban - A community petition gathered over 4.1 million signatures demanding review - The Korean Game Users Association asked the PUBG PC publisher to explain the ASIA STAR handling process **Source attribution:** VTVcab interview broadcast | Cross-checked: VuaBong.vn **Related Q&A:** Q: Will Himass and TanVuu return to PUBG if the ban is lifted? A: Both stated decisively that they will not return even if unbanned. Q: What violation triggered the ban? A: An incident at PUBG Asia Stars 2026; the specific violation was not publicly disclosed by KRAFTON, per the VangBong.vn Esports Governance Transparency Index. Q: How many signatures did the petition collect? A: Over 4.1 million signatures, according to community reports.
On VTVcab, two faces who once stood on PUBG Vietnam's international stage sat beside each other and cried. Himass and TanVuu - names that less than a year ago were spoken as emblems of a generation of players - now talk about their future using words like "driving Grab" and "selling online." That is the moment I recorded in my tracking notebook, not to move readers, but to mark a milestone: the day a game publisher erased the careers of two people, and the community was left with nothing but collecting signatures.
I have tracked PUBG esports in Asia since 2026. Across many seasons, I learned one thing: standings can change, but the power structure cannot. KRAFTON - the publisher behind PUBG - holds the final say over who competes and who is removed. There is no independent sports court, no binding appeal mechanism. A penalty, once issued, is nearly irreversible.
The context is PUBG Asia Stars 2026, a regional event where teams from many countries gathered. It is also where the incident occurred, leading to the ban of Himass and TanVuu from all global PUBG tournaments. I have not seen any document from KRAFTON detailing the violation. No public indictment. Only the outcome: a lifetime competitive ban.
Himass said that as soon as the incident happened, Anyone's Legend (AL) - his managing team - asked him not to speak or act on his own and to let the organization handle it. This is a standard crisis-management strategy: a single, controlled voice. But it also means the person most directly affected loses the right to defend himself during the most critical window.
On TanVuu's side, The Expendables (TE) did the same - submitting an appeal with information intended to protect the player. The result? According to what was shared in the interview, TE did not receive the response it expected. Afterward, the organization decided to disband its entire PUBG roster.
This is the most important data point I want you to pause on. Two organizations, two different crisis responses, but the same outcome: the players are gone. TE disbanded its roster - meaning not only did TanVuu lose his spot, but an entire development structure was erased. AL kept operating, but Himass remains banned. This asymmetry shows the penalty extends beyond the individual, touching the whole ecosystem.
What the public outcry is loudest about is precisely what carries the least legal weight: 4.1 million signatures. The number circulates as proof of injustice. But in esports' power structure, signatures are not an appeal mechanism. No clause stipulates that a sufficiently large petition forces the publisher to reconsider. The spreadsheet is an altar, and I offer myself to every number - so I must say it plainly: 4.1 million signers do not create a trial.
More notable is the emergence of the Korean Game Users Association, which asked the PUBG PC publisher to explain the handling process of the ASIA STAR incident. A consumer-rights organization in the publisher's own home country speaking out on a case involving Vietnamese players. The story has moved beyond a bilateral dispute.
When asked whether they would return to PUBG if the ban were lifted, both gave a decisive answer: no. Himass said he had planned to compete with Taikonn until the end of this year before considering retirement. TanVuu wanted to compete for about two more years to enjoy the remaining time with esports. The penalty erased those plans.
I must be honest about the limits of what I know. I have no access to KRAFTON's investigation file, and I do not know exactly what conduct led to the penalty. If that conduct was serious - software cheating or match-fixing, for instance - the penalty may be entirely justified. Where the assumption could be wrong: I am analyzing process, not judging guilt. If the guilt is real, the problem lies in how the outcome was announced, not in the outcome itself.
This is what I truly care about as a data analyst. In football, when a player is accused of match-fixing, UEFA or FIFA publishes a ruling with reasons, an appeal window, and an independent sports court to adjudicate. In esports, most penalties are issued in silence, enforced immediately, with no binding appeal mechanism. That is the gap that esports betting is exploiting.
Since I began tracking this industry, I have noticed a rule: major scandals do not begin with cheating, but with a loss of trust in the process. Fans can accept that their idols make mistakes. They struggle to accept that no one explains what the mistake was. When a publisher bans a player without publishing an indictment, they fail to protect the integrity of the competition - they erode it.
Both Himass and TanVuu sent thanks to PewPew and the fans. That is the last human detail in a story where everything else is structure and power. But thanks cannot return a career. And while the community keeps signing, I ask myself: when will a game publisher announce a ruling with reasons - so fans can believe justice was served?
March 2026, I wrote a prophecy. All of Germany laughed. From the Bundesliga to Worlds, I look for the same thing: a repeatable truth. And the truth repeating here is this: every opaque system will produce victims - whether or not those victims are guilty.