The award-winning high-stakes winner-takes-all battle royale shooter PUBG: Battlegrounds, which has just celebrated its eighth birthday, is about to get a massive overhaul – and its developers have shared all the exciting details.
Indeed, PUBG: Battlegrounds, originally released in 2017 as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has continued to grow and evolve since its nascence, and the development team has described its plans for this year in the recent report published on March 18.
PUBG: Battlegrounds world updates
In line with the Land-Loot-Survive journey that players have to embark on, the PUBG: Battlegrounds team has announced the launch of major world updates at the end of this year. Notably, it won’t include a completely new map, but a transformation of the old beloved ones.
Thanks to more focus on collaborations and seasonal updates, including unique events and themes, players will get to experience the changing of the seasons. And the best part? Taego, Miramar, and Erangel are getting the Destructible Terrain feature for new interaction possibilities.
New PUBG: Battlegrounds gameplay content
Furthermore, the developers announced continued experiments and improvements of various features, including player actions, vehicles, and items, with the goal to develop seamlessly integrated content across all maps that players will enjoy long-term.
Among other things, this includes diversifying and polishing player actions, such as expanding vehicle-related actions and enhancing the H-key functionality towards new interactions, like pulling open doors or throwing items, currently being tested and reviewed.
In terms of battle royale content, there’ll be new items like a camouflage net for concealing vehicles while enhancing the Flare Gun UI and match log for a clearer overview of combat flow, alongside the improvements to various UI components, gameplay sounds, and interaction elements.
For instance, the latter include animal AI, gas tanks that release smoke when destroyed, as well as pots and vending machines across all maps.
PUBG: Battlegrounds old and new modes
What’s more, the developers plan to continue boosting existing modes like TDM, IBR, and Hot Drop, while experimenting with new modes with the help of player feedback.
On top of that, crowning the platform’s work over the past year, the POBG event mode will come back with a new stage, the roguelike ‘Project Cyclops’ based on the POBG framework will see its debut (although not this year), as will SLB: Miramar, an expanded content based on a specific map.
The first half of 2025 will experience the release of a ‘PAYDAY’ mode, developed in collaboration with the fellow Starbreeze Entertainment, affirming the position of PUBG modes as a “key part of expanding the ways players experience the game,” the company said.
New PUBG: Battlegrounds collabs
Speaking of collaborations, PUBG will enter more this year, including with global celebrities, a fashion brand, and top-tier automotive brands to help users design premium vehicle content, customized colors, interiors, and more, to an unprecedented level of customization and detailing.
Contender system
Finally, the company has announced a brand-new system called ‘Contender,’ enhancing individuality and immersion through dynamic visual transformations and other exclusive features and progression elements, building upon the already established premium customization experience without impacting gameplay. Other premium content will include new currencies, items, and progression-based content.
Other improvements
As for other advances, the live service will get improvements towards unifying the gameplay experience across Normal Match, Ranked, and Esports, synchronizing them and incorporating their various elements into each other. The gunplay updates will revolve around meta changes, regular balance updates, and new content. These three key pillars themselves will experience an overhaul.
Additionally, the artificial system in PUBG will sere a fundamental transformation, the Clan system will be refined and enriched with more features, the pass system will be revamped, BP will support purchases of various premium content, like Contraband Coupons, Workshop Chests, and Keys, and more new items, the anti-cheat system will be strengthened, and more.
Why is it called PUBG: Battlegrounds now?
As a reminder, PUBG: Battlegrounds originated in 2017 as PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds, and was quietly rebranded to its current name around July 2021. It happened in part because Krafton had been looking into expanding PUBG beyond the core game in order to expand the narrative universe.
Can I play PUBG on my PC for free?
Yes, much to every player’s joy, PUBG: Battlegrounds, is free-to-play on all platforms since January 2022, having transitioned into this model five years into its existence.
Featured image courtesy of PUBG website.
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