PUBG: Battlegrounds (formerly PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) is a 2017 battle royale game developed by PUBG Studios and published by Krafton. The game, which was inspired by the Japanese movie Battle Royale and mods created by Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, offers a competitive, survival-based experience where up to 100 players parachute onto an island and fight to be the last one standing. Players scavenge for weapons and equipment, while the game's play area shrinks over time, forcing players into increasingly smaller zones.
Players can choose to play solo, in duos, or in squads of up to four people. After parachuting onto a randomly selected map, players gather weapons, vehicles, and armor to battle other players. The play area gradually shrinks, and any player caught outside the safe zone takes damage. Players can also loot fallen enemies for their gear. The game can be played from both first-person or third-person perspectives, and various in-game events add variety to the standard gameplay.
PUBG's creation was led by Brendan Greene, who previously worked on the ARMA 2 mod DayZ: Battle Royale. Greene's concept for a massive, unpredictable battle royale experience led to the development of PUBG. The game was first released as an early access title in March 2017, and quickly became popular, with its full release in December 2017. It was later ported to consoles and mobile platforms, with a free-to-play version launching in 2022.
The design of PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) blends the elements of realism with accessibility, drawing from ARMA 3's simulation-based approach and H1Z1's more arcade-style focus. The game's development was enabled by Unreal Engine 4, a significant upgrade over the proprietary engines used in earlier battle royale games like ARMA and H1Z1. The challenges, however, included adapting the engine for large maps, with PUBG featuring expansive terrains like Erangel, the first map, which was designed with varied features to encourage strategic gameplay. This map includes architectural influences from Soviet-era brutalism and aims to balance weapon distribution to ensure fair competition. The airdrop mechanic, which drops players onto the island from a plane, was introduced as a unique feature that adds a layer of strategy. Players must decide whether to follow others for group safety or explore on their own for loot, setting the stage for what Greene calls three distinct sub-games: the airdrop, the loot phase, and the combat phase.
Bluehole launched the early access phase for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) on Steam on March 23, 2017, following closed alpha and beta testing with about 80,000 players. The early access period was initially planned to last six months, with a September 2017 release, but was extended to allow for more updates and better quality control. PUBG exceeded early expectations, especially in terms of the number of players, which emphasized the need for improved game stability and performance. By December 20, 2017, PUBG officially released out of early access, after a series of major updates and patches. Due to the game's popularity, PUBG attracted Tencent Games to publish it in China, where initial concerns about the game's violence were addressed by modifying the game to align with Chinese social values. Despite the lack of an official Chinese publisher before the Tencent agreement, many players in China accessed the game via Steam. PUBG Corporation worked with Tencent to address issues like cheating, resulting in arrests in China related to software that enabled cheating.
Greene and Bluehole partnered with Microsoft to bring PUBG to Xbox One as a timed console exclusive, releasing on December 12, 2017, as a Game Preview edition. Microsoft’s support helped optimize the game for Xbox, enhancing performance and security for both Windows and Xbox versions. The official full release on Xbox One occurred on September 4, 2018. Later, PUBG was also released on PlayStation 4 on December 7, 2018, featuring exclusive items like Nathan Drake's outfit from Uncharted and Ellie's backpack from The Last of Us. Cross-platform play between Xbox and PlayStation was introduced in October 2019. The game also launched on Stadia in April 2020 as the Pioneer Edition, available for free to Stadia subscribers at launch. The game continues to expand, with versions optimized for next-gen consoles, supporting cross-platform play and offering better performance on the newer Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles.
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